PUBLIC TALK: Friends of the Library talk: Libraries in late antiquity

Many romanticise the Library at Alexandria as one of the marvels of the ancient world. Its reputed size and the various tales of its destruction at the hands of alleged philistines from Julius Caesar, Christian monks or Muslim invaders capture the imagination. The mundane probability that the collection fell victim to damp and rodents is rarely accepted, although it draws attention to problems of preserving ancient literary collections. But Alexandria was only one of many libraries in antiquity. Communities of scholars formed around libraries of different sizes in late-antique philosophical and rhetorical schools as well as in monastic communities. The Library at Caesarea supported Christian biblical scholarship. Such collections are part of the reason for the preservation of texts we have today. This talk will look at libraries of antiquity, the communities around them and their lasting symbolic and material significance.

Michael lectures in Classics and Ancient History at The University of Western Australia.

Parking is available in Myer Street and Park Way, accessible from Fairway

Members: Free Non-members: $5.00 donation