ΠΙΝΑΚΕΣCallimachus · 120 rollsTables of those eminent in every branch of learning

The Library of Alexandria · The Book-Rooms

The Shelves

Strabo is silent here. He described the Mouseion in the 20s BCE: a walk, an exedra, a dining hall, a priest. He did not mention a library.

The Library rebuilt as the one thing of it that survives in its own words, its catalogue: 185 works on Callimachus's shelves, each hanging its tag.

Step inSearch the shelvesRead the shelves as a list

The wall

331 BCE. 10 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested The city is founded in 331 BCE. (Arrian, Anabasis 3.1–2)
  • Known: probable, disputed A Mouseion is founded under Ptolemy I or II; the sources disagree. (Plutarch, Moralia 1095D; Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 1.3b)
  • Legend: told story That Demetrius of Phalerum ran the king's library is told by the Letter of Aristeas. (Letter of Aristeas 9–11)
See the city in this age ›

C. 250 BCE. Callimachus is at work on the Pinakes. 55 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: probable Zenodotus edits Homer. (Suda ζ 74)
  • Known: attested Callimachus compiles the Pinakes. (Suda κ 227)
  • Known: probable The Torah is translated into Greek. (Philo, Life of Moses 2.25–44)
  • Legend: told story The seventy-two elders who translate it are a story told by the Letter of Aristeas. (Letter of Aristeas 28–51, 301–311)
See the city in this age ›

C. 245 BCE. 94 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested Eratosthenes, Aristophanes and Aristarchus head the Library. (P.Oxy. X 1241)
  • Known: excavated Ptolemy III builds the Serapeum; his foundation plaques are excavated. (Rowe 1946)
  • Legend: told story Galen tells, some four centuries later, of books seized from ships. (Galen, Commentary on Hippocrates' Epidemics III 2.4)
See the city in this age ›

Late 48 BCE. 104 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested In 145 BCE Ptolemy VIII drives the scholars out. (Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 4.184b–c)
  • Known: attested In 48 BCE Caesar burns the ships in the harbour. (Caesar, Civil War 3.111)
  • Known: attested Dio names storehouses of books at the docks. (Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.38.2)
  • Conjectured: our reconstruction No source says which rolls burned, so none leaves this wall. (Caesar, Civil War 3.111; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.38.2)
See the city in this age ›

C. 25 BCE. 155 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested Strabo walks through the Mouseion and names no library. (Strabo, Geography 17.1.8)
  • Known: attested Tertullian reports “the libraries of Ptolemy” at the Serapeum. (Tertullian, Apology 18.8)
See the city in this age ›

391 or 392 CE. 171 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested In 272 Aurelian's war ruins the palace quarter; no source names the Library after it. (Ammianus Marcellinus 22.16.15)
  • Known: attested Theon is “of the Mouseion”. (Suda θ 205)
  • Known: attested In 391 or 392 the Serapeum is destroyed; no account mentions books. (Rufinus, Church History 11.22–30; Socrates, Church History 5.16)
See the city in this age ›

March 415 CE. 185 of our 185 works are in the city; the rest are not yet written or brought here.

  • Known: attested In 415 Hypatia is murdered. (Socrates, Church History 7.15)
  • Legend: told story That she was the Library's librarian is a modern story; no ancient source says so. (Watts 2017)
  • Known: attested Orosius sees empty book-chests in temples. (Orosius, Histories against the Pagans 6.15.32)
  • Legend: told story The caliph's order to burn the books is first told about 1200. (‘Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, Account of Egypt)
See the city in this age ›

Today. 169 of our 185 works survive in some form; 16 are lost.

What reached us.

  • Known: attested In 2002 the Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens near the ancient site. (Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened 16 October 2002)
See the city in this age ›

Light the shelves

Within each cupboard, by date: our order.

Rhet­oric

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

Laws

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

Epic and hex­ameter po­etry

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Lyric (melic) po­etry

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Trag­edy

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

Com­edy

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

His­tory

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Philos­ophy

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Medi­cine

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Mathe­matics (incl. astron­omy)

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Nat­ural sci­ence

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Miscel­laneous writ­ings

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

On the table: written in the city

On the ledge: written in Egypt or about the city

Serapeum · daughter library

One told claim:

Legend: told story Tertullian, writing at Carthage about 197 CE, reports that “the libraries of Ptolemy” were shown at the temple of Serapis “with the identical Hebrew originals in them” (Apology 18.8): a claim descended from the story of the Septuagint.

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

No account of the destruction mentions books (Rufinus 11.22–30; Socrates 5.16). Orosius saw empty book-chests in temples about 416, ‘emptied by our own men in our time’ (6.15.32); he does not name the Serapeum.

A library at the Serapeum is first attested much later: Aphthonius saw rooms in its colonnades ‘open to those who wish to study’ (Progymnasmata 12), and Epiphanius calls it the ‘daughter’ library (On Weights and Measures 11).

Serapeum · daughter library

One told claim:

Legend: told story Tertullian, writing at Carthage about 197 CE, reports that “the libraries of Ptolemy” were shown at the temple of Serapis “with the identical Hebrew originals in them” (Apology 18.8): a claim descended from the story of the Septuagint.

Behind this door: what the Library held under this class that no one can now name. Our shelves hold 185 works. The ancient claims for the whole collection run from 40,000 to 700,000 rolls, and modern estimates are much lower (see the Ledger of Numbers). The doors are not drawn to scale.

No account of the destruction mentions books (Rufinus 11.22–30; Socrates 5.16). Orosius saw empty book-chests in temples about 416, ‘emptied by our own men in our time’ (6.15.32); he does not name the Serapeum.

A library at the Serapeum is first attested much later: Aphthonius saw rooms in its colonnades ‘open to those who wish to study’ (Progymnasmata 12), and Epiphanius calls it the ‘daughter’ library (On Weights and Measures 11).

Closed doors: what the Library held that no one can now name. Not to scale.

Of 185 placements, Callimachus's own hand is attested for 7. Light them with “The shelf we can see”.

The desk

Pull a roll to read its tag: what it was, whether it survives, where to read it now, and where the show speaks of it.

Start with the catalogue itself ›

The opposite wall

The forty-two books of Hermes

Two ways of ordering the world's books in one country: one Greek and by kind of writing, one Egyptian and by who must know them.

Known: attested Clement describes the officers of a procession and the books each must know; he does not say he saw it, and the objects carried are the officers' emblems, not the books (Stromata 6.4.35–37). Not on the beam: this is temple practice, not an event.

  1. Rhetoric
  2. Laws
  3. Epic and hexameter poetry
  4. Lyric (melic) poetry
  5. Tragedy
  6. Comedy
  7. History
  8. Philosophy
  9. Medicine
  10. Mathematics (incl. astronomy)
  11. Natural science
  12. Miscellaneous writings

  • The Singer

    a symbol of music

    2 books: hymns to the gods; the king's life

  • The Horoscopus

    a horologe and a palm

    4 books: the fixed stars; the conjunctions and illuminations of sun and moon; the risings

  • The Sacred Scribe

    wings on the head, a book, a rule, ink and reed

    10 books, by subtraction (drawn dashed): hieroglyphs, cosmography, geography, the sun and moon, the five planets, Egypt, the Nile, temple equipment, measures, and the things used in the rites

  • The Stolist

    the cubit of justice and the libation cup

    10 books: worship: sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, processions, festivals

  • The Prophet

    the water-vase

    10 books: the laws, the gods, and the training of the priests

  • The shrine-bearers

    No emblem given

    6 books: the body, diseases, instruments, medicines, the eyes, and women

All 42 niches are empty: no such canon survives.

The forty-two books on the shelves' ledge ›

The Ledger of Numbers

How many rolls?

Modern estimate: tens of thousands of rolls, perhaps more (Bagnall 2002; Casson 2001 and others accept larger collections). A catalogue of 120 rolls could hardly have listed hundreds of thousands of rolls (Bagnall 2002, 352–356). We can name 185 works. The rest is behind the closed doors.

How many rolls?Modern estimate: tens of thousands of rolls, perhaps more (Bagnall 2002; Casson 2001 and others accept larger collections). A catalogue of 120 rolls could hardly have listed hundreds of thousands of rolls (Bagnall 2002, 352–356). We can name 185 works. The rest is behind the closed doors.
WitnessWrittenReferenceWhat it saysReadings
The event: The collection, as its tellers counted it
The Letter of AristeasGives a numberc. 150 BCELetter of Aristeas 9–11Demetrius of Phalerum reports over 200,000 books in the king's library and hopes soon for 500,000.200,000
SenecaGives a numberc. 50–62 CEOn Tranquillity of Mind 9.5 Quoted by Livy, whose lost history Seneca cites.Forty thousand books burned at Alexandria; he quotes Livy's praise of the library and rejects it.40,000; a common modern emendation of the manuscripts' 40,000
Aulus GelliusGives a numberc. 170s CEAttic Nights 7.17.3Nearly 700,000 volumes burned in the Alexandrian war, set alight by auxiliary soldiers.700,000; the reading of some manuscripts
Ammianus MarcellinusGives a numberc. 390 CEHistory 22.16.13Seven hundred thousand books burned in the war under Caesar.700,000
EpiphaniusGives a number392 CEOn Weights and Measures 954,800 books; which library he counts is to be checked against chapter 11's daughter library.54,800
OrosiusGives a numberc. 417 CEHistories against the Pagans 6.15.31Four hundred thousand books burned under Caesar.400,000; the reading of some manuscripts
Isidore of SevilleGives a number7th century CEEtymologies 6.3.5Seventy thousand books in the library of Ptolemy.70,000
John TzetzesGives a number12th century CEProlegomena on Comedy the outer library42,800 books in the library outside the palace.42,800
John TzetzesGives a number12th century CEProlegomena on Comedy the palace library, 'mixed' rolls400,000 'mixed' rolls in the palace library.400,000
John TzetzesGives a number12th century CEProlegomena on Comedy the palace library, 'unmixed' rolls90,000 'unmixed' rolls in the palace library.90,000

The thirteenth cupboard

The Pinakes of Aetherica

Our device: the show's own conversations, catalogued in Callimachus's form.

Open the thirteenth cupboard ›

How to read the marks

Three words

Everything here carries one of three words: Known, Conjectured or Legend. Each is a shape as well as a word, so none is told by colour alone.

  • Known · ExcavatedFound in the ground or on the seabed, and published.
  • Known · AttestedAn ancient source says so, and we name it.
  • Known · ProbableInferred from the evidence by most scholars; written “probably” or “c.”.
  • Conjectured · After an analogy: PergamonShown after a building elsewhere, named in a cartouche. Alexandria's own form is unknown.
  • Conjectured · Our reconstructionOur reconstruction, or a named scholar's proposal, said so in words.
  • Legend · Told storyA later story, told in its teller's voice with the date of the telling, and never drawn as a building.
  • DisputedThe seal split by a hairline: the sources disagree, and both accounts are given, each named.
  • DoubtedA split lozenge: the attribution is doubted, or the name is a pseudonym.

Lines

  • Excavated: solid, heavier, with hatching and the “Excavated” stamp.
  • Attested: a solid line.
  • Probable: a solid line, fainter.
  • After an analogy: dashed, with its cartouche.
  • Our reconstruction: faint construction lines, never fully inked.
  • Legend: rose dots, used only to frame a told story or mark a teller.

On the city plan a place is drawn solid where its position is known and dashed, with an italic name and “?”, where it is conjectured. Legends are never drawn.

The cartouche

after Pergamon Plate · Evocation Drawing · Reconstruction

It says what a drawing leans on, or what kind of picture stands beside it.

Plates and drawings

Plates show places and things; drawings show rooms. A painted plate shows what is attested, excavated or plainly atmospheric, or a still life of attested objects. Every room nobody has found is drawn in line, with its grades. No plate shows a legend. Every plate carries a note saying what it claims.

The wall: one property, one channel

Survival
What lies in the hole at Now: three discs for whole; two and a dashed third for in large part; a disc and a small book-block for only in translation; a broken disc and a scrap for fragments; nothing, with the tag still hanging, for lost.
Where it lies
In a cupboard; on the table of the city, written or translated in Alexandria; or on the ledge, from Egypt or a witness to the city.
Class evidence
The cornice lettering: solid gold-bright for attested, a half lozenge for attested indirectly, plain gold for inferred, outline letters for conjecture.
Placement basis
The tag's edge at reading size: double gold for attested, single brass for inferred, dashed for by analogy.
In Alexandria?
The seal on the tag at reading size.
The show speaks of it
The cord: gold for the work or its author, brass for its current, none where the show is silent.
Told story
A rose star, and the story on the back of the tag.
Doubt
A split lozenge on the card.
Age
Present; future, as a dashed outline with its date; or ghost, as a stipple, where it is unknown whether the roll was still in the city.
Lamp or search
Lit, with a gold-bright outline; second tier, dashed; dimmed to 30%.
What no one can name
The closed door.

At overview size only survival, the cord and the star are drawn. An empty hole means a lost work and nothing else.

Witness lines

Each witness is placed at the year it wrote. The dashed gold line is the event.

  • Gives a number
  • Names it, no number
  • Silent on it
  • Lost; known through a later writer
  • Inscription or papyrus
  • Excavation
  • Teller of a legend
  • Refutes the story

The obelos

Zenodotus and Aristarchus marked doubtful lines with a short stroke, the obelos. It marked a line as suspect; we use it the same way, beside a conversation in the show that departs from the sources. The link stays.

The empty plinth

Where the show has not yet spoken of something, the plinth stands empty and says so.

Our devices

The ring of years
The ring round the door is an ornament: the present touches the origin. Its ticks are evenly spaced and measure nothing.
The beam's equal ages
The beam draws the eight ages equal. They were not: the shortest runs 37 years, the longest more than 1300.
The light of each age
Dawn, daylight, ember, lamp: the light behind the plan and the wall is ours, not evidence. Ancient libraries were daylight institutions, and the site's candlelight is ours too.
The cameras on the plan
Each age leans in on part of the city. The choice of view is ours.
The order of the cupboards
The cupboards stand in the catalogue's class order. The order of Callimachus's own tables is unknown; within each cupboard the rolls stand by date.
The table of the city
Works written or translated in Alexandria with no evidence that the Library held them lie on the table, not in a cupboard.
The ledge
Works of the Egyptian milieu, and witnesses to the city, lie on the ledge.
The closed doors
What the Library held that no one can now name. The doors are not drawn to scale.
The thirteenth cupboard
The show's own conversations, catalogued as rolls in Callimachus's entry form.
The class emblems
Each cupboard's emblem is an object attested for its field, chosen by us.
The people's emblems
No portrait of any of these people survives. The emblems on their roundels are objects, never faces, and ours.
The street of doors
The people are known. Their rooms are not.
The seats
The show's conversations, seated in Strabo's “exedra with seats” (Geography 17.1.8).

“Healing place of the soul” is often given as the Library’s motto. Diodorus gives it to a library at Thebes (1.49.3), not to Alexandria.