Archaeologists have identified the oldest known library on the Iberian Peninsula inside a Roman villa in southern Spain, overturning decades of belief that the room was a sanctuary dedicated to the Roman god Mithras.PaleoJudaica is all about ancient libraries, so this is newsworthy in itself. But over at Variant Readings, Brent Nongbri has a post that brings out an additional point of interest:The discovery was made at the Roman villa of Fuente Álamo in Puente Genil, in Spain’s Córdoba province. Researchers concluded the room served as a space for reading, study, and preserving written works, making it the westernmost known library in the Roman Empire and one of its best-preserved private examples.
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A Roman Library in Spain and the “declamatio sarcophagus.”
The sarcophagus is in the vicinity of the ancient villa, is possibly connected to its owner, and it is engraved with a man holding up a scroll, but perhaps not a codex in addition. Have a look and see what you think.
For many PaleoJudaica posts on ancient libraries, see here, here and links, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. It's always good to find another one, even if, sadly, the books are gone.
Incidentally, another Mithraeum was excavated in Spain a few years ago. But that one was in Córdoba in Andalusia. The site now interpreted as a library is in Fuente Álamo in Murcia.
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