Ancient Greek and Roman Libraries
Gresham College Lectures
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The Library of the Roman Empire
Libraries often served as the ancient equivalent of a leisure censor, where social and sexual transactions could be conducted. Tiberius dreamt about the vast and beautiful statue of pollotemenetes, which he brought from cyracuse in sicily to adorn the library of his new temple. You could build a library to serve as a sepulchre for your eminent family, or forbears. Large ones with a colonnade often provided a place to take a very lengthy stroll. And libraries penetrated the unconscious mind. O feature in people's dreams. We've dug up large library buildings with no books left,. like the beautiful roman provincial library excavated in the
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