Reading about the destruction of the ancient library in Alexandria was one of the saddest things I remember reading about growing up. Just thinking of all the knowledge destroyed or the ancient mathematical equations and scientific discoveries stored in that library lost forever is just so depressing. I once heard an Egyptologist claim that the destruction of the library set us back a 1000 years in terms of technological advancement.

But I’ve always wondered where the actual site of the destroyed Libary was. I mean even if it burned down wouldn’t there be a way to pinpoint the location? And considering how common it was for ancient Egyptians to bury valuable items in tomes....I’ve always wondered if copies or manuscripts were ever buried deep beneath the library. And considering how detailed the librarians of Alexandria were in cataloging various works I’d assume they would have considered creating a backup at some point for their more valuable scrolls.

Assuming a burnt down library would at some point either be rebuilt or have another building built on top of it....wouldn’t there be some record keeping of the construction process or bills related to the expenditure of rebuilding within that area during the aftermath of the fire?

I’ve been trying to search for the location of the library by looking through translations of Greek texts during that time to pinpoint any bills related to the reconstruction process but I think I’m looking at the wrong place. Since Egypt was under the jurisdiction of the Roman empire during the aftermath of the library’s destruction is it more likely that those records can be found in Rome and written in Latin instead of Greek? Does anyone here know of any Roman records of expenses for its reconstruction or maps they made of it’s location? Or even the name that the Romans used when referring to the library of Alexandria?