Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as a cause of the library's decline?
The Great Library at Alexandria is often imagined as a single grand building destroyed in one dramatic fire. Historians, however, describe a slower story. Funding declined under later rulers, scholars left the city, and scrolls that were not recopied crumbled with age. Blaming one blaze, they argue, makes for a better tale but a worse explanation.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. An earthquake
- 'Declining funding' is explicitly mentioned in the passage as a contributing financial factor to institutional neglect.
- 'Scholars leaving the city' is explicitly cited as intellectual drain depleting the library's community.
- 'Scrolls crumbling' is explicitly detailed as the physical mechanism of parchment loss over generations.
- 'Scholars leaving the city' is explicitly cited as intellectual drain depleting the library's community.
- 'Scrolls crumbling' is explicitly detailed as the physical mechanism of parchment loss over generations.
- Step 1: Scan the passage for factors contributing to the decline of the library of Alexandria: funding cuts, departing scholars, and decaying scrolls are explicitly cited.
- Step 2: Check each option: an earthquake is never mentioned in the text as a cause of the library's decline.
Answer
An earthquake.
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