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This is a 2,000-year-old Egyptian floor mosaic depicting a dog and a knocked-over gold vessel, which typically held wine or water. Seems like dogs have had that same guilty look of being up to no good even in ancient times.
The mosaic was created c. 200-150 BC and was recovered from the grounds of the Great Library of Alexandria. At its height, the library held 400,000 scrolls which contained the writings of Plato, Socrates, and other ancient scholars.
In 48 BC, during the Siege of Alexandria, Julius Caesar set fire to Egyptian ships docked in the port of Alexandria to block the fleet belonging to Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy XIV. The fire is reported to have spread to other parts of the city and destroyed at least a part of the library. However, the main building seemed to have survived the war and was rebuilt.
It should be noted that the library was not burned and destroyed in one cataclysmic event, but gradually declined over a span of several centuries due to lack of funding and the purging of intellectuals. It saw further deterioration during Roman rule over Egypt, which lasted almost 700 years from 30 BC to 640 AD.
Thinking about all that was lost makes me so depressed. But Ive been recently thinking that maybe this is just the nature of human knowledge. We discover, we invent, we destroy, and eventually, we forget. Given enough time, everything we know now will one day be forgotten, only to (hopefully) be rediscovered again.
Source: Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, Princeton University Press (2001).
