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Who ordered the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria in 391 AD?
Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria from 385 to 412, used the Theodosian decree of February 391 (which banned pagan worship empire-wide) as cover to send a Christian mob against the Serapeum temple. The library, the cult statue of Serapis, and the temple itself were destroyed in the campaign. Cyril was Theophilus's nephew and successor, later responsible for Hypatia's murder.
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The Day the Christians Burned the Other Library In 391 the Patriarch of Alexandria, with imperial authority, took a mob to the Serapeum and tore it apart. The temple had been the most important Egyptian library outside the Mouseion. After this day there was no library at Alexandria worth the name.
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