Misusing Knowledge in a Time of Terror
Manuel L. Quezon III, mlquezon3@gmail.com

The ancients believed that Christians destroyed the great library of Alexandria. Christians to this day heap calumny on the conqueror of Egypt who, during the invasion in the 7th century, is claimed to have said of the books in the library, “they will either contradict the Qur’an, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous.” However, some scholars assert that the Emperor Theodosius decreed the destruction of pagan temples in Alexandria in 391, and that Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria zealously complied with the decree, demolishing the Mithreum, the Serapeum, and the Mouseion (ancestor of today’s museums), of which the Serapeum certainly contained a portion of the famed library. Today, of course, the library has been refounded as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a hugely ambitious (and praiseworthy) project of the Egyptian government.

This is an interesting Arab News opinion piece on the power of books. With a brief survey of history, the writer notes how various peoples have faced the challenge of books and information. Well worth reading the whole thing.