La biblioteca scomparsa

Shrouded in legend, the Library of Alexandria succeeded in embodying the surreal myth of gathering all the books in the world in one enclosed place. This fragile monument to human thought claimed to symbolise immortality, yet its books were consumed by flames. Luciano Canfora brilliantly recounts the history of this famous library: the incredible hiding place of Aristotle’s texts, the translation of Hebrew texts into Greek, the rivalry with the library of Pergamon, papyrus and parchment, Cleopatra, who may well have been responsible for the first fire… until we finally discover who really burned it and why.