List of libraries in the ancient world
The great libraries of the ancient world served as archives for empires, sanctuaries for sacred writings, and depositories of literature and chronicles.
Ancient Near East
; The Royal Library of Ebla in modern Syria.; Bogazköy Archive, Hattusa
; The Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh
; Nuzi
; Ugarit
; Tell Leilan
; Mari
; The Academy of Gondishapur in western Iran, established during the Persian Sassanid Empire in the 3rd through 6th centuries.
; Sarouyeh
Classical Antiquity
;The Library of Alexandria;Temple of Edfu Archive/Library
; Royal Library of Antioch
; Library of Pergamum
;Libraries of the Forum: Consisted of separate libraries founded in the time of Augustus near the Roman Forum that contained both Greek and Latin texts, separately housed, as was the conventional practice. Libraries were located in the Porticus Octaviae near the Theatre of Marcellus, in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, and in the Bibliotheca Ulpia in the Forum of Trajan.
;Atrium Liberatatis
; The Villa of the Papyri, in Herculaneum, Italy
; Kos Library
; The Library of Pantainos
; The Library of Rhodes
; Hadrian's Library
; Library of Celsus
; Timgad
; The Theological Library of Caesarea Maritima
; The Imperial Library of Constantinople
Ancient China
; Han Imperial Library; Academy Libraries
; Mogao Grottoes or Cave of "The Thousand Buddhas"