I assume you all know about the antikythera mechanism (ancient calculation device) the true depth of the technology developed at the museion of alexandria will probably never truly be understood. the burning of those scrolls set the world back AT LEAST 2000 years. They may have had knowledge which we still do not possess, of course, the romans felt it uneconomical to pursue these technologies because of the vast amount of cheap human labor available to them. As early as the third dynasty of ancient egypt circa 2700 B.C. the egyptians were performing medical practices that not even Da Vinci could have dreamed of. One thing I personally find insulting is the notion that the egyptians were "helped along" with some of their constructions by either aliens or some other junk like that. It's all really ridiculous. The ancients were much smarter then most people give them credit for. And I think that we have only scratched the surface of the treasures the ancient world has stored away.
On a somewhat related note, I have been meaning to bring up the treasure of persepolis, and i guess it fits in with this whole "ancient world" theme. The persepolis treasure is mostly my own invention but is really quite logical when you look at the evidence. After alexander the great killed the persian emperor, the persians pretty much recognized their doom. And the priests at the holy city of persepolis had at least a months notice before alexander arrived and sacked the city. Although the amount of plunder alexander retrieved from the temples was obscene, it was no where near the amount that had been reported to have been stored there. My personal opinion is that the priests used the remaining laborers to move a large amount of the treasure to the natural caves which surround the city. In fact, I do not recall where, but I remember reading about a young boy who found a cave full of gold statues in the vicinity of persepolis in the 1890's. It just seems illogical to me that the priests would let their holy treasures be hauled away and melted down into greek staters with the images of alexanders gods. I really can't think of a bigger insult. I just thought I would bring that up, because I always found it interesting that no archaeologists had thought of this.
