{"product_id":"the-vanished-library-a-wonder-of-the-ancient-world-hellenistic-culture-and-society-7","title":"The Vanished Library – A Wonder of the Ancient World (Hellenistic Culture and Society ; 7)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Library of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the Ancient World, has haunted Western culture for over 2,000 years. The Ptolemaic kings of Egypt—successors of Alexander the Great—had a staggering ambition: to house all of the books ever written under one roof, and the story of the universal library and its destruction still has the power to move us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut what was the library, and where was it? Did it exist at all? Contemporary descriptions are vague and contradictory. The fate of the precious books themselves is a subject of endless speculation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCanfora resolves these puzzles in one of the most unusual books of classical history ever written. He recreates the world of Egypt and the Greeks in brief chapters that marry the craft of the novelist and the discipline of the historian. Anecdotes, conversations, and reconstructions give \u003ci\u003eThe Vanished Library\u003c\/i\u003e the compulsion of an exotic tale, yet Canfora bases all of them on historical and literary sources, which he discusses with great panache. As the chilling conclusion to this elegant piece of historical detective work he establishes who burned the books.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis volume has benefited from the collegial support of The Wake Forest University Studium.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1990\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 205\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e University of California Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780520072558\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £2.39","offer_id":47911995670705,"sku":"SB-0520072553-C3","price":2.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/0520072553.jpg?v=1789694750","url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-vanished-library-a-wonder-of-the-ancient-world-hellenistic-culture-and-society-7","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}