The Battle of the Books was part of a general quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, where the question was between ancient authors (Homer, Virgil, Horace, and Aristotle) and contemporary ones and whether contemporary philosophy and science had surpassed what could be gathered from the classics.
The Battle of the Books was a debate about whether classical authors (Homer, Virgil, Horace, and Aristotle) held the same level of intellectual authority as contemporary philosophers and scientists.