Author: Patrick Smith
The House of Wisdom#
The burning of Baghdad and the destruction of the House of Wisdom by the Mongol army, led by Hulagu Khan. Over a million manuscripts were destroyed. It wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway though as new caliphs with a literal interpretation of the quran came to power and began enforcing their religion. Greek philosophy was seen as anti-islamic, and rationalism was abandoned.
The Library of Alexandria#
The decline and destruction of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt began with the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria in 145 BC. A portion of the library’s hundreds of thousands of books were lost accidentally during Julius Caesar’s civil war in 20 BC. What was left was destroyed in 270 AD in a Palmyrene invasion over their queens desire for power over the east.
The Nalanda University#
The destruction of Nalanda University around 1200 AD. It was a buddhist monastic university (the world’s first residential university) in what is present-day Bihar, India. The vast collection of buddhist and hindu texts were destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji when he invaded as part of his larger conquest over religion and the desire to establish dominance over the region.
The Catholic Church#
Bonus: “pagan” schooling and studies were outlawed for a thousand years by the catholic church. Many ancient Greek writings were lost during this time. While the church maintained centers for scientific inquiry, they kept what people could think about on a tight leash to protect it’s power and authority, and to ensure science was not able to contradict its teachings. Who knows where we would be today without this thousand year gouging out of free thought. This might actually be by far the worst knowledge atrocity of all.
Honorable Mentions#
- The Great Purge of the USSR
The Lesson#
Will to power over others and religion are the enemies of knowledge and reason. Science, philosophy, and medicine must be defended, or they can be lost overnight.