Notable book burnings – the public burning of books for ideological reasons – have taken place throughout history.
Antiquity
A scroll written by the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah (burnt by King Jehoiakim) In about 600 BC, Jeremiah of Anathoth wrote that the King of Babylon would destroy the land of Judah. As recounted in Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah's scroll was read before Jehoiakim, King of Judah, and a group officials. Upon hearing the contents of the scroll, King Jehoiakim destroyed the scroll in a fire and sought to have Jeremiah arrested. Jeremiah and his scribe, Baruch son of Neriah, were able to evade arrest and would eventually rewrite the original scroll and many similar works.
Protagoras' "On the Gods" (by Athenian authorities) The Classical Greek philosopher Protagoras was a proponent of agnosticism, writing in a now lost work titled On the Gods: "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not or of what sort they may be, because of the obscurity of the subject, and the brevity of human life". Quotations of his works were embedded in the works of later authors. According to Diogenes Laërtius, the above outspoken agnostic position taken by Protagoras aroused anger, causing the Athenians to expel him from their city, where the authorities ordered all copies of the book to be collected and burned in the marketplace. The same story is also mentioned by Cicero. However, the classicist John Burnet doubts this account, as both Diogenes Laërtius and Cicero wrote hundreds of years later and no such persecution of Protagoras is mentioned by contemporaries who make extensive references to this philosopher. Burnet notes that even if some copies of Protagoras' book were burned, enough of them survived to be known and discussed in the following century.
Democritus' writings (by Plato) The philosopher Plato is said to have greatly disliked fellow-philosopher Democritus and wanted all of Democritus' books burned. Aristoxenus, in his Historical Notes, affirms that "Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he could collect". In his own lifetime, Plato was not in a position to destroy all copies of his rival's writings himself, but Plato's purpose was largely achieved through the choices made by scribes in later Classical times. Plato's own writings were frequently copied, and unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Conversely, none of Democritus' writings have survived, and only fragments are known from his vast body of work. Still, these fragments are enough to let many consider Democritus to be "The Father of Modern Science".
Chinese philosophy books (by Emperor Qin Shi Huang and anti-Qin rebels)
During the Warring States period, China was divided into various states – each of which had its own historians, writing over centuries their version of the history of their state and its relations with neighbors and rivals. Following Qin's conquest of all the others, Emperor Qin Shi Huang – on the advice of his minister Li Si – ordered the burning of all philosophy books and history books from states other than Qin – beginning in 213 BC. This is believed to have been followed by the live burial of a large number of intellectuals who did not comply with the state dogma; a belief which arose based on a passage written in Shiji, a Chinese historical text.
Li Si is reported to have said: I, your servant, propose that all historian's records other than those of Qin's be burned. With the exception of the academics whose duty includes possessing books, if anyone under heaven has copies of the Shi Jing, the Classic of History, or the writings of the hundred schools of philosophy, they shall deliver them [the books] to the governor or the commandant for burning. Anyone who dares to discuss the Shi Jing or the Classic of History shall be publicly executed. Anyone who uses history to criticize the present shall have his family executed. Any official who sees the violations but fails to report them is equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn the books after thirty days of this announcement shall be subjected to tattooing and be sent to build the Great Wall. The books that have exemption are those on medicine, divination, agriculture and forestry. Those who have interest in laws shall instead study from officials.
Upon the passing of Huang, his son, Qin Er Shi, became emperor. He was deemed an incapable ruler, which led to civil unrest and revolts. The revolts ended his rule and resulted in the burning of the imperial palace and the state archives, ultimately destroying many of the remaining written records that had been spared during Qin Shi Huang's reign.
Several other large book burnings also occurred in Chinese history. It appears they occurred in every dynasty following the Qin, but it is unknown how often.
Books of pretended prophecies (by Roman authorities) In 186 BC, in an effort to suppress the Bacchanalia practices that had been led in part by Minius Cerrinius, a consul of Rome claimed that the fathers and grandfathers of the Romans had suppressed foreign rites and ceremonies, "seeking out and burning all books of pretended prophecies."
Books of King Numa Pompilius (by Roman authorities) In 181 BC, according to Livy 40:29:3-14, the books of King Numa Pompilius were discovered in stone coffins in the field of L. Petilius. They were shown to several people, including Praetor Q. Petilius, who testified an oath before the senate to have them burnt by the victimarii.
Jewish holy books (by the Seleucid monarch Antiochus IV) In 168 the Seleucid monarch, Antiochus IV, launched a campaign against the Jewish religion, which included an order to burn all Jewish 'Books of Law' found in Jerusalem. This, along with other acts of religious persecutions, would come to cause the Maccabean Revolt, which is detailed in two books titled 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees.
Roman history book (by the aediles) In 25 AD Senator Aulus Cremutius Cordus was forced to commit suicide and his History was burned by the aediles, under the order of the senate. The book's praise of Brutus and Cassius, who had assassinated Julius Caesar, was considered an offence under the lex majestatis. A copy of the book was saved by Cordus' daughter Marcia, and it was published again under Caligula. However, only a few fragments survived to the present.Bellemore, Jane. "The Dating of Seneca's Ad Marciam De Consolatione". The Classical Quarterly 42, no.1 (1992): 219–234.Cramer, Frederick H. "Bookburning and Censorship in Ancient Rome". Journal of the History of Ideas 6, no.2 (April 1945): 157–196.Tacitus. The Annals of Imperial Rome, translated by Michael Grant, p. 34. London: Harmondsworth, 1964; cited in Cramer, Frederick H. "Bookburning and Censorship in Ancient Rome". Journal of the History of Ideas 6, no. 2 (April 1945): 157–196.
Greek and Latin prophetic verse (by the emperor Augustus) According to Suetonius, at the death of Marcus Lepidus (about 13 BC), Augustus assumed the office of Chief Priest, and burned over two thousand copies of Greek and Latin prophetic verse that were the works of anonymous or unrespected authors.Suetonius: Twelve Caesars; Augustus. 31
Torah scroll (by a Roman soldier) Flavius Josephus"Ant." xx. 5, § 4; "B. J." ii. 12, § 2. relates that about the year 50 a Roman soldier seized a Torah scroll and, with abusive and mocking language, burned it in public. This incident almost brought on a general Jewish revolt against Roman rule. However, the Roman procurator Cumanus appeased the Jewish populace by beheading the culprit.
Sorcery scrolls (by early converts to Christianity at Ephesus)
In about the year 55 according to the New Testament book of Acts, early converts to Christianity in Ephesus who had previously practiced sorcery burned their scrolls.
Rabbi Haninah ben Teradion burned with a Torah scroll (under Hadrian) Under the emperor Hadrian, the teaching of the Jewish Scriptures was forbidden, as, in the wake of the Bar Kokhba revolt , the Roman authorities regarded such teaching as seditious and tending towards revolt. Haninah ben Teradion, one of the Jewish Ten Martyrs executed for having defied that ban, is reported to have been burned at the stake together with the forbidden Torah scroll which he had been teaching from. According to Jewish tradition, when the flame started to burn himself and the scroll he still managed to say to his pupils: "I see the scrolls burning but the letters fly up in the air" – a saying considered to symbolize the superiority of ideas to brute force. While in the original applying to sacred writings only, 20th century Israeli writers also quoted this saying in the context of secular ideals.Avodah Zarah 17b et seq.
Burning of the Torah by Apostomus (precise time and circumstances debated)
Among five catastrophes said to have overtaken the Jews on the Seventeenth of Tammuz, the MishnahTa'anit iv. 6. includes "the burning of the Torah by Apostomus". Since no further details are given and there are no other references to Apostomus in Jewish or non-Jewish sources, the exact time and circumstances of this event are debated. Historians have assigned it different dates in Jewish history under Seleucid or Roman rule, and it might be identical with one of the events noted above.
Epicurus' book (in Paphlagonia) The book Established beliefs of Epicurus was burned in a Paphlagonian marketplace by order of the charlatan Alexander of Abonoteichus, supposed prophet of Glycon, the son of Asclepius c. 160.
Manichaean and Christian scriptures (by Diocletian) The Diocletianic Persecution started on March 31, 302, with the Roman Emperor Diocletian, in a rescript from Alexandria, ordering that the leading Manichaeans be burnt alive along with their scriptures.Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 20; Clarke, 648, citing Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 660 and Mosiacarum et Romanarum Legum Collatio 25.36–38.H.M. Gwatkin, "Notes on Some Chronological Questions Connected with the Persecution of Diocletian," English Historical Review 13:51 (1898): 499. On the following year, on February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built Christian church at Nicomedia be razed, its scriptures burned, and its treasures seized.Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22; Clarke, 650; Odahl, 67–69; Potter, 337. Later persecutions included the burning of both the Christians themselves and of their books. As related in later Christian Hagiography, at that time the governor of Valencia offered the deacon who would become known as Saint Vincent of Saragossa to have his life spared in exchange for his consigning Scripture to the fire. Vincent refused and let himself be executed instead. In religious paintings he is often depicted holding the book whose preservation he preferred to his own life (see illustration in Saint Vincent of Saragossa page).Prudentius, Peristephanon ("Crowns of Martyrdom") Conversely, many other Christians, less courageous, did save their lives by giving away their Scriptures to be burned. These Christians came to be known as Traditores (literally, "those who give away").
Books of Arianism (after Council of Nicaea)
The books of Arius and his followers, after the first Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.), were burned for heresy by the Roman emperors Constantine, Honorius, and Theodosius I, who published a decree commanding that, "the doctrine of the Trinity should be embraced by those who would be called Catholics; that all others should bear the infamous name of heretics".Joseph Priestley. An history of the corruptions of Christianity (1782) pp. 173–174Theodosius I at New Advent Encyclopedia
Library of Antioch (by Jovian)