Exaggerated?

This is coolbert:

Barbarism on display. Libraries of repute for having collections of priceless books from  antiquity put to the torch during a time of war.

"put to the torch: To set fire to something with the intention of destroying it."

From the Internet web site "Live Science" the article by Tom Garlinghouse.

"The rise and fall of the Great Library of Alexandria"

"The famous library in Egypt flourished for six centuries and was the cultural and intellectual center of the ancient Hellenistic world before falling into ruin."

Julius Caesar long thought of having in a deliberate manner setting fire to the great library of Alexandria Egypt during the time of the Ptolemy dynasty. Value books on a variety of subjects not to be found anywhere else gone and forever!

The actions of a savage and barbarian with total disdain for civilization and learning of the highest order.

Even a history of world from 40,000 B.C. as attributed to the scholar Berossus gone. Irreplaceable!!

"Julius Caesar was accused by historians such as Plutarch and Seneca of starting a fire in Alexandria that burned the library to the ground, and for a long time modern historians accepted this version of events. The conflagration occurred during Caesar's occupation of the city in 48 B.C., a time when Caesar was fighting a civil war against his political rivals. According to the story, Caesar, besieged by his rivals, ordered his troops to set fire to enemy ships in the harbor. The historian Plutarch wrote, 'Caesar was forced to repel the danger by using fire, which spread from the dockyards and destroyed the Great Library.'"

"But the story is likely exaggerated, most historians now agree. There was a fire during Caesar's occupation, but it is believed that the library was largely unaffected, though some scrolls may have been burned. Historians cite evidence that the library survived by pointing to the writings of later visitors, such as the scholar Strabo, who mention using the library collections in their research."

EXAGGERATED? The fire did occur but was not set by Caesar in a deliberate manner nor was the damage so great as is generally believed.

Other libraries with literary works of inestimable value being destroyed during a time of war destruction quite overt and done consciously so without question to include:

Louvain. Belgium. World War One and World Two both!

Baghdad. Abbasid Caliphate. House of Wisdom. Mongols their hate and rage at all things civilized unmitigated!

Caesar his hands not entirely clean but not so excessively so? I am sure he is relieved!

coolbert.