Roman Library or Archive-anything like Alexandria

[Tempestvvv]

I am curious what the Romans had in Rome. A central repository/archive/library for literature, how-to's, maps .....anything committed, acquired, captured on skins, papyrus, linen.
I understand they had nothing on the scale of Alexandria. Surely with all their engineering and military campaigns they had to have some hard reference they could study.

[panairjdde]

They had several libraries, one of them was in Augustus' house on the Palatine

[wayne oldfield]

The one that may still lie under Hadrians 'villa'?? I have also read of libraries in Rome being refurnished after fires.

[richsc]

I thought that the portico of Octavia, or the builidng there, was a library. That was how it was described to me. Near the foot of the Capitoline.

[D B Campbell]

I am curious what the Romans had in Rome. A central repository/archive/library for literature, how-to's, maps ...

There were several public libraries in Rome, from the time of Julius Caesar onwards, often associated with temples (e.g. Temple of Apollo on the Palatine; Vespasian's Temple of Pax in the Forum Romanum). There appears also to have been an equestrian post of Procurator of the Libraries (held at one stage by the biographer Suetonius).

[Condottiero Magno]

Lionel Casson's Libraries in the Ancient World is a decent introduction to this subject.

[Nathan Ross]

The most famous library in imperial Rome seems to have been the Ulpian Library (bibliotheca ulpia) in Trajan's Forum. This was divided between Latin and Greek literature, and apparently survived into the later fifth century.

Besides the temple and porticus libraries mentioned above, there was also a big Latin/Greek library on the Palatine, connected to the imperial palace, and additional ones in the Baths of Caracalla and (possibly) the Baths of Diocletian. An early 4th century survey of the regions of the city and their main buildings lists 28 libraries in Rome, although most are now completely unknown!

[Tempestvvv]

Thank you all. This explains a lot to me. C. Magno your recommendation is on my purchase list.

In my minds eye I can now see see politicians, military types, map makers, engineers, artists, medical personnel regularly beating a path to various locations to meet their information needs.

[Bil H]

There was in intact library of 1800 scrolls discovered at the Villa of the Papyrii in Herculaneum. See also: Ancient Scrolls Blackened by Vesuvius...