Demetrius as librarian
The Letter of Aristeas makes Demetrius of Phalerum the head of Ptolemy II's library, with funds to collect all the books in the world, and has him report 200,000 rolls with 500,000 to come.
Told by The Letter of Aristeas, c. 150–100 BCE, more than a century after Demetrius
What the evidence supports
Demetrius was at the court of Ptolemy I. By Hermippus's account Ptolemy II had him held under guard in the countryside after Ptolemy I's death. No source independent of the Letter makes him the Library's head.
Sources (3)
- Letter of Aristeas 9–11
- Diogenes Laertius 5.78–79
- R. S. Bagnall, "Alexandria: Library of Dreams", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) 348–362 349–351