Legacy Stories are stories that were conceptualised in September 2021, before the timeline was on Tiki-Toki, let alone GitHub. The story in its current form lives here. And you are very welcome to share any thoughts you have on how this story can be improved by commenting below!
A temple, filled with clay tablets, existed in the southeast of modern-day Iraq
Justification
World's first library?
Unformed Thoughts
The first library-like institution seems to be a Babylonian temple. The temple – dating back to the first half of the third millenium BCE and located in the southeast of modern-day Iraq – was filled with clay tablets (Francis et al., 2017). It is difficult to see a distinction between archives that contain records and “libraries” proper, in antiquity. But the idea of a building – an institution – for the compilation of information and, ultimately, sources of knowledge, survives throughout any narrative of the history of libraries.
Legacy Stories are stories that were conceptualised in September 2021, before the timeline was on Tiki-Toki, let alone GitHub. The story in its current form lives here. And you are very welcome to share any thoughts you have on how this story can be improved by commenting below!
Title
Legacy story: A Babylonian Library
Date or Period đź“…
3000 BCE as per Francis et al., (2017)
Elevator Pitch
A temple, filled with clay tablets, existed in the southeast of modern-day Iraq
Justification
World's first library?
Unformed Thoughts
The first library-like institution seems to be a Babylonian temple. The temple – dating back to the first half of the third millenium BCE and located in the southeast of modern-day Iraq – was filled with clay tablets (Francis et al., 2017). It is difficult to see a distinction between archives that contain records and “libraries” proper, in antiquity. But the idea of a building – an institution – for the compilation of information and, ultimately, sources of knowledge, survives throughout any narrative of the history of libraries.