Key Points:
• First book to address the creation, maintenance, and
use of libraries in ancient Greece, Italy, and Egypt
• Compares the functions of ancient book collections to those of modern libraries
• Includes papyrological, literary, archaeological, and epigraphical sources
• Of interest to both classical scholars and library historians
For Further Exploration:
• Explores the complex world of ancient libraries spanning four centuries from Cicero to Constantine
• Traces the science of libraries from ancient book roll, to specific Roman-era collections, to the equipment and personnel needed to tend to such collections
• Traces how individual manuscripts were brought together into small and large collections
• Studies collections of books as they can be reconstructed from papyri
• Explores connections between library collections, the rooms and buildings that housed them and the men who curated them
• Discusses how collections such as the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum on the Bay of Naples (chapter three) were chosen, assembled, organized, and maintained