Tale of Two cities: Alexandria and Nalanda
Recently, I found myself drawn into the stories of two great ancient places of learning: Alexandria in Egypt and Nalanda in India. One book told of a city that tried to gather all knowledge under one roof; the other described a place where knowledge was lived—where students stayed, debated, meditated, and grew together. In a curious turn of hi story, Alexander the Great has connections to both cities. In 331 BCE, after conquering Egypt, Alexander chose a modest coastal settlement and imagined something far larger— a cosmopolitan capital that would bind cultures together. Under Ptolemy I and especially his son, Ptolemy II , the Library of Alexandria became a bold experiment: to collect the world’s scrolls, to translate them, to preserve them, to expand them. At its height, it contained 400,000-700,000 scrolls. Scholars from distant lands arrived to study, translate, and exchange ideas. In 48 BCE, during the military campaign of Julius Caesar , fire swept parts of the city and de...