Rhodes’ library
Main information
Location / SiteRhodes |
Chronological era4th c. BC – AD 1st c. |
Periods
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Identifying features
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Contents
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Sourth-Eastern part of the acropolis of Rhodes (drawing A. Emery after W. Hoepfner and G. Coqueugniot). The sanctuary of Apollo Pythios was approached from the city through several monumentalized terraces, adorned with athletic, and cultural buidlings.
View of Rhodes’ stadium and its terrace, from the South (photo G. Coqueugniot). In the foreground, the stadium’s seatings and tracks. In the background, the reconstructed odeon and retaining wall with niches, sometimes identified with the library.
View of the archaeological park in the south-est of Rhodes’ acropolis seen from the terrace below the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios (photo G. Coqueugniot, 2017). In the foreground, the Hellenistic odeon. In the right corner, the stadium. The large unbuilt space in the background corresponds to the location of the gymnasium.
The building north of the odeon of Rhodes, from the South-East (photo G. Coqueugniot). The wall with niches and the odeon were reconstructed in 1938-1940. The building’s three other walls were razed at foundation level.
The remains north of the odeon of Rhodes, considered as a library by W. Hoepfner (photo G. Coqueugniot). The wall with niches, abutting the rocky slope of the acropolis, was reconstructed by Italians in 1938-1940. Low walls in the foreground are modern constructions delimiting non-excavated sectors.
View from the middle terrace of the acropolis of Rhodes, to the North-East (photo G. Coqueugniot). In the foreground, the odeon. Behind, the space considered by W. Hoepfner as a reading hall for the library. This room’s retaining walls were reconstructed in 1938-39. In the middle of this space, a large hole with bramble was created by the collapse of a cistern.
View of Rhodes stadium’s terrace, from the North-East (photo G. Coqueugniot). Outside of the picture in the south, was the stadium. In the background, the odeon and the building with niches. The northern part of the terrace has not been excavated. It is in this part that was found the library’s third inscription, after heavy rains.
Drawing of the inscribed catalogue of Rhodes’ library (A. Maiuri 1925), surrounded by its French translation (G. Coqueugniot).
Presentation
Although its location is still under debate, the Hellenistic library of Rhodes is securely attested by three fragmentary inscriptions. They give an exceptional testimony on the workings and contents of a municipal library in the 2nd century BCE.
Identifying features
Three fragmentary inscriptions from the 2nd c. BCE (more information, in French) discovered on the Rhodian acropolis attest the presence of a public library in the city. These inscriptions, a catalogue of works and decrees of operation, give us precious information on the contents and working of this library, and on its links with the city’s gymnasium.
History of the library
All the available sources on the library date from the second half of the 2nd c. BCE. They are probably linked to the foundation of the library or to formalise the rules in an already established library. We do not have any information on the evolution of the library through time.
Location
The library was probably in the neighbourhood of the city’s main gymnasium, located at the foot of the acropolis, East of the stadium (more information, in French). There, citizens and foreigners received an athletic and intellectual formation well-attested in ancient literature. The library’s exact location remains uncertain.
Architecture and internal fittings
The remains in the terrace north of the stadium are scanty and only partially explored. In 2002, W. Hoepfner proposed to identify the library with a group of two rooms near the odeon, north-west of the stadium. This identification is however doubtful as it is based on the heavy reconstruction of remains in the 1930s and raises important problems in its organisation (more information, in French)
Place of the library in the society
Rhodes’ library was a public institution under the responsibility of gymnasiarchs, who were rich citizens in charge of gymnasia and the education of young citizens. It was maintained and enlarged by gifts from citizens and rich foreigners, including kings and dynasts.
Functioning and activities
The library seems to have been opened to a non-professional literate audience, maybe for educational purposes as part of the gymnasium. The books mentioned in the catalogue correspond to a library used by Rhodian rhetorical schools, which were famous in the Hellenistic period (more information, in French). The library’s holdings could be consulted in situ, but it was forbidden to take them out of the building. There was also a direct, albeit still obscure, link between the library and some kinds of public archives in the city.
Contents of the library
None of the original library holdings have been retrieved, but a fragmentary catalogue gives us a glimpse at its contents: Classical and Hellenistic books of rhetoric and political philosophy (more information, in French).
Links with other libraries or centres of knowledge
Unknown.
Bibliography
- Coqueugniot G., 2013, Archives et bibliothèques dans le monde grec. Édifices et organisation. Ve siècle avant notre ère – IIe siècle de notre ère, Oxford, BAR, p. 134-136.
- Rosamilia E., 2014, ‘Biblioteche a Rodi all’epoca di Timachidas’, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, serie 5, 6/1, p. 325-361.
Notice
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-bibliotheque-ecoles/
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-chronique-de-lindos/
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-bibliothequeinscriptions/
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-bibliotheque-catalogue/
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-bibliotheque-contexte-topographique/
http://nimrod.huma-num.fr/development-pages/rhodes-bibliotheque-architecture/
Greece
/ 4th c. BC – AD 1st c. / Hellenistic