Chapter 10
Two Codices
Saturday
This morning I raked the front yard, showered and picked up
groceries for the week. I thought about last night, Christine and I
decided the movie portrayed people and places as so luxurious it had
to be a little over the top. But it was fun and I enjoyed a glimpse
of that time and place.
‘The Last Library’ was about Hypatia of Alexandria, the last
librarian of the Great Library in that city. I thought it proper to
see her also portrayed as a well-regarded teacher and scientist. The
movie was made in Greece. It presented a plausible style and look of
the times. It didn’t always agree with opinions about that time
that are held by present-day scholars; but the story was credible.
After lunch, there was an email from Mark with translations of two
more documents. I relaxed and read; immersed in my profession as it
was long-ago in Egypt.
Codex – translated by Mark
Miller, September 1995
The
Great Library
by Yarrl
When I came on the scene, the Great
Library had been collecting scrolls and codices and different kinds
of scientific experimental devices for more than 700 years, but the
original building had been destroyed before my time. Anything
rescued from it, and everything collected since, is now in the
Serapeum Temple-Library complex in Alexandria. Many still call it the
Great Library, and the collection has grown to the point it is
becoming difficult to find room for new codices.
If you asked about the size of the
collection, I would tell you we never had time to count it all up.
But when I look up at the night sky, it feels like there are as many
scrolls and codices as there are visible stars; but probably not as
many as the grains of sand on a beach in Alexandria.
The Great Library was built after
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and founded the city of
Alexandria. As his conquests expanded the known world, floods of new
materials were brought to the Library. Capabilities of staff to
acquire, catalog and store them all were sorely taxed.
It’s a fact that the librarians
did not take sides with any single view of nature, philosophy,
science or religion. Writings in every language were considered and
collected. Not everything was added, but if rejected it happened only
after an exhaustive review and discussion of the contents. Those
decisions were made far above my station. My orders were clear,
process it and pass it on.
Through these thorough and impartial
efforts, the collection includes everything we know of the world.
Scholars are able to think about and speculate upon all possibilities
germane to the nature of, and reasons for, human existence and the
cosmological order.
Every single acquisition is copied
by a scribe. Only the copies are available to readers. That is one
reason the collection is so huge. Copies for circulation are
vulnerable to the effects of handling, natural disasters and wars.
The originals are kept in an underground vault for preservation and
safety, in a cool, dry climate that helps preserve the papyrus and
parchment. The underground area is so big, it is easy to get lost
down there. It’s too bad neither the originals nor the copies are
able to escape the jaws of insects and rodents.
The basement was improved about five
hundred years ago when Archimedes figured out how to bring light into
the darkness by placement of mirrors to reflect and amplify light
from a well-placed opening in the ceiling. There is enough light to
walk the aisles, though not enough to read by. That light is as
helpful to the library staff as the Pharos Lighthouse, that sends
light over the city and to ships at sea, is to Alexandria.
Codex – translated by Mark
Miller, September 1995
The Nature of My Work
by Yarrl
I am often asked about my job in the
library and did I need training for it. My father, at Theon’s
urging, started my education with tutors in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and
Aramaic as soon as I could read. It was an expensive education that
only the well-connected could afford. After my father died, Theon
adopted me and planned my education. I could read, write and speak
fluently in all four languages by the age of 16. Theon and Hypatia
were strict disciplinarians; but the truth is I enjoyed learning very
much. Early on I knew I was being prepared for a life of service in
the Great Library, and I looked forward to the day I would be ready.
To be able to work in the Great Library was the highest honor my
elders could pay me.
I also studied the definitive manual
on bibliography by Callimachus, a standard work for all scholars and
aspiring librarians. Aristotle created a classification system, then
Callimachus developed a process for indexing each of Aristotle’s
categories.
My library career began when I
reached the age of 19. Because I was fluent in several languages, I
was assigned to an intake unit on the shipping docks in the eastern
harbor. It was near the palace where Cleopatra VII, one of the last
Ptolemic rulers, once lived. The palace is now reserved for
Alexandria’s civic government and visiting dignitaries.
My
unit was one of several in the Acquisition and Accession Center. More
than a hundred of us were packed into the warehouse, most were
beginning librarians like me. Only philosophers or scholars started
above the beginner’s level. I was lucky, as the adopted son of
Theon, to have my own room and meals in the Serapeum Temple-Library
complex, but Library tradition required I work my way up like
everyone else.
One
of my main tasks was to accession newly-acquired scrolls and codices.
Most were purchased from other libraries, book markets or individuals
in the Mediterranean area. Others were removed from ships by royal
decree. I occasionally got to board a ship and remove its load of
scrolls under the menacing scowl of an uninformed ship captain who
should have known any ship in port is duty bound on orders of the
Emperor to hand all scrolls over to the Library.
The
Library kept all scrolls that had been removed by royal decree, but
made copies that were given to the ships. Usually we could copy the
scrolls from a ship within one or two weeks while the ship was forced
to wait. This policy helped local shipyards, as captains sometimes
took advantage of a lengthy layover to make repairs.
Each
scroll that came to me had to be checked for completeness and
physical condition. If it was in poor condition I had to study the
contents and decide if making a copy was worthwhile, and if it was
then assign a scribe to copy it. If I decided it should be
accessioned I labeled it with date of acquisition, whether it came to
the library by ship or caravan, where it came from and who had
previously owned it.
With
my notes attached, the scroll or codex went to an assistant
cataloger. Where it went from there I was never sure about. I want to
make it clear that the catalogers really ran the library. They worked
in the main facility, had their own offices and even got to work with
the patrons.
Cataloging
an item took a long time. The primary author and authors of later
editorial corrections or comments had to be identified, and the
contents specifically described, along with the title. Every item had
to be read from beginning to end to determine whether it contained a
complete work; more than one work which was called mixed, or was an
incomplete work. If enough information was available, the cataloger
also compiled a biography of the author.
In
the final step, the scroll’s bibliographic information was arranged
in a certain way for inclusion in an update of the Library’s
catalog. When an update was completed, copies were produced by
library scribes and sold to smaller libraries across the Empire,
enriching the library’s coffers.
We
also traded catalogs with major libraries in Rome, Constantinople,
Antioch, Athens and Pergamon.
NEXT.....Chapter 11
No comments:
Post a Comment