The Library of Alexandria also called the museum of Alexandria was built in Egypt around the year 295 bce. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great during his conquest. His successor to be pharaoh, Ptolemy I Soter, was the founder of the museum. The Museum was a shrine of the Muses modeled after the Lyceum of Aristotle in Athens. The Greeks played a vital role in the construction of the library. The basic architecture is all based on Greek architecture. It was built because Greek scholars came to Egypt seeking knowledge and a place to collect and organize their studies. At around 246-221 bce the library became too full to hold any more knowledge and a smaller sister branch was made called the Serapeum. No one is sure how many books these libraries contained but estimates say anywhere from 200,000 books to 7000,000 books. The destruction of the library was the result of the war between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. Caesar siding with Cleopatra set fire t...
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