The new edition of in writing from the Evangelical Library is currently going out
A blog featuring whatever I fancy, often on the Christian faith but not exclusively
A blog featuring whatever I fancy, often on the Christian faith but not exclusively
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This contains the text of Gary's excellent lecture on Libraries and their value.
In September Julia and I enjoyed the Day One tour of ‘The Seven Churches of Asia’. The visit to Pergamum was one of the highlights. Under the guidance of King Eumenes II, the city of Pergamum in Anatolia, (now Western Turkey) was transformed into a thriving, cosmopolitan metropolis. In around 170BC the King commissioned a library which was second only to that found in Alexandria. Scholars estimate that the library housed as many as 200,000 volumes. Works brought by visitors to Pergamum were copied by the library’s own team of translators and scribes, ensuring the collection was kept up-to-date and included knowledge from across the known world. Manuscripts were written on parchment, rolled, and then stored on the shelves. In fact, the word "parchment" itself is derived from Pergamum (via the Latin pergamenum and the French parchemin).
When the Kingdom of Pergamon fell to the Romans in the year 133BC, the library was plundered. According to one account, in 43BC, Mark Antony took the whole collection of 200,000 manuscripts and gave them to Cleopatra as a wedding gift.
It was quipped of me to my then wife to-be 'Will you have this man and his books'. She still has both after almost 45 years. God is good.
Thanks for this. Glad you enjoyed.
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