Ages of Reed and Lotus [edit]

[dukealien]

This is different - critics usually advise to get rid of filler and superfluous lines; here the consensus seems to favor adding information (for example, that the Romans picked up the Egyptian practice of papyrus record-keeping and became dependent on it, and that commerce with Egypt was halted by quite a diverse lot of barbarians (the Vandals, for example) even before the Muslim conquest of Egypt (which had such dire consequences for the Library of Alexandria).

Thanks for the encouragement, edit to follow after research to get the parties' names right.

Wasn't it Julius Caesar who burned the library first?

"First" would seem to be the important qualification.  Apparently at least four groups have had a go at Alexandrian libraries (of which there were at least three in different parts of the city).  Caesar bagged one near the docks, Antony restocked with books looted from Pergamon, a couple of other Romans picked off one or the other every couple of hundred years either by accident or for religious reasons (Christian era).  One is left to wonder what the Muslims found to burn when they finally arrived, or if the whole business with the Muslims was an echo of Theodosius' innings with the torch.  Even the reasoning is similar - those monotheists!  (Wikipedia is advertising for an Egyptian scholar to do something scholarly with their article on the subject.)

It was definitely the Vandals (great seamen, which we don't normally associate with barbarians other than Vikings) who first interdicted Roman trade with Egypt, though.  I think.