ancient roman libraries

A couple of words can't do the subject justice so here we go with a few notes on ancient roman libraries:

The Romans were a notoriously practical culture. In comparison the Greeks were highly inquisitive of the world about them almost to the point of being interested in the mathematical method of this or that problem rather than its actual result. Great deals of knowledge were also amassed in Egypt which with its thousands of years of investigation had gathered a considerable body of knowledge in a number of scientific areas, including the heavens. The greatest library of the age was at the famous city of Alexandria in Egypt (see image).

Rome's strength in terms of knowledge per se obviously came from its economic wealth and position as centre of the Empire. The great wealth meant that many of the most learned men of the known world gravitated about the city. That is not to say that important centres of learning didn't exist elsewhere so much so that it was quite common from the end of the Repubblican period onwards to travel abroad to perfect your education in places such as Rhodes to gain your "Masters" degree in Oratory (not that there were such certificates at the time).

A particularly interesting episode occurred around the last quarter of the first century AD: Emperor Vespasian saw what a significant outflow of money this foreign schooling meant and proceeded to import many of the greatest tutors of the time at the state's expense. Vespasian's own son, the tyrant Diocletian is remembered even by his detractors for having made great efforts in ensuring that the city libraries should not be wanting of books (scrolls actually) and to have dispatches sent as far as Alexandria in search of this or the other rare text.

During the imperial period, from Caesar onwards, many public libraries were built in Rome to which we should add the libraries held in the villas of the rich. Emperor Augustus founded two libraries and a few others were built by his successor Tiberius and then the Colosseum's builder, Vespasian. Around 130AD Emperor Hadrian built a wonderful library in Athens.

A library worth particular note is that built by Emperor Trajan, just by his famous Trajan's column. Trajan's library was actually divided into two: one either side of the column. One half held texts written in Greek whilst the other held texts in Latin. The column itself is interesting because it is devised as a long scroll relating actual historical events.

Structure of Ancient Roman libraries

Ancient Roman libraries tended to be built into a semicircular room accessed by way of a portico. The library room was lit by natural light entering through the roof. The scrolls were kept in wooden boxes up the walls which could be accessed by way of wooden ladders and balconies. One or more tables towards the centre of the room were used for reading of the texts. Being scrolls they had to be unrolled in order to be read.

A scroll such as the famous tabula Petingeriana road map measured about a foot (35cm) in height and 23ft (7m) in length.

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"ancient roman libraries" was written by Giovanni Milani-Santarpia for www.mariamilani.com - Rome apartments