[DeaconBenjamin]

The story that Theophilus destroyed a library is clearly a fiction that we can very precisely lay at the door of Edward Gibbon. It is in his monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that we first find the allegation made. Gibbon seems mainly concerned to clear the Arabs of the responsibility of destroying the library and allows his marked anti-Christian prejudice to cloud his better judgement. His excellent footnotes show he had exactly the same sources as we do but drew the wrong conclusions.

From The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria
http://www.bede.org.uk/library.htm

[weikel]

The Arabs destroyed the last of it and Julius Caesar destroyed part of it( not intentionally) during the siege of Alexandria. Im not ready to clear the mob led by the Bishop of Alexandria of all blame are you saying that mob didn't exist?

[A. Pole]

The story that Theophilus destroyed a library is clearly a fiction that we can very precisely lay at the door of Edward Gibbon. It is in his monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that we first find the allegation made. Gibbon seems mainly concerned to clear the Arabs of the responsibility of destroying the library and allows his marked anti-Christian prejudice to cloud his better judgement.

Gibbon was a fanatical follower of anti-Christian "Enlightement" (which should be named "Endarkenment"). From "Enlightement" comes the tradition of bsessive whitewashing of Muslims at the expense of Christians. Shiftin the blame from the Omar barbarians who destroyed the Alexandrian library to the Greek Christians is an example of successful anti-Christian slander.

[WaterDragon]

The first time I read Gibbon I had no idea his information was often incorrect. While it is a valuable work, it is not entirely reliable history.