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Source For more facts follow Ultrafacts

EVERY TIME SOMEONE BRINGS UP THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA I GET SO ANGRY.

The library was destroyed over 1000’s of years ago. The library consisted of thousands of scrolls and books about mathematics, engineering, physiology, geography, blueprints, medicine, plays, & important scriptures. Thinkers from all over the Mediterranean used to come to Alexandria to study.Most of the major work of civilization up until that point was lost. If the library still survived till this day, society may have been more advanced and we would sure know more about the ancient world.

That graphic grinds my gears every time I see it

romans.

Julius Caesar to be precise 

Remember this when you’re conquering. Keep the books.

THIS HURTS MY HEART SO MUCH EVERY TIME ITS BROUGHT UP

Julius Caesar needs to be stabbed for this

I know we should totally stab Caesar

Does March 15th sound good for everyone??

Oh.

Oh god no.

Oh GOD no.

Okay, so first off, Holy Eurocentricism, Batman. Alexandria wasn’t that huge a loss, all things considered, since there were contemporary libraries of comparable size all over the world, including, but not limited to, the Library of Timgad in Algeria, the Imperial Library of Constantinople, the Library of Nalanda (which is is also considered the first University) in India,
The Academy of Gundishapur in Iran, and the Theological Library of Cæsaria Marina in Israel. All of which contained at a minimum of 3000 volumes.

Next!

Thinkers from all over the Mediterranean used to come to Alexandria to
study.Most of the major work of civilization up until that point was
lost. If the library still survived till this day, society may have been
more advanced and we would sure know more about the ancient world.

So gratuitously incorrect! I mean, did you even read the (incredibly simplified but essentially accurate) blurb from Ultrafacts? Very few of the manuscripts or scrolls in Alexandria were originals, and even those that were were in no way at all the only copies. And because of the miracle of scribal errors (oh GOD do I hate scribal errors) there’s no way that the copies would have been 100% true to the original anyway. That’s the thing with manual transmission of works: Transcription errors, ‘helpful’ emendations, spelling mistakes, and all sorts of other shit gets thrown in every time a manuscript is copied, despite best efforts. Also, how in the hell would society have been more advanced? It’s not like 3rd Century Greeks were using nuclear fission or 4th century Egyptians had the Internet. Hell, most of what we used for physics and calculus and optics and chemistry and all the rest is based on Islamic sources, which wouldn’t be written for two hundred years after the last sacking of Alexandria. Seriously. Look up
Al-jabr wa’l muqabalah

and marvel at the fact that most of our algebra (including the goddamn name) came from that single school.

And then the Chart.

The goddamn Chart.

Because a) way to paint all Christians between 500CE and 1500CE as anti-science and backwards, b) way to ignore the tradition of Monastic education, and c) way to ignore 1000 years of education and science OUTSIDE OF WESTERN EUROPE. I mean, Christ, even if it wasn’t so goddamn racist, The Chart ignores the fact that the fucking University of Paris was founded in 1150, and most education was handled by the Church, as they were the guys who had the infrastructure to do so, except for that whole Carolingian Renaissance when Charlemagne decided that “hey, universal literacy and a uniform script would be awesome” and then introduced them. In the 8th fucking Century. Or the Ottonian Renaissance in Central Europe during the 11th century. Or the 12th Century Renaissance when Islamic scholarship hit Western Europe. I mean, it’s not like Western Europeans (because that’s all the Chart seems to concern itself with) were living naked and without fire in the ruins of Glorious Rome until 1st January 1500 when they invented SCIENCE and were able to build houses and start fires and create clothing again. It’s not like scholars like Alcuin of York or the Venerable Bede or Saxo Grammaticus or the First Grammarian weren’t, you know, Christians.

TL;DR: Decent if Simplified Ultrafact post is Decent if Simplified. Bad and racist commentary is bad and racist.

I don’t even care about the Library of Alexandria but jesus Jim that gif is so amazing I love this post xD