FOOTNOTES: 

[66] Those of Medina are called by that name because they helped Mahomet in his flight from Mecca.

[67] Those that fled with him are called Mohajerins; by these names the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina are often distinguished.

SARACENS CONQUER EGYPT

DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA

A.D. 640

WASHINGTON IRVING

Who shall estimate the loss to civilization and the world that has been caused by the destruction of accumulated stores of books, through the crass ignorance or stupid bigotry of benighted rulers?  The chronicles record a number of such vandal acts.  Hwangti, one of China’s greatest monarchs, he who built the Great Wall of China, attempted the complete extinction of literature in that country, B.C. 213.  That prince, being at one time strongly opposed by certain men of letters, expressed his hatred and contempt, not only of the literary class, but of literature itself, and resorted to extreme measures of coercion.  All books were proscribed, and orders issued to burn every work except those relating to medicine, agriculture, and science.  The destruction was carried out with terrible completeness.  The burning of the books was accompanied by the execution of five hundred of the literati and by the banishment of many thousands.

     The destruction of the Alexandrian Library, by command of Omar, was
     as complete as the extinction of literature in China by Hwangti, as
     head of the Moslem religion.

     Omar, using the intrepid Amru, was vicariously proselyting in true
     Mahometan style—­in one hand offering the Koran, the while the
     other extended the sword.

After a successful campaign in Palestine, Omar’s victorious banners were planted in the historic soil of the Pharaohs.  A protracted siege of seven months found Amru master of the royal city of Alexandria.  The library there was famed as the greatest magazine of literature.  But this availed nothing with the ruthless Omar, for he doomed it to annihilation.

Prof.  Thomas Smith says:  “The library had been collected at fabulous expense of labor and money, from all countries of the world.  Its destruction was a wanton act; but its perpetrator showed, like the loving spouse ’of another noted personage, that ‘though on pleasure he was bent, he had a frugal mind.’  He did not consume the books on their shelves, or in whatever repositories contained them, although doubtless they would have made a beautiful blaze.  He utilized them as fuel for heating the baths of the city; and we are told that they sufficed to heat the water for four thousand such baths for six months.  With an average share of persuasibility, when it is not against our will to be convinced, we