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The origin of the word museum derives from the Musaeum that once stood in ancient Alexandria in Egypt from around 300 BC and lasted as an institution through the Roman period. This original structure once contained the famous library of Alexandria. While many ancient works, in particular writings, were collected in this institution, its core focus was on education and research.<ref>For more on the Musaeum and ancient Library at Alexandria, see: El-Abbadi, Mostafa. 1992. The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. 2nd ed., rev. Paris: Unesco/UNDP.</ref>Lectures, presentations, and teaching were conducted here during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, where the museum becomes associated with scholarship and not just a place to have old relics. In essence, it was an institution that became comparable to our modern concepts of universities, where the museum was a place of research. Therefore, museums, early in their conceptual history, became places of education and research and discovery, while not being simply places that housed ancient objectsfor the sake of the objects alone. Utilizing the knowledge of the past, including from very distant cultures, became one of the key missions of the Musaeum. The collections included objects from Assyria, Babylonia, ancient Egypt, Greeece, and elsewhere. This is also similar in concept to our modern research museums that both display ancient objects from around the world but also conduct scientific research.