Step 4

You have completed background information (blue sheets), notes on specific questions (yellow sheets) and making connections/thinking notes (tan sheets)

Any or all of this information you have learned can be included in your essay. This is the time to show your learning!

Compelling Question: What were libraries like in Ancient Rome?

Supporting Questions:

• • • • What were books like in Ancient Rome?

      • How did libraries develop in Ancient Rome?

      • What did libraries look like in Ancient Rome?

Libraries in Ancient Rome

by Mrs. Callahan

For thousands of years of human history there were no libraries because humans had not invented writing yet. Once the Mesopotamians began to “write” by scratching cuneiform pictographs onto clay tablets, they needed a place to store all this new information and libraries were born. But most writing in Mesopotamia was only recordings of trade and business transactions by government officials.  The Ancient Greeks were really responsible for creating libraries used for sharing and gaining knowledge. They transformed writing by inventing an alphabet and by deeply valuing the study of science, thinking and the writing of stories, plays and poems. The writing of scientific learning and of great literature needed to be stored somewhere too, so some wealthy Greeks began to store their scrolls in rooms in their homes. They even shared these stored volumes with a few scholars and friends. But it was the Ancient Romans who developed the idea of public libraries as we know them today and who had the idea that all people should have access to knowledge. 

Ancient Roman “books” used the same technique learned from the Ancient Egyptians using papyrus, a stylus and thick, gooey ink. They were all written by hand and the long papyrus scrolls were rolled up like a paper towel roll. Writing on these scrolls was done in columns with no chapter headings, no page numbers, no punctuation and often no spaces between words. Additionally, longer works of writing would be made up of many layers of papyrus. The layers would then be piled up and the last sheet was attached to a stick which was then used to roll up the “book.”  These sheets were called a volumen, which meant to “roll up”. Readers would use their left hand to unroll the book as they read and the right hand to roll up the parts they had just read. After reading, a user would have to roll the book back to the beginning for the next reader. It was considered very bad manners to leave a book rolled to the end.  These books were very expensive to create and only rich people could afford to buy them, so for many years they were not accessible to all citizens of Rome.

The wealthy class in Ancient Rome built private libraries in their large villas. Like bathrooms and hot water, libraries became a status symbol for rich Romans. Even if the owners could not read, they collected books and displayed them in their homes to show how much money they had. Many Emperors also built large private libraries, often stealing thousands of scrolls from lands they conquered. Roman generals looted hundreds of Greek collections and brought them back to Rome. Books became precious possessions and the knowledge in them was a key factor in creating and maintaining power. Julius Caesar believed in learning and literacy for everyone and he instructed one of his generals to build a library of the  government’s many books, then open this knowledge to the public. Caesar died before the library was built, but his general , Asinius Pollio, finished the project and is now considered the first person to open a public library. Soon after, Emperor Augustus built two more public libraries in Rome. After that, government officials often built libraries in other towns all over the Roman Empire as gifts to the townspeople. Libraries became important parts of towns and cities all over the Empire and were often designed by famous builders and architects.

Architects were hired to construct beautiful buildings with domed ceilings, marble columns and mosaic floors. They often had large gardens, sculptures, art and furniture once only seen by the very wealthy. There were also areas for groups of people to gather to listen to readings, poets, lectures, music and plays. Inside, the libraries usually had two wings. One side was for Greek Books and the other for Latin books. The shelves looked like little square cubbies where the scrolls were stored out in the open. Librarians were hired to organize the books and help visitors who came in. No one could actually borrow a book, instead, a person could come in to the library and read the book. Many scholars were also allowed to copy the books onto their own papyrus scrolls. Often, scholars came from other areas, copied the books, and brought them back to their own lands. Many copies of the same books began to spread throughout the Empire, which allowed for the diffusion of ideas across the continent.

Knowledge of science and literature spread throughout the Roman Empire. Public libraries were important in making learning available to more people, and were one way that knowledge and ideas moved between different cities. The Roman Empire created a region all across the continent that spoke the same language, shared a religion, a culture, laws, architectural styles and technological advancements. Books were an incredibly important part of that process and many thousands of years later that foundation of learning and literacy is still a value we still hold in 2018. Today, public libraries still hold shared information and remain centers for spreading ideas and thinking. In fact, they became so important we put them in schools so children can access knowledge too. The only difference is now books look a little different, and you can actually borrow the books and take them home. But the idea of having knowledge available to all people is still alive today, 10,000 miles and 2000 years from that Ancient Roman city that began it all.