All books were proscribed, and orders
issued to burn every work except those relating to medicine,
agriculture, and science. The destruction was carried out with
terrible completeness. The burning of the books was accompanied by
the execution of five hundred of the _literati_ and by the
banishment of many thousands.
The destruction of the Alexandrian Library, by command of Omar, was
as complete as the extinction of literature in China by Hwangti, as
head of the Moslem religion.
Omar, using the intrepid Amru, was vicariously proselyting in true
Mahometan style--in one hand offering the _Koran_, the while the
other extended the sword.
After a successful campaign in Palestine, Omar's victorious banners
were planted in the historic soil of the Pharaohs. A protracted
siege of seven months found Amru master of the royal city of
Alexandria. The library there was famed as the greatest magazine of
literature. But this availed nothing with the ruthless Omar, for he
doomed it to annihilation.
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