Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Archaeologists Discover the Oldest Library in Germany

  1. #1
    Fantasy Peddler
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Kazimiera's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Last Online
    @
    Meta-Ethnicity
    Slavic / Germanic
    Ethnicity
    Caucasian
    Country
    South Africa
    mtDNA
    I1b
    Taxonomy
    West Baltid
    Religion
    Roman Catholic
    Relationship Status
    Married
    Age
    99
    Gender
    Posts
    26,401
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 35,591
    Given: 16,990

    2 Not allowed!

    Default Archaeologists Discover the Oldest Library in Germany

    Archaeologists Discover the Oldest Library in Germany

    Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/...ldest-library/



    Humans have always had a thirst for knowledge; archaeologists have found evidence of libraries from ancient Sumeria, where tablets and scrolls were shown to be ordered by subject, usually stored in a temple or royal palace.

    The most famous and largest library from the classical period is the Library of Alexandria in Egypt which existed during the 3rd century and was inspired by the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal. Neither of these libraries have survived, but the human quest for answers traces a thread through all civilizations.


    The ancient statue positioned in front of the Library of Alexandria (aka Bibliotheca Alexandrina or Maktabat al-Iskandarīyah) evoking the spirit of the original library.

    The ancient Greeks were avid collectors of books. Aristotle maintained such an impressive private library that it was one of the first to be extensively discussed in early texts. The Romans were also big fans of the library idea and kept vast, fascinating private collections and built public libraries not only in Rome but throughout the Empire.


    Ruins of the Library of Celsus in the ancient Greco-Roman city of Ephesus.

    The Cologne ruins were originally discovered in 2017 during an excavation of a Protestant church in the center of Cologne. The archaeologists working on the site knew the ruins were of Roman origin but have only recently identified its use as a library.

    Archaeologists who made the discovery are placing the library as far back as the 2nd century AD and say that it could have held as many as 20,000 scrolls.


    Cityscape of Cologne, Germany.

    The discovery looks set to become one of the earliest examples of a public library in Northern Europe. The excavation team from the Roman-Germanic Museum of Cologne were able to draw parallels from other ancient Roman libraries, such as the ancient library at Ephesus.

    The walls of the ruins in Cologne have niches carved into the walls where the scrolls would have been stored. Dr. Dirk Schmitz of the Roman-Germanic Museum of Cologne told the Guardian, “It took us some time to match up the parallels – we could see the niches were too small to bear statues inside. But what they are are kind of cupboards for the scrolls.”


    The walls of the ancient library have niches carved into the walls where scrolls would have been stored.

    Cologne has a long history as an important strategic location. It has been inhabited since 38 BC and became a Roman provincial city around 50 AD. Due to the age of the city, finding Roman ruins during an excavation is not surprising, however, the understanding that the building is a library has led to speculation that there may be many more libraries that have gone undiscovered.


    Cuneiform synonym list tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal. Neo-Assyrian period (934 BC – 608 BC).

    As Dr. Dirk Schmitz theories in The Guardian, “Perhaps there are a lot of Roman towns that have libraries, but they haven’t been excavated. If we had just found the foundations, we wouldn’t have known it was a library. It was because it had walls, with the niches, that we could tell.”



    The oldest working library in Germany is said to be the Bibliotheca Bardensis in Barth, Northern Germany, which is first mentioned in 1398. The oldest working library in the world is said to be Al-Qarawiyyin Library in Morocco which opened its doors in 859 AD and is still open to the public to this day.

    Another library that could claim the title is St. Catherine’s Monastery Library, a UNESCO world heritage site located on the foothills of Mount Sinai, which has existed since 565 AD and has the second largest collection of ancient manuscripts and codices, just behind the Vatican.

  2. #2
    Andid999
    Apricity Funding Member
    "Friend of Apricity"

    Annie999's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Last Online
    Yesterday @ 11:13 PM
    Location
    Uruguay
    Ethnicity
    Uruguayan
    Ancestry
    56% North Italy, 12% Spain, 12% Basque, 12% Lebanon, 6% France, 1% Native American
    Country
    Uruguay
    Y-DNA
    R1b-U152
    mtDNA
    H1e
    Taxonomy
    Alpine med
    Politics
    Centre-left
    Religion
    Agnostic - culturally Catholic
    Relationship Status
    Married parent
    Gender
    Posts
    4,706
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 7,056
    Given: 6,398

    1 Not allowed!

    Default

    Hi Kazimiera nice to see you back!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 21
    Last Post: 07-26-2019, 12:42 PM
  2. Archaeologists discover 15 structures buried around Stonehenge
    By microrobert in forum Megaliths & Prehistory
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-28-2014, 08:10 PM
  3. Replies: 6
    Last Post: 08-20-2010, 02:39 AM
  4. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-14-2010, 03:01 PM
  5. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 12-01-2009, 02:20 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •