Day Al-Mohamed
Labyrinth’s Archivist Research (Book Secrets): The Great Library of Alexandria
Notes from my time writing “ The Labyrinth’s Archivist ” and fun tidbits.
I always tell people I love libraries. In fact, I love libraries so much, I married a librarian.
Honestly, there’s something about a place (and people) who set such value on knowledge. That it is treated as a treasure.
When the opportunity arose to write a novella set in a labyrinth with “gates” leading to a myriad of worlds, the thought occurred to me: What would be most valuable in such a universe with interconnected worlds? The answer was information.
When I was young, I had heard a story about the Great Library of Alexandria; remember, Alexandria was a port city and part of a massive trade route between East and West. The story was that every time a ship docked in Alexandria, the Great Library would send out librarians/scholars to search the ships for any books. They would then take those books back to the library and make copies of them and then return the originals to the owners. Books and scrolls were purchased and brought to Alexandria from all over the known world. The greatest minds would come here to study and research and then teach. It was an archive and academy. The Library of Alexandria was to be the repository of all the world’s knowledge.
So now, I am creating a facsimile except with trade routes spanning not just countries, but also worlds. A Great Archive tasked with collecting the knowledge of these worlds; to craft maps to safely travel the byways of the Labyrinth, and to translate and catalog hundreds of languages, cultures, flora, and fauna. My Great Archive grew directly from the history of the Library of Alexandria.
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Nineteenth century artistic rendering of the Library of Alexandria by the German artist O. Von Corven, based partially on the archaeological evidence available at that time (Wikipedia)
