Who Destroyed The Library of Alexandria? | The Rest is History

Step back in time with renowned historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland as they embark on an enthralling journey to explore the enigmatic tale of the Library of Alexandria's destruction. Join them as they uncover the who, what, and why behind one of history's greatest losses. #LibraryOfAlexandria #DominicSandbrook #TomHolland

[@restishistorypod]

Our first attempt at a KZbin version of the podcast. Let us know your thoughts!

[@nikitameo8711]

Perfect! Love to see the banter!

[@Secretname951]

To me it’s largely irrelevant, I mostly listen to KZbin rather than watch. As long as they are still listenable I’m happy and it it makes other people happy and let’s you put out more podcasts then great! Maybe I’ll look at the screen occasionally but I’ll mostly be listening.

[@MansaHere]

Love this form! Please keep it up.

[@GoofyHistorians]

Great!

[@good_boy_13]

video >>> audio

[@besk1]

Great things about this format: - The overlay of pictures really adds depth to the discussion which we don't usually get with the audio only version (as illuminating and imagination stirring as that is!) - it feels as though Dom and Tom are in the same room, having a conversation, which I am sure they're not but perfectly suits their style - I hope the fact the video is there doesn't make them feel self conscious or affect the flow of discussion too much, because they are truly some of the best in the medium at this; knowing when it is their turn to speak and almost never talking over each other but flowing perfectly in sync. Thanks so much for bringing this to us!!

[@barrylyons9296]

I had no idea that Dominic had a face. How wondeful? Perennial excellence. Thank you boys.

[@iandupont3244]

Just watching this after listening for over 2 years on the podcast. And for some reason I had attached the voices and faces the other way around. This is extremely disconcerting :), like a learned Face-off.

[@LeandroCapstick]

Best podcast ever, glad to see more activity on KZbin.

[@gregharshman351]

Ive only recently learned about The Rest is History podcast and ive been spamming all the episodes before my vacation to Rome and Greece I am so excited for this trip! Listening to the history of these places with Tom and Dom has been fantastic!!! Happy I found this!

[@maxcasteel2141]

I mostly listen to the podcast on Spotify because I'll listen on my way to work, but I really do enjoy what you guys do on youtube and getting to go back and refresh my memory with some nice visuals. Keep it up gents

[@kristophergregory2689]

Been listening to the pod for a while, absolutely love it. It’s always crazy when you see people for the first time after hearing their voices for so long. You both look nothing like I was expecting you to! Your banter, wit and tone of voice always came across as someone younger for some reason. In hindsight it’s no surprise given you’re depth of knowledge and intelligence. Absolutely love the pod!

[@starbelly2000]

I was going to write a similar post, but I think yours will do just fine. Wholeheartedly agree!

[@janscott9151]

Very enjoyable. I like the one person at a time shot rather than having you both on screen at a time. I love the graphics inserts. Great effort. And of course the content was excellent.

[@MansaHere]

Love this podcast form of The Rest Is History! Keep it up please.

[@mencken8]

Always a good subject for a YT video, where the ultimate answer = “We’ll never know.”

[@kevinbutler94]

The visuals add so much to the story, please carry this on if possible

[@bone0101]

Please more of this. I love the insertion of graphics into the video and to SEE two men talking about these subjects.

[@garyn3323]

A great format for youtube. Please keep the longer audio format going. I'm a recent convert to your podcasts and listen as I work on renovating our house. Up to podcast 104 so far, so few more to go. Still a lot of house to work on so keep them coming plz.

[@joannamoore4477]

I love being able to see “ my history guys “ . I am so used to just their voices and great to see their faces . I just binged the shorts . I will watch / listen to anything from T&D . I have listened to Doms audio book

[@Ozgipsy]

Guys…this is a great format. Excellent.

[@seebasschipman293]

Love the KZbin version. Just adding your faces makes a big difference, and I imagine it will help with the algorithm as well

[@cathyfourie3323]

Love the visuals and seeing your passion for history we could only hear.

[@Dundien-ix4kd]

I think it is a great idea, i read Dominic’s book on Alexander the Great but this video cleared all my remaining questions

[@stephenbulman6353]

What a great idea to have you now on KZbin. Looking forward to seeing more of this.

[@jasonwaite5056]

Really enjoyed this format. The pictures absolutely complement the podcast. More please!

[@moreliarodriguez4482]

I love it. Thanks so much for starting the YT channel.. Huge fan here.

[@PrincipledUncertainty]

I can imagine a teacher having to explain to their class what a library is. Much to Mother's equal pride and dismay, my family ate dinner with books open at the table. Now everyone is sneaking glances at their phone to see if they have received a virtual pat on the head from a stranger in Finland. My father left school at 14, which was expected for a working class lad in those days, and yet he is better read than almost every academic I know. Where this leads us I daren't imagine, but I doubt it's somewhere good.

[@kevinreynolds8755]

Love the podcast been listening for about 2 years now. I have to admit I thought of history as a bit boring until I came across your podcast, now I'm disappointed you haven't given up your personal lives and gave us atleast 2 episodes a day! Keep up the great work 👍

[@MrLoz1993]

If there was Rest Is History merch i'd absolutely buy it. Absolute lads!

[@dollysprint8923]

This is great. The visuals were very well-chosen

[@oliverrelf6980]

Love the podcast since I discovered it about a year ago but I’ve always thought you could do a video version. Glad to see you’re trying this, keep it up!

[@TheMechanic626]

Dom's library looks fantastic.

[@Jacob-sb3su]

love this format. please keep doing it!

[@Simzoid]

I have listened to this podcast religiously (Tom will be pleased to hear) since the very first episode came out. The option to watch and view, however, is genuinely a game changer. Wouldn’t prevent me from listening, but might be inclined to watch when chilling at home.

[@thebagelsproductions]

Good stuff, lads! Keep it coming

[@Sion67Productions]

Excellent! These could really compliment the full episodes, and maybe even pull in some new listeners once the clips win them over

[@chrisyoung3675]

Didn't realise the length of it so watched while washing up. Good format, useful images and good candour. It will be very useful for episodes on wars battles for deployment images and hierarchical structures. Perhaps on primary sources to be shown as well. Good idea keep up the excellent work

[@orfious]

More of this please 🙏 I love the podcast, but it's great to have some visual aids. It really helps to understand and retain the information. Some videos on the 100 years war would be amazing

[@richardmead4272]

You guys are addictive. First a great podcast, now YT videos. Fascinating!

[@aarishshaheen3500]

Great to see you both!

[@MikeAllo-j3s]

Love the podcasts and loved this KZbin version 👍🏻

[@garymiller_85]

Really enjoyed this. Enigmatic Tom, not acknowledging the camera, whilst Dom the odd sly glance!

[@Airbuzz]

What a treat, it's so nice to see you! 👍

[@fillythesurvivor873]

I like this format boys keep it up 👍🏾

[@malgorzatajakubowska-chaab3613]

Great idea, I loved the podcast before and now even more

[@martindacosta4755]

Love it. More and more please.

[@bamhogans]

Are the pictures as devoted to accuracy/objectivity as Tom and Dominic's prepared dialogue? Perhaps the most critical value of TRIH is this Objectivity, neutral view which acknowledges the unknown, the conflicts, and the possible faults in information. To maintain this, its important the media is given the same acknowledged critique. Love this though. And Love the show!

[@prawnenpointe2579]

This has left me intrigued just what happened to the Library of Alexandria? Where is the collection now?

[@yawnskidsberry3209]

I like the format !! Anything visual helps but the content is always top notch for

[@Calum_1940]

Well this is a treat. Nice addition to the podcast.

[@GraceKugrena]

Love this… was hoping that you guys would post a youtube version of the podcast! Love you guys and an Uber fan of the rest is history! 🎉

[@COl-rn5th]

Great initiative having the youtube version! It could only be better if you were in Amsterdam or other wacky in loco recording location.

[@karlfran0404]

This is great. I had no idea you did the KZbin although I’ve been listening to your podcast for ages. Keep going

[@adelegeras3532]

This is lovely but it means sitting down, and looking and paying attention! I shall continue to listen as I walk ….much more intimate! Bu5 nice to have it as a resource to come back to!

[@rolfselas]

This is absolutely incredible

[@marywoolley-nb7ct]

I hadn’t heard your podcast but I have really enjoyed this KZbin episode and I have subscribed immediately.

[@SterlingHolcomb-db9fc]

Thank u for your work!

[@fe6767]

Did I miss something? Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland debunk 3 theories on who destroyed the Library of Alexandria (though the debunking of the Christians as the culprits was the weakest - Christian copyists preserved lots of ancient texts, therefore, no Christians could have destroyed the library) but there was no mention of what they do believe happened.

[@animalcart4128]

This video will help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2W6hmudpteaqbMsi=2ugyADo_XDGvJaBx It started happening in Ancient Rome. Plutarch and Gellius seem to oversimplify the end of the library by saying Caesar did it. It's an easy and dramatic story so it appealed to people. Then some folks in the Middle Ages blamed the invading Muslims for their own rhetorical purposes. Then Edward Gibbon and Carl Sagan blamed the Christians because of their own bias. It got fictionalized multiple times

[@ishtarg8]

As I remember, in the podcast, which may have been longer, they suggested there was no cataclysmic moment of destruction , just a steady attrition caused by indifference and poor maintenance over a number of years or even decades.More boring than than some catastrophic fire, but perhaps more likely.

[@janeaustenist]

Yes more please!

[@Alidadadar]

great going guys... love the podcast but with physical copies od documents, photos and stuff... brings a lot more depth :)

[@moseshamlett3887]

Jolly Good Sirs! Hoorah for Libraries!

[@angelasalpistis2031]

Please add some more! Wonderful

[@silviacudich6731]

You’re definitely my most favorite historians!!!

[@brookemason4202]

I'm obsessed kings! 👑👑👑 Pls do more !!!

[@BookTimewithElvis]

Wonderful so glad to see you've done this. 😄👍

[@Misfits822]

Will this be a full episode gents!

[@susanmackay66]

Love it! Keep it up. Absolutely love the podcast. Riveting.

[@MyTripToThePhilippines]

When Dubai held its recent EXPO it appeared so much better than I ever expected it would. The architecture was beautiful, the participation from around the world was wonderful. I have, personally, been involved in the design of Expos and World Fairs - I've worked for some of the largest design, media and film companies in the world. As Dubai's Expo was drawing to a close I wrote them, several times, encouraging them to preserve its concept, but to take it even further. I used "Alexandria" as a reference, several times, to suggest that their Expo site, with all its wonderful buildings, could be converted into an international university, something Walt Disney (another visionary) was imagining his EPCOT might become. A setting to encourage a sharing of knowledge, international communication, "world peace". My communications with them were a vain hope on my part. Instead, the Expo closed down, and the setting has become a real estate area for future living type buildings. A rare opportunity, I believe, was lost, sadly, in my opinion.

[@harukrentz435]

You forgot that youre dealing with the arabs. Since the ottomans forbade the circulation of printing books in their territory, the arab and muslim world are yet to recover.

[@bjones8470]

Unfortunately unlike the ancient world ours isn’t a civilization that celebrates culture and scholarship

[@tommatthews7982]

This was brilliant! New sub right here 👌🏻 keep it up guys 👏🏻

[@makekikkeli2699]

I've always imagined your looks to match the cover image of David and Churchill, and it turns out to be pretty accurate!

[@s.mohammadmirlohi9864]

It's nice to see you guys

[@henkvandergaast3948]

I am not sure we can cope with your heads,, Great podcast

[@JenniferBECKETT-py8vl]

Thankyou so much for this. I love it

[@calmkate8]

interesting research and presentation, kudos!

[@mig539]

Goats 🐐

[@stephenclark6263]

Great stuff!

[@afwalker1921]

Were I able to walk about the Great Library of Alexandria, every book would be closed to me, and I have studied Koine Greek. The past is another planet. I don't know enough about that world to make sense of anything from back then...

[@delaclos3787]

Excellent stuff

[@MyTripToThePhilippines]

I sometimes wonder if we haven't 'today' created a new Library of Alexandria by how we are recording and preserving everything. An historian once asked me, and the small audience I was in, what will last longer, what would endure over time? And he held up two images, one of a stone with words carved into it, the other image was of a flash drive. The stone, of course, was the answer. As everything that is digital can conceivably be wiped out in a second under the right circumstances - making everything we know, all that we've preserved, lost, forever. What would Gibbon say then?

[@adavis5926]

Enough EMP or a once in a million year's monstrous solar flare and we're all back to stone.

[@bradthompson1763]

Americans LOVE history pods narrated by The Brits It just feels more official

[@harrybrayne6044]

Just have to agree with most of the comments below. Would love to see more of this, guys!

[@aarondavis8943]

The Oliver Stone film did quite a good job of recounting Alexander's history. Probably the most accurate Hollywood epic of the ancient world.

[@BenB199]

More of this please

[@andywomack3414]

Did the library survive the tsunami of 365 CE? That is a fact of history rarely mentioned about the story of Alexandria.

[@leolovetoparty]

The title should read "Who *Didn't* Destroy The Library of Alexandria?" I guess it self destructed, right?

[@chrisyoung3675]

You both look quite sad at the destruction of Alexandria in your banner for the vid. I'm watching next week while I work away as usual will give full review then!

[@michaelbedford8017]

'Boost for Birdsburg!!'

[@donaldcatton4028]

Fabulous…TRIH is the finest thing period…

[@billdavies8018]

Absolutely love it!

[@markthornton7347]

please tell me...I always read they don't know where his body is, yet you say he was buried in Alexandria.....how do you know this? also when you talk about the Arab muslims maybe destroying the library that had to be after 617 ad, the library was burned when?

[@thumper8684]

Two more suspects. The emperor Caracella did a bit of slaughter in Alexandia. Maybe he did for the library in passing. Alexandria was built on a river delta, and those are prone to shifting channels and sandbanks. Maybe when the place was not so prosperous people got careless with flood defence.

[@tannerprince9730]

Holy sheeeeeeet thanks for this omg so cooooool

[@danielwhitford1800]

Top preview.

[@benjaminblakemore9704]

P.S. we dont all live in Aukland boys. Please come to christchurch 😢😢😢😢😢

[@dennisbenn2065]

this is perfect

[@rodrigodepierola]

The library (there were two) did not disappear in one event. It was just run down over time and lack of funding. There's very possibly not "destruction".

[@carlossaraiva8213]

What? You guys have faces?? Who knew! Will wonders ever cease?

[@patscott8612]

Maybe it was during a cost of living crisis the late fees enraged Alexandrians.

[@ingrid20234]

Humans can be so destructive. I struggle to understand that need to destroy which is so prevalent in the human psyche.

[@JeneeHenry]

MORE MORE MORE!!!!

[@timfromnongkhai9702]

Do it do it more!

[@paullewis2413]

So we shall never know who destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria.

[@KvltKrist]

Still waiting on the YT videos!

[@johnnydavis5896]

Who do you think is the most likely suspect?

[@Dominic-mm6yf]

Possibly lost its status and prestige towards Cleopatras time and the dumming down of Rome from the mid 3rd century.Oddly enough the monks actually preserved many classical texts.