and the central ruling State) and collection of resources on different sets of principles e.g. medical science, astronomy, history, geometry and philosophy.

A public library was established in Rome by the first century BC, in the Atrium Libertatis (see and ). However, the first major public library is said to have been established in Athens by Pisistratus in the sixth century BC (see ), and by the end of the Hellenistic period, public libraries are