The Disappeared Library

About the Library of Alexandria — the most famous library of the Ancient World, created in the 3rd century BC with the goal of collecting «all the books of all peoples» (the founders estimated the task at approximately 500,000 scrolls) — we know surprisingly little, and even the word «library» is understood differently. Professor Canfora thoroughly reviews everything known about the Disappeared Library in his book and reconstructs its nine-century history.

Luciano Canfora (b. 1942) — an outstanding Italian historian and classical philologist, professor at the University of Bari, scientific coordinator of the School of Historical Sciences in San Marino. A person of boundless erudition, a recognized expert on antiquity, and an active proponent of interdisciplinary research methods; his works have repeatedly become the subject of heated debates in the scientific community. «The Disappeared Library» is the second book by L. Canfora in Russian; in 2012, his «Democracy. A History of an Ideology» was published in the series «The Formation of Europe».