The Library of Alexandria did not vanish in a single blaze.

285 BC · 48 BC · 391 · apart: 676 years

Caesar's fire of 48 BC damaged it, but it declined over centuries as funding dried up and scholars were driven out.

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The event

• Library of Alexandriac. 285 BC · Alexandria. Under the early Ptolemies the Mouseion and its library were founded in Alexandria, aiming to collect every book in the known world. Scholars such as Euclid and Eratosthenes worked there, and the library became a symbol of ancient learning.

3rd century BC · 1st century BC · 4th century

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