The Great Library

The Great Library was first envisioned and begun by Ptolemy II who lived from 309 to 246 BC. Both its creator and his successors put an enormous amount of money and effort into building up the writings of the library. Indeed, all foreigners who entered Alexandria were required to give up any articles of text they had. The texts would be copied and then returned although often when an exceptionally good copy was made, the copy was returned in the stead of the original. Many stories have been told of the great lengths that the Ptolemies went to create their library. During the reign of Ptolemy III, the Athenians were convinced to send the original works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to Alexandria to be copied in exchange for a hostage sum of 15 talents, an enormous sum of money. Ptolemy III paid the Athenians the money, but failed to ever return the works. Eventually, the Great Library as it came to be known accumulated almost a million works. No other library came close to that amount for a millenium, and the Great Library became known as one of the wonders of the world.