Reading Response
The book Libraries in the Ancient World, by Lionel Casson, tells the story of ancient libraries from their very beginnings, when “books” were clay tablets and writing was a new phenomenon. It is a full-scale study of libraries in the ancient world. It displays everything that is known about ancient libraries from when they were built in the ancient Egypt in the third millennium until the byzantine times (fourth and fifth centuries) when the spread of Christianity and of monasticism fundamentally changed the course of library history. The book describes that ancient writings contained haphazard bits of information about libraries, and so Lionel turned to archeology to gather the rest of his information. Going to library remains, and gathering an idea of the physical facilities that were used.
The first chapter discusses Egypt and Mesopotamia, it states that the scribed clay tablets that were dated shortly before 3000 with the archaeological remains of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia. When talking about the Egyptains it says that they were not far behind, but it says that their history is harder to follow because of their use of papyrus plants, which are perishable. It discusses the organization of both these culture’s libraries, and how they are very similar in shape and form as well as the information they were writing about. It attributes the Egyptians with great scientific findings for that time period. The book makes it very clear that libraries at that time were very different than what libraries are now, the amount of information was much narrower and simpler than the libraries of today.
The second chapter talks about Greece it explains how since the Greeks had a high level of literacy they needed bigger libraries that facilitated more people and had enough space for a much more eclectic amount of information. They also used the library to store written versions of plays which was a huge part of their culture. The book then discusses the library of Alexandria, which was founded around 400 bc. It explains how this was the first library of its kind and the best at that. It had been sprung out of nowhere due to Alexander the great’s acquisition. It was comprehensive, embracing books of all sorts from everywhere and was public open to anyone fitting scholarly or literary qualifications.
Later the book explains how libraries started to grow in the second century, there were other royal libraries in existence besides Alexandria’s, and libraries started to gain a much more significance in many cultures. The book then discusses roman libraries and the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Greeks settled it from the 8th century on. Because of trade and travel it was a highly developed culture. These libraries that were developed in the roman cities contained the earliest writings in the new alphabet, which we use today. In the city of rome, Julius Caesar, wanted to enhance Rome’s cultural status by giving it a public library, his assasination cut the project short. it was revived by one of his supporters, Pollio. We only know of this library because it is mentioned in several writings, but the actual structure has disappeared, or is still hidden.
the book explains that libraries start spring up in the roman empire around the year 400 and after that.
only rolls were used until the second century AD. the library holdings were all in the form of rolls, mainly papyrus rolls. The codex took over for all major writings in literature scientific studies, technical manuals etc. it was a change that profoundly effected all people who delt with books. rolls still existed but were only used for things that would be filed or archived not for books any more. The codex came from the wooden writing tablet. it came about when more space was ended than was offered by the single surface of aboard. they tacked a number of them and bounded them together by drilling holes along the side and passing a cord. This was done by the Romans, but they must have taken it some decades before the end of the fifth century. Rome at the time was the center for book trade in Latin works.
The book lastly discusses the middle ages, and the split of the roman empire into two halves. The western with its capital at Ravenna or Milan, and the Eastern with its capital at Constantinople, in both Christianity had emerged as the prevailing religion. The book discusses the profound effect of Christianity on literature: it elevated religion into a predominant concern. There were still writers in both Greek and Latin, who dealt with secular subjects, but they slowly decreased until they were no more. There was an outpouring of texts, which studied the bible. This literature was in place of other texts in the existing libraries. The book ends by discusses the rise of monasteries and how they functioned, and how they started providing a space exclusively for religious texts in monastery libraries explaining how the priests main job was to copy.
