What, the largest of its type at the time, was destroyed by fire at Alexandria in the first century BC?
Library of Alexandria the fleet belonging to Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy XIV. This fire spread to the parts of the city nearest to the docks, causing considerable devastation. The first-century AD Roman playwright and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger quotes Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita Libri", which was written between 63 and 14 BC, as saying that the fire started by Caesar destroyed 40,000 scrolls from the Library of Alexandria. The Greek Middle Platonist Plutarch ( 46–120 AD) writes in his "Life of Caesar" that, "[W]hen the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was forced to divert that danger by setting
History of Alexandria History of Alexandria The history of Alexandria dates back to the city's founding, by Alexander the Great, in 331 BC. Yet, before that, there were some big port cities just east of Alexandria, at the western edge of what is now Abu Qir Bay. The Canopic (westernmost) branch of the Nile Delta still existed at that time, and was widely used for shipping. After its foundation, Alexandria became the seat of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and quickly grew to be one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic world. Only Rome, which gained control of Egypt in 30 BC, eclipsed Alexandria