Though very far from being as full as could be wished, the accounts of
libraries in Rome are more numerous than any relating to libraries in
other parts of the ancient world. Besides the collections of books made
by private persons, which in one or two instances were generously opened
to the public by the owner, there were the imperial libraries, and the
more strictly public libraries. Among the emperors whose names are
especially associated with the gathering and preservation of books are
Augustus, Tiberius and Trajan. Julius Cæsar had formed a scheme for the
establishment of a public library, but it is not clear whether it was
ever carried out or no. Domitian, to replace the library in the Capitol,
which had been destroyed, sent scholars abroad to collect manuscripts
and to copy some of those at Alexandria. Under Constantine the Roman
public libraries numbered twenty-nine, and were very frequently lodged
in the temples.
Last in point of date come the libraries of Byzantium, the city which
the Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. made the capital of the eastern
portion of the empire, and named after himself. He at once began to
gather books there, and his successors followed his example. Thus
various libraries were established, and those which survived the fires
which occurred from time to time in the city, existed until its capture
by the Turks in 1452. On this occasion, and also after the assault by
the Crusaders in 1203, the libraries probably suffered. It is said, too,
by some that Leo III. wantonly destroyed a large number of books, but
the assertion cannot be proved. Among the lost treasures of
Constantinople was "the only authentic copy" of the proceedings of the
Council of Nice, held in 325 A.D. to deal with the Arian heresy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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