The Bibliotheca Ulpia ("Ulpian Library") was a Roman library founded by the Emperor Trajan in AD 114 in the Forum of Trajan, located in ancient

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. It was considered one of the most prominent and famous libraries of antiquity and became a major library in the Western World upon the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd century. It is the only Roman library known to have survived until the

Fall of Rome The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

in the mid-fifth century.

History

In 112 AD, the Emperor Trajan commissioned a library to be built in his Forum due north of the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

at the heart of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Construction was completed in 114 AD. Upon its completion, the Ulpian Library was the premier library and scholarly center of Rome. “This library was also the Public Record Office of Rome” with over 20,000 scrolls containing records concerning the city’s population. The library was also equipped with presses for storage of both scrolls and books. During excavation, traces of these presses were discovered. The collection of books and scrolls not pertaining to public record, is thought to have been based on the private library of Epaphrodites of Cheronea which contained over 30,000 books and scrolls. Early in the 4th century, the contents of the Ulpian Library were moved to the

Baths of Diocletian The Baths of Diocletian (Latin: ''Thermae Diocletiani'', Italian: ''Terme di Diocleziano'') were public baths in ancient Rome. Named after emperor Diocletian and built from AD 298 to 306, they were the largest of the imperial baths. The project w ...

, possibly due to repairs as the contents were returned at a later date. Records show that in 455 AD a bust of Didonius Appollinarius was ordered there by the Emperor Avitus.

Library layout

The Ulpian Library continued in the tradition of Roman imperial libraries with Latin and Greek collections housed separately. In this library, they faced one another across a small colonnaded courtyard that enclosed the Column of Trajan. The library was a two level structure with high vaulted ceilings to take advantage of the natural lighting. The interior walls were divided into bays by columns "set opposite pilasters that framed the niches which held the books and scrolls. There were three steps between the columns that enabled "access to a walkway in front of the bookcases." At the other end of the hall were recesses for a statue on each level, presumably of Trajan and possibly of Minerva. The niches (seven total on each wall) containing recessed wooden bookcases located in both walls running the length of the library along with four others running across the back wall stored the scrolls. Estimates on the amount of scrolls held are "approximately ten thousand" for both Latin and Greek libraries. "In addition, there were archival materials, such as praetorian edicts and senatorial decrees, as well as Caesar's autobiography and Trajan's commentaries on the Dacian Wars, of which now only a few words survive." The space itself was designed to be aesthetically pleasing with desks (''plutei)'' and the books out of sight on shelves and intending for reading, but was not designed with the growth of the collection in mind.

Reconstruction

There are reconstructions both digital and physical that show the external and internal view of the library. The digital reconstruction shows the view from inside the west (Greek) library, through what would have been bronze screens into the portico, where the base of the Column of Trajan can be seen. The library itself faces east, as

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

recommends for libraries, the screens restricting access when the library was not in use and, with the high vaulted ceiling, taking advantage of the morning light. Portions of the floor and the podium of one of the walls survive allowed for the digital reconstruction of the library interior. Bibliotheca Ulpia 01.jpg Bibliotheca Ulpia 02.jpg Bibliotheca Ulpia 03.jpg Bibliotheca Ulpia 04.jpg

References

External links

* * * * http://uulzii.com/search?q=ulpian+library {{Authority control Ancient libraries Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Libraries in Rome 110s BC establishments Trajan's Forum