Founded by the Ptolemaic dynasty following the death of Alexander the Great, the Great Library of Alexandria was the intellectual center of the ancient world. At its peak, it housed hundreds of thousands of papyrus scrolls, representing the sum of human knowledge in science, mathematics, and literature. The library operated under a radical policy: any book found on a ship docking in Alexandria was confiscated, copied, and the original kept in the library while the copy was returned to the owner. Scholars like Eratosthenes (who calculated the Earth's circumference) and Euclid (the father of geometry) worked there. Its gradual destruction—through fires, war, and neglect—is often cited as one of the greatest cultural losses in human history.