I am in the process of working through The Making of the New Testament: Origin, Collection, Text & Canon (IVP, 2011). In part one, Patzia makes reference to the Library of Celsus stating, “The Johannine literature also probably emanated from Ephesus, where the famous Library of Celsus was established around A.D. 125. Thanks to careful restoration by skilled Austrian and German workers, it is the best-preserved library of the ancient world.” (p. 25). The library was built to store some 12,000 volumes (scrolls) and was also to serve as a tomb for Celsus. His sarcophagus is actually underneath the library. While I am definitely envious of a 12,000 volume library, I don’t think I would want to be buried with all of my books. Personally, I am utterly fascinated with scribes and libraries of the ancient world, so I found this quite interesting. Here a few links where you can learn more about the Library of Celsus:
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I am also reading that book now. Its great.
Doug,
So glad to hear you’re enjoying the book. IVP and Zondervan are my two favorite academic publishers. With the volume of great books they put out, they keep me busy. I think it’s high time I buy more bookshelves.
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