The great libraries of the ancient world served as archives for empires, sanctuaries for sacred writings, and depositories of literature and chronicles.

Anatolia[edit]

• Hattusa (1900 B.C. - 1190 B.C.) (Modern Bogazkoy)

This archive constituted the largest collection of Hittite texts discovered.^{[1][verification needed]}

• Library of Pergamum (197 B.C. - 159 B.C.) (Modern Bergama)

The Attalid kings formed the second best Hellenistic library after Alexandria, founded in emulation of the Ptolemies. When the Ptolemies stopped exporting papyrus, partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, the Pergamenes invented a new substance to use in codices, called parchment, or pergamum after the city. This was made of fine calfskin, a predecessor of vellum and paper. The library had collected over 200,000 volumes and the reason why the library was so successful was because of Pergamum's hegemony which was a purveyor of scholarship.^[2]

• Library of Celsus (135 A.D.) (Located within the city of Ephesus)

This library was part of the triumvirate of libraries in the Mediterranean which included the aforementioned Library of Pergamum and the great Library of Alexandria listed below. The library was actually a tomb and a shrine for the deceased Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus for whom the library is named.^[3] 12,000 volumes were collected at this library which were deposited in several cabinets along the wall.^[3]

• The Imperial Library of Constantinople, (330 AD)

The library was established by Constantius II who was the son of the first Christian emperor Constantine. Constantius requested that the rolls of papyrus should be copied onto parchment or vellum in order that they would be preserved.^[4] It is known that several documents from the Library of Alexandria were spared incineration and secured here at the library.^[4] Some assessments place the collection at just over 100,000 volumes which included papyrus scrolls and codices bound in parchment.^[4]

Egypt[edit]

• The Royal Library of Alexandria, Egypt, fl. 3rd century BC (c. 295 BC).

Founded by Ptolemy, this library was said to have amassed an estimated 400,000 manuscripts and was considered the leading intellectual metropolis of the Hellenistic world.^[2] The Serapeum in Alexandria served as an extension of the library.

• Nag Hammadi Library (Upper Egypt)

The Nag Hammadi Library consists of no fewer than thirteen codices comprising fifty texts all which concern the Gnostic movement.^[5]