<P> In 145 BC, Ptolemy VIII Physcon assassinated and succeeded his nephew Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator, then purged the Musaeum of intellectuals who had recognized Neos Philopator's succession . Aristarchus of Samothrace, the librarian at the time, resigned and exiled himself to Cyprus . A fragment among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri states that "Cydas of the spearmen" succeeded Aristarchus . It does not state in what office, nor does it mention the Musaeum or its library . Nonetheless, Cydas has been assumed as the next head of the library, and scholarship is thought to have declined sharply . The same papyrus names grammarians who subsequently "flourished" in Alexandria under Ptolemy IX Lathyros . Classicist Jackie Murray disputes this chronology as inconsistent with other sources that place those grammarians earlier, in the reigns of Ptolemys VI and VIII, and suggests that the fragment instead lists successive tutors to the kings . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The ancient accounts by Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Orosius indicate that troops of Julius Caesar accidentally burned the library during or after the Siege of Alexandria in 48 BC . </P>

Who destroyed the great library of alexandria and when