Founded two thousand years ago, Katadesis has evolved into a fellowship bound by a singular vow: to safeguard and preserve humanity’s knowledge. At its heart lies the Library of Isotheos, reconstructed in the late 1500s. During the 1800s, the library was divided into five buildings, each dedicated to a distinct field—economics, world history, the arts, engineering, and the sciences. To this day, it remains hidden from the world.

Beneath the Katadesis buildings, labyrinthine cellars and vaults house countless additional works spanning an unimaginable range of subjects. Alongside the writings of Da Vinci, Newton, and Archimedes are those of lesser-known yet equally vital scholars such as Maria Beasley, Maria Merian, and Mary Anning. With the legendary libraries of Alexandria and Sofia long lost, the responsibility of safeguarding five thousand years of knowledge now rests with Katadesis.