Master of Destruction

[Ecofarm]

Who destroyed the great library?

Are there feats that compare?

 

[Phlegmak]

Who destroyed the great library?

Are there feats that compare?

Destruction isn't a "feat".



But to answer your second question, yes, there are many such acts that compare to that. For example, a child setting fire to anything.

 

[Ecofarm]

Ich heiße Superphantastisch!

I'm guessing that means "Nazis". By destruction, I do not mean people killed, that's trite. I mean knowledge or architecture/art/literature destroyed.

Certainly the Nazis are responsible for a great amount of architectual destruction, but art and lit? I mean directly, not people who would have done things. Great lib is kinda more significant than a few modern cities, given it represented a world collection.

Who destroyed the lib, anyway?

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Who destroyed the great library?

Are there feats that compare?

Of Alexandria? I think the accepted theory is that it was burned by/because of Caesar Augustus during the civil war between him and Marc Antony. There was also a comparable library somewhere in Asia Minor that was also destroyed in antiquity.

As for 'feats' that compare, there have been several sackings of entire cities such as the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols.

 

[holy king]

I'm guessing that means "Nazis". By destruction, I do not mean people killed, that's trite. I mean knowledge or architecture/art/literature destroyed.

Certainly the Nazis are responsible for a great amount of architectual destruction, but art and lit? I mean directly, not people who would have done things. Great lib is kinda more significant than a few modern cities, given it represented a world collection.

Who destroyed the lib, anyway?

noone knows who destroyed the library or even when exactly it got destroyed.

 

[Ecofarm]

As for 'feats' that compare, there have been several sackings of entire cities such as the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols.

Entire cities in their own right are of no comparison. The sheer number of cities does, however, put the mongols (and Nazis) in contention.

We could also nominate the colonialists of africa and north america (who stayed).

 

[North King]

The library wasn't destroyed by Muslim invaders; that's a myth. I can't actually remember who destroyed it, though, which is going to bug me. I think it was a Byzantine Emperor, though someone would have to confirm that.

In any case, as for comparable acts, the only one that immediately comes to mind is the burning of the Maya codices by Spanish priests.

 

[El_Machinae]

I'm guessing that means "Nazis". By destruction, I do not mean people killed, that's trite. I mean knowledge or architecture/art/literature destroyed.

What is currently the largest cause of ignorance about Earth's Natural History? The vast majority of people on Earth have been told about the natural history, but choose not to believe it.

 

[Atticus]

I think the accepted theory is that it was burned by/because of Caesar Augustus during the civil war between him and Marc Antony.

I thought it was Julius Caesar, not Augustus. And also that it isn't generally accepted.

Ecofarm, why don't you look from some encyclopedia, off-topic isn't probably the best place to get answers.

And I guess nazies also put a stop to Germany's outstanding science, so they are villains that way too.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I thought it was Julius Caesar, not Augustus. And also that it isn't generally accepted.

Ah you're right, I'm misremembering things. It was Caesar vs. Ptolemy not Caesar vs. Antony.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The library wasn't destroyed by Muslim invaders; that's a myth. I can't actually remember who destroyed it, though, which is going to bug me. I think it was a Byzantine Emperor, though someone would have to confirm that.

In any case, as for comparable acts, the only one that immediately comes to mind is the burning of the Maya codices by Spanish priests.

Any evidence? I was taught it was destroyed in 642AD, by the Muslim invaders. Either way, it was certainly no longer functional by the 7th Century AD, and definitely not after the 13th, when Saladin purged Egypt of Sevener Shi'a texts.

 

[GinandTonic]

In terms of cold calculated destruction, the burning of the Chinese Summer Palace is hard to beat. How to punish the regiem for torturing western hostages without punishing the people? Task 3,500 troops to spend three days destroying all 865 acres of palaces and landscaped gardens, with the engeniers brought in for the more sturdy edifices.

Naked vandalism or the first instance of targeted sanctions? Or perhaps both.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace

 

[amadeus]

What is currently the largest cause of ignorance about Earth's Natural History? The vast majority of people on Earth have been told about the natural history, but choose not to believe it.

Is this about evolution or the global warming myth?

 

[Sharwood]

So far as I know the original destruction occured when a fire broke out while Caesar was in Alexandria. Caesar was said to be aghast at this. Then the final destruction occured when a Muslim warlord ordered that the books be burned to heat his baths. Supposed to have taken six months to go through them all. Sounds like propaganda, but I've never heard any other (credible) theories.

As for similar feats, the Nazis burnt a great deal of books, but I think the closest approximation was the destruction of all but three Maya books by some Spanish Catholic missionary.

 

[Narz]

yeah, like most basic social behaviour. why do you ask?

Nice retort. Zing!

Is this about evolution or the global warming myth?

Lolz, most of the global warming denailists do seem to be creationists as well.

 

[Narz]

As for similar feats, the Nazis burnt a great deal of books, but I think the closest approximation was the destruction of all but three Maya books by some Spanish Catholic missionary.

Those missionaries (and Christianity) have to be in the top 10 of most destructive forces even to be unleashed on humanity.

 

[Thorbal]

Those missionaries (and Christianity) have to be in the top 10 of most destructive forces even to be unleashed on humanity.

Hm... but you should consider that the monasteries were the only centers of reading, writing, book reproduction and learning in general in Europe through most of the middle ages. Most feudal lords did not even *want* to learn to read, because it was deemed unworthy and womanish in that warrior culture.

 

[El_Machinae]

Is this about evolution or the global warming myth?

It's a thread about the widespread destruction of knowledge.

 

[Aegis]

I have read that the fire which destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria was caused by Julius Caesar when he ordered his troops to set fire to a gally and sail it into the Alexandrian harbor in an effort to destroy the harbor and their ships. The fire spread past the harbor, and poof! No more Great Library.

 

[Masquerouge]

Any evidence? I was taught it was destroyed in 642AD, by the Muslim invaders. Either way, it was certainly no longer functional by the 7th Century AD, and definitely not after the 13th, when Saladin purged Egypt of Sevener Shi'a texts.

Seriously, that's what you've been taught? I've always been taught that it was Caesar in 48BC.

Never heard of the controversy before I checked Wiki:

Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the destruction of the Library:

1. Julius Caesar's conquest in 48 BCE;
2. The attack of Aurelian in the Third century CE;
3. The decree of Theophilus in 391 CE;
4. The Muslim conquest in 642 CE or thereafter.

Each of these has been viewed with suspicion by other scholars as an effort to place the blame on particular actors. Moreover, each of these events is historically problematic. In the first case, there is clear evidence that the Library was not in fact destroyed at that time. The third episode is attested by no ancient authors, and was more or less "deduced" by Edward Gibbon from a single vague sentence written by Paulus Orosius that did not refer to the Serapeum at all.[10] The fourth episode was not documented by any contemporary source, although some maintain that the final destruction of the Library took place at this time.[11]