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In 192 AD, a fire destroyed a large portion of central Rome, including numerous warehouses and at least three libraries on the Palatine Hill and Trajan's Forum. Libraries destroyed included the Palatine library, the Domus Tiberiana library, and the Templum Pacis library.[1] The fire burned for days and spread throughout many sections of the city until it was extinguished by rain. The fire was memorialized by the Roman historian Dio Cassius and by Galen in his text Peri Alupias, which was lost and then rediscovered in 2005 in a monastery in Thessaloniki; Galen's text illuminated the full intellectual loss and destruction due to the fire.[1][2] Other authors and contemporaries of Galen recorded immense losses from the fire, such as the grammarian Philides who lost so many books and manuscripts in the fire that he wasted away from grief and died.[1]
Background
editIn 192 AD, Rome was still recovering from the lingering effects of the Antonine Plague, which had begun in 160 AD. In a 15-year period, roughly 10% of the empire, an estimated at 5–10 million people, died of disease. Although the Antonine Plague had ended by 180, a similar plague-like disease broke out in 189.[3] In the aftermath of this epidemic and under the rule of the emperor Commodus, Galen had become a prominent figure in Roman medicine and society.[4]
Sources
editDio Cassius' account of the fire describes it as a portent that started before the death of Commodus, as does Herodian, who put a greater emphasis on the associated omens and considered the fire to the be the "worst portent of all", given the total destruction of the Templum Pacis, the "largest and most beautiful building in the city", and the entire sacred precinct.[5] The fire began at night in a dwelling and spread to the Templum Pacis and then spread to storehouses that contained Egyptian and Arabian wares and objects.[5] The temple of Vesta was also destroyed, which exposed the statue of Pallas Athena until the Vestal Virgins seized it, carried it down the Via Sacra, and relocated it to the imperial palace.[5]
Galen
editGalen's treatise Peri Alupias was composed in response to the 192 AD fire, which helped solidify its date.[6] Galen himself was not in Rome when the fire occurred.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Nicholls, Matthew C. (2011). "Galen and Libraries in the Peri Alupias". The Journal of Roman Studies. 101: 123–142. ISSN 0075-4358.
- ^ Wazer, Caroline (7 June 2021). "Library Fires Have Always Been Tragedies. Just Ask Galen". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ Littman, R. J.; Littman, M.L. (Autumn 1973). "Galen and the Antonine Plague". The American Journal of Philology. 94 (3): 243–255. doi:10.2307/293979. JSTOR 293979. PMID 11616517. Downloaded from JSTOR.
- ^ McLaughlin, Raoul (2011-09-01). "Galen and the Great Fire of Rome". openurl.ebsco.com. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
- ^ a b c Tucci, Pier Luigi (2008). "Galen's storeroom, Rome's libraries, and the fire of A.D. 192". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 21: 133–149. doi:10.1017/S1047759400004414. ISSN 1047-7594.
- ^ Alonso-Alonso, Mª Ángeles (October 2022). "THE SCHOLA MEDICORUM THAT NEVER EXISTED IN ROME". Papers of the British School at Rome. 90: 227–265. doi:10.1017/S0068246222000022. ISSN 0068-2462.