| | ______- on June 13, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Library fires have always been tragedies – just as...
How much data was the Library of Alexandria? A gigabyte? I ask because I see sites disappearing off the net all the time. I've even seen sites being shut down because of the pandemic. Some people got COVID and were financially drained and couldn't afford the $15.00 it takes to renew a domain along with a bare minimum hosting bundle. It's very sad to witness. Archive.org's Wayback Machine is doing a great job, but even that is problematic since we don't know how long even that will be around, and we might need an archival site that backs up Wayback! |  | | jhgb on June 13, 2021 | next [–]
I'd guesstimate that a scroll could contain something like 33 kB of text (in modern equivalent single-byte encoding with inter-word spaces), since the Iliad is divided into 24 "books" (presumably scrolls - the division may even have taken place in Alexandria itself!), has around 120000 characters, and the average Greek word length as per https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1076/jqul.8.3.175.409... is around 5.5 (add 1 for inter-word spaces). Assuming there were 400000 of such scrolls in the library (that seems to be a higher end estimate), it comes out as something like 12 GB. | | | | marc_abonce on June 13, 2021 | parent | next [–]
I imagine that the biggest bulk of data would come from illustrations, though. The first example that occurs to me is Euclid's Elements. | | | | jhgb on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
That would probably depend on what percentage of scrolls contained illustrations in the first place. | | | | zozbot234 on June 13, 2021 | parent | prev | next [–]
Apparently, the whole Library of Congress collection would take up 10 petabytes of storage, give or take. So the size of the Library of Alexandria can be very roughly assessed at 1.2 microLoC's. | | | | steelbrain on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
Some archives store books in image format in addition to text, is that 10 petabytes of pure text? | | | | AlotOfReading on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
The LoC has extensive media collections besides the books. The textual collection is on the order of 10 terabytes of data though, not petabytes. | | | | sasaf5 on June 14, 2021 | root | parent | prev | next [–]
For a moment I was wondering what a micro Line of Code is... then I noticed the mention to the Library of Congress. | | | | ______- on June 13, 2021 | parent | prev | next [–]
Thanks, wow you could keep it on a 16gb USB flash drive! | | | | slver on June 13, 2021 | prev | next [–]
Comparing the Library of Alexandria with random web sites is unwarranted. Libraries are curated.And websites who can't afford hosting, and there's hosting for $5 these days, BTW, self-curate themselves out of existence. | | | | Hayarotle on June 13, 2021 | parent | next [–]
> And websites who can't afford hosting, and there's hosting for $5 these days, BTW, self-curate themselves out of existence.It is not a given that the more a website can afford hosting the better quality they are. For example, many good-quality websites die because the webmasters themselves died (and thus cannot keep hosting the website), and meanwhile there are endless examples of SEO-bait content farms that provide little value, but can easily afford hosting. This means this "self curation" ends up curating for newer websites better ranked in search engines, which would be the online analogue of libraries having no books from before 2000, and being full of modern day magazines and newspapers of dubious quality. Were Beowulf a website, how long would its owner be able to host it? | | | | jhgb on June 13, 2021 | parent | prev | next [–]
> Libraries are curated.Generally, yes. But does Library of Alexandria count as such if officials were confiscating all the books on ships arriving to Alexandria, putting them in the library, and only returning copies to the ship crews and passengers (once these were furnished)? To me, Library of Alexandria in a way was the Internet Archive of the ancient world. | | | | cperciva on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
It was curated, but not by the Librarians of Alexandria. The curation was done by travellers who decided that particular books were important enough to bring with them. | | | | saalweachter on June 14, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
Incidentally I've imagined the Librarians scrambling to grab books from the shelves as the Library burned, and wondered if they would have actually "saved" anything.The idea being, anything the librarians thought worth saving probably existed in other libraries, and would be more likely to have multiple copies survive to this day. Meanwhile, if they grabbed some book of third-tier poetry at random, that would be more likely to be a unique volume. | | | | jhgb on June 16, 2021 | root | parent | prev | next [–]
Along the same lines you could argue that any book collection is being curated by writers, as it's the writers who decide what books are important enough to write. | | | | ______- on June 13, 2021 | parent | prev | next [–]
> Comparing the Library of Alexandria with random web sites is unwarranted. Libraries are curatedI wasn't trying to compare, just making an analogy / metaphor. As in: how many libraries of Alexandria do we lose each day on the web? Because it it's too high a number, then the web is fundamentally broken. > And websites who can't afford hosting, and there's hosting for $5 these days, BTW, self-curate themselves out of existence But it shouldn't have to be like that. I've seen some real gems out there that disappeared and weren't backed up on Wayback. Literally all the owner needed was $5 as you say and the site could continue. | | | | dasyatidprime on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
There's some complexifiers to this that seem worth recognizing, especially since the "financially drained" that was mentioned was pandemic-related and therefore is likely part of a broader cluster of problems:1. $5 and tail risk. Even if your financial hardship isn't that bad, if it's still making things more unpredictable, that could be $5 plus a cascade of overdraft fees one day. If things are worse, of course, it could also be your last meal for the month, or your last chance to not go homeless. Better get rid of any expense you can. 2. $5 and executive function. The payment card you were using expired. Are you going to remember to update the info when you're in constant low-grade panic or depression? 3. Relatedly to (2), $5 if you can get to that point in the first place. Maybe you had your site hosted on something more expensive, for… whatever reason. Now you have to remember how to transfer all the files and hope everything still works, and so on. 4. Kind of like (3), $5 except for the more-expensive domain name that seemed like a good idea at the time. Oops. Where are you going to move to? Will anyone be able to find it afterwards anyway? 5. $5 and relationship overhead. Which of these five-dollar hosters are trustworthy? Will they stay that way? There's probably more. If we care about preserving the independent Web, these sorts of problems definitely present themselves over the long run. I'm theoretically an affluent-by-many-standards technologist, but I've had issues over time that resulted in my previous sites going splat and just… couldn't really pull together what it would take to revive them, and wasn't that motivated. Decentralization of maintenance-energy overall while having individual sites relying on one or a few people has real inefficiencies that way if permanency is valuable. | | | | slver on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | prev | next [–]
> As in: how many libraries of Alexandria do we lose each day on the web? Because it it's too high a number, then the web is fundamentally broken.If your brain remembered every piece of information it stumbled upon, you'd cease to function before your first birthday. Your computer would be out of RAM before it gets past its BIOS check. And your HDD would get filled to capacity in less than a week and become inoperable. The web doesn't have to preserve everything. 99% of everything is garbage, and I'm being conservative. Forgetting is an essential capability, and we should focus on quality, not quantity. | | | | wolverine876 on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
Ironically, you've said something worth remembering. | | | | slver on June 13, 2021 | root | parent | next [–]
It's fine, we reinvent it every day from first principles. | | | | nindalf on June 13, 2021 | parent | prev | next [–]
It's possible to set up static hosting for free. I actually saved $5 (+1$ tax) a month by doing that. | | | | generalizations on June 14, 2021 | prev [–]
Relatedly, did we ever figure out what was in that collection? I vaguely remember hearing that the book list was recovered. | | | FAQs
Apparently, the whole Library of Congress collection would take up 10 petabytes of storage, give or take. So the size of the Library of Alexandria can be very roughly assessed at 1.2 microLoC's.
How much information did the Library of Alexandria have? ›
The earliest surviving figure, from the 3rd century bce, is reported as “more than 200,000 books,” whereas the medieval text of John Tzetzes mentions “42,000 books in the outer library; in the inner (Royal) Library 400,000 mixed books, plus 90,000 unmixed books.” A still higher estimate of 700,000 was reported between ...
How much was actually lost in the Library of Alexandria? ›
Seneca (the first to mention a number) says that 40,000 libri were destroyed. Gellius and Ammianus, using a different source than Livy, record the loss of 700,000 volumina.
How much data is in the Library of Congress? ›
The Library of Congress' digital collections are dynamic; they continually grow and change as new content is acquired, processed, and made available. In 2022, the Library managed 21 petabytes of digital collection content, comprising 914 million unique files.
How big was the Great Library? ›
Size: The Library of Alexandria was the largest library of the ancient world, with estimates ranging from 40,000 to 700,000 scrolls, depending on the source. This was significantly larger than other libraries of the time.
What is the biggest library in the world? ›
The Library of Congress, founded in 1800, is a book lover's dream. With 164 million items and 1,350 kilometers of bookshelves, it's the world's largest library.
How advanced would we be if the Library of Alexandria did not burn? ›
It is thought that if it was not destroyed the human being might have been more advanced in science, technology, literature, arts, and culture. The Library of Alexandria was not only the largest learning center of its time but the first of its kind.
Did we actually lose anything from the Library of Alexandria? ›
No we didn't. The vast majority of the books in the Library of Alexandria were copies. As in, other copies and the originals existed elsewhere and continued to exist elsewhere long after the library was destroyed.
Did anything survive from the Library of Alexandria? ›
No, no known scrolls survive from the Library of Alexandria, although it possible that some are in existence. The library's collection, its physical locations, and its associated institutions were deliberately damaged multiple times, meaning that the scrolls would have been burned, pillaged, or disseminated over time.
Which book holds the record for being the most stolen? ›
Answer: The “Guinness Book of World Records” holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries. (Thanks to Sam Harrod of Eureka for the fact.) Interestingly, reports one library employee in Bloomington, the Bible is right up there for being “stolen” as well.
One petabyte is equal to one quadrillion bytes, which is 1 million gigabytes, or 1,000 terabytes. Some estimates hold that a Petabyte is the equivalent of 20 million tall filing cabinets or 500 billion pages of standard printed text.
What is bigger, a terabyte or a petabyte? ›
In fact, there are several storage levels that are bigger than terabytes. Like all of the other units, they are each 1,000 times larger than the level below them: Petabyte (1,000 terabytes) Exabyte (1,000 petabytes)
How many TB is the Library of Congress? ›
The printed material collection of the Library of Congress is about 10 terabytes. Printed text does not take up much storage space. High-resolution photos, videos and music files use much more storage space.
What destroyed the library of Alexandria? ›
According to Plutarch, the first person to blame is Julius Caesar. On his pursuit of Pompey into Egypt in 48 BCE, Caesar was cut off by a large fleet of Egyptian boats in the harbor of Alexandria. He ordered the boats to be burned. The fleet was destroyed, but the flames spread to the city and the library.
Is the Library of Congress bigger than the Library of Alexandria? ›
Until its destruction, perhaps at the hands of Julius Caesar, the Library reflected and helped to generate a transforming wave of inquiry and enlightenment throughout the ancient world. Our own Library of Congress is today the largest library in the world and, at least notionally, it has comparably grand ambitions.
How many years of knowledge was lost in Alexandria? ›
With the burning of this library, it was said that the library lost over half a million scrolls and books accounting inventions and history. This number is often disputed, but it goes to show the magnitude of this fire. Some people like to claim that the Burining of Alexandria set humanity back 1,000 years.
How many texts did the Library of Alexandria have? ›
The Library quickly acquired many papyrus scrolls, owing largely to the Ptolemaic kings' aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts. It is unknown precisely how many scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.
What did the Great Library of Alexandria contain? ›
Many important works came from the scholars at the library. Callimachus created the first library catalog ever; Eratosthenes of Cyrene calculated the circumference of the Earth with astounding accuracy; and many Greek and Roman works and texts used by scholars today were produced at Alexandria.
Was there anything important in the Library of Alexandria? ›
The library held many documents from across the ancient world. Sources such as Assyria, Persia, India, and other cultures of the time were found in the library. Many have been lost for all time with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, making the lost collection a lost treasure of information.
Did any documents survive from the Library of Alexandria? ›
Since we do not have a surviving catalogue of the contents of the library, we cannot say. It is however very likely that the library contained a great deal of classical Greek literature that we know to be lost, like most of the body of Greek tragedy and Greek comedy. There was most likely some lost Aristotle as well.
