SE-Ed: What Really Happened to the Library of Alexandria?

It's often described as the greatest library of the ancient world.

它常被称为古代世界最伟大的图书馆。

And it's usually said to have vanished in a single, terrible fire.

人们通常说，它毁于一场可怕的大火。

It makes for a dramatic story.

这故事确实很有戏剧性。

The trouble is, it's almost certainly not what happened.

问题是，事实几乎肯定不是这样。

Alexandria was founded in Egypt by Alexander the Great.

亚历山大城是亚历山大大帝在埃及建立的。

After his death, his general Ptolemy took control of Egypt,

他死后，他的部将托勒密掌控了埃及，

and his family set out to turn the city into a centre of learning.

他的家族立志把这座城市打造成学术中心。

Their ambition was breathtaking: to collect every book ever written!

他们的雄心令人惊叹：收集世上所有写过的书！

Ships arriving in the harbour were routinely searched for books.

抵港的船只都会被例行搜查，看有没有书。

Any scrolls on board were copied,

船上的卷轴都会被抄录下来，

and, rather cheekily, the library kept the originals.

而且，图书馆还颇为厚脸皮地留下了原件。

Athens once lent the king its official copies of great Greek plays,

雅典曾把一批希腊名剧的官方抄本借给国王，

in return for a huge deposit of silver.

换来一大笔白银作押金。

He simply kept the scrolls and let Athens keep the money.

国王干脆留下了卷轴，把钱让给了雅典。

What made the place remarkable, though, was its people.

不过，真正让这里非凡的，是这里的人。

Scholars there worked out how big the Earth was,

这里的学者算出了地球有多大，

and drew up one of the earliest library catalogues.

还编出了最早的图书目录之一。

Nobody knows exactly how many scrolls it held.

没人确切知道那里藏有多少卷轴。

Estimates range from forty thousand to several hundred thousand.

估计从四万卷到几十万卷不等。

So what about the famous fire?

那著名的那场大火呢？

In 48 BC, Julius Caesar set fire to ships in the harbour.

公元前48年，尤利乌斯·恺撒放火烧了港口的船只。

The flames spread to the docks,

火势蔓延到了码头，

and thousands of scrolls stored there may well have burned.

存放在那里的数千卷书很可能被烧毁了。

Yet the library carried on.

然而，图书馆依然在运转。

Scholars were still working there decades later.

几十年后，学者们仍在那里工作。

Had it burned down in a single night, the story would be simpler.

要是它在一夜之间烧光，故事倒还简单些。

What really happened was slower, and arguably sadder.

真实的经过更缓慢，也可以说更令人惋惜。

As early as 145 BC,

早在公元前145年，

a new king drove many scholars out of the city.

一位新国王就把许多学者赶出了城。

Over the following centuries, funding and interest gradually dried up.

在之后的几百年里，资金和关注都渐渐枯竭了。

And papyrus doesn't last forever: scrolls had to be recopied,

而且莎草纸不能永久保存：卷轴必须重新抄写，

or they would simply crumble away.

否则就会慢慢碎成粉末。

In the 270s AD, fighting in the city destroyed the palace quarter.

公元270年代，城内的战火摧毁了王宫区。

You may also have heard that it was burned in 642 AD.

你可能还听说过，它是在公元642年被烧毁的。

That story first appears over five hundred years later,

这个说法最早出现在五百多年之后，

and most historians consider it a legend.

大多数历史学家认为它只是传说。

The truth is, great libraries rarely die in flames.

事实是，伟大的图书馆很少葬身火海。

They fade away when people stop caring for them.

当人们不再珍惜它们时，它们就会慢慢消逝。

So next time your local library needs support,

所以，下次你家附近的图书馆需要支持时，

it might be worth showing up.

也许值得去走一趟。