Reviews

Of the historic Library of Alexandria not so much as a stone remains and archaeological surveys and excavations have produced no clues to the configuration, evolution through time, or the fate of the Great Library and the associated Mouseion (Temple of the Muses). Professor El‐Abbadi has examined a large number of old and modern texts and has constructed an account of the scholarship of the period, and assembled whatever evidence is available to throw light on the Library of Alexandria and the way in which it acquired its stock. Concerning its final fate he concludes that it was destroyed by fire in AD 48 as an indirect result of Caesar's attack on Alexandria.