Ancient halls of Alexandria found

CAIRO, Egypt - Polish archaeologists have unearthed 13 lecture halls believed to be the first traces ever found of ancient Egypt’s University of Alexandria, the head of the project said Wednesday.

“This is the oldest university ever found in the world,” Grzegory Majderek, head of the Polish mission, told The Associated Press.

The lecture halls, with a capacity of 5,000 students, are part of the 5th-century university, which functioned until the 7th century, according to a statement from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

“This is the first material evidence of the existence of academic life in Alexandria,” Majderek said. Knowledge of earlier intellectual pursuits in the Mediterranean coastal city came through historical and literary documents and materials.

Ancient Alexandria was home to a library, which was founded about 295 B.C. and burned to the ground in the 4th century. Ruins were never found, but Alexandria was an intellectual center where scholars are thought to have produced the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and edited Homer’s works.

The auditoriums were found near the portico of the Roman Theater in the eastern part of the ancient city.

All the lecture halls are of identical dimensions. Each contains rows of stepped benches in a form of semicircle and an elevated seat apparently for the lecturer, the Antiquities Department statement said.

Alexandria has tried to recapture some of its intellectual glory, building a $230 million library on the city’s renovated seaside promenade with help from around the world.

The new library, which opened in 2002, contains about 240,000 books, a planetarium, conference hall, five research institutes, six galleries and three museums.

Dont agree that this is the oldest university. NALANDA is supposed to be the oldest university which was started before Christ.

I will try to find some links and post it here, if someone is interested

Timon

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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be"

Pls visit

http://home.iitk.ac.in/student/arunkm/nalanda.htm

Was founded in 5th CAD.

Regards
Northwind

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Those who want to make their dreams come true dont sleep

Hi some more info on the ancient university at Taxila:

Period of Panini

In this way many institutions were formed of which Taxila, Ujjain, Nalanda, Benares, Ballavi, Ajanta, Madura and Vikramsila were very famous. Taxila was famous for medicine and Ujjain for Astronomy. Both were pre-Buddhist. Jibaka the well known medical expert and the state physician of the King of Magadha of the 6th century B.C. and Panini the famous grammarian of the 7th century B.C. and Kautilya, the authority on Arthasastra, of the 4th century B.C. were students of Taxila.


http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/t/takkasilaa.htm

Actual remains of these universities have been dug out by arcaheologists.

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Those who want to make their dreams come true dont sleep

I thought the oldest and first University in the world was Nalanda in India.

Cheers
Raj

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