Introduction

This OpenLearn free course encourages you to reflect upon and critically assess the factors that shape what we know about antiquity, as well as offering some insight into how different approaches to antiquity – whether through texts, material culture, or modern receptions – can work together. It is important to be aware of how studying the ancient world is always, at heart, an interdisciplinary endeavor, a fact which the case study in this free course demonstrates particularly well. You will explore the ancient Library of Alexandria, a great institution of learning and scholarship founded by the Ptolemaic rulers of Alexandria in the 3rd century BCE.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Understand the ancient and modern significance of the Library of Alexandria
• Critically assess the evidence in the different accounts of its destruction
• Understand the ways in which different modern contexts and ideologies shape our interpretations of historical events.