The Scholar on a Warrior’s Throne

Ashurbanipal, who reigned from 668 to c. 631 BCE, was the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. His predecessors were known for their military prowess and ruthless expansion, carving out an empire that stretched from Egypt to Persia. Ashurbanipal was no less a warrior, but he possessed a trait exceptionally rare among the monarchs of his era: he was a scholar. In an age when literacy was the exclusive domain of scribes and priests, the king boasted of his own abilities:

“I, Ashurbanipal, within the palace, understood the wisdom of Nabu [the god of writing]. I have studied the art of the scribe, I have learned the omens of heaven and earth… I can read the intricate tablets in Sumerian, and I understand the enigmatic words in the stone carvings from before the Flood.”

This was no idle boast. His profound interest in knowledge was the driving force behind a monumental project: to collect and copy every significant text from across Mesopotamia. This mission was not purely academic. For the Assyrians, knowledge was power. By possessing the definitive versions of religious rituals, medical treatises, and especially omen texts, Ashurbanipal believed he could understand the will of the gods, predict the future, and maintain control over his vast and often rebellious empire.

Forging a Library of Clay

With the full might of the Assyrian state behind him, Ashurbanipal dispatched agents across his empire. His orders were clear. Scribes were sent to ancient cities like Babylon, Uruk, and Nippur with instructions to copy their entire literary heritage. Temple libraries and private collections were scoured for important texts.

If a tablet could not be borrowed for copying, Ashurbanipal commanded his regional governors to seize it. One surviving letter to a governor named Shadunu is remarkably direct: “Seek out and bring me the precious tablets for which there are no copies in Assyria… If you see any tablet or ritual text which is suitable for the palace, take it and send it to me.”

Back in Nineveh, a scriptorium of scribes worked tirelessly to edit, copy, and catalogue the incoming flood of knowledge. The final tablets were meticulously inscribed with a colophon—an ownership mark—that often read: “For the palace of Ashurbanipal, King of the World, King of Assyria.” This was the world’s first ex-libris bookplate, stamped into clay.

The result was a collection of staggering proportions. While the exact size is unknown, archaeologists have unearthed over 30,000 tablets and fragments from the ruins of his palaces.

The Treasures Within the Clay

The library’s contents provide an unparalleled glimpse into the Mesopotamian mind. It was a comprehensive repository of their civilization’s intellectual output, organized by subject.

• Omen Texts: This was perhaps the most critical section for the king. It contained thousands of tablets detailing how to interpret everything from the movements of the stars (astrology) and the patterns in a sacrificed sheep’s liver (hepatoscopy) to the flight of birds and the meaning of dreams. These were the state’s intelligence reports on the divine realm.
• Epic Literature: The library held the most important literary works of the ancient Near East. Chief among them was the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s first great work of literature. The version found in Ashurbanipal’s library is the most complete we have, and it includes the now-famous Flood Tablet, which tells a story of a great deluge with striking parallels to the biblical account of Noah. Other masterworks included the Babylonian creation myth, the Enûma Eliš.
• Medical and Magical Texts: Assyrian medicine was a blend of practical observation and magical belief. The library contained texts listing diagnoses for ailments alongside prescriptions of herbal remedies. These were often accompanied by magical incantations and rituals needed to expel the demons thought to be causing the sickness.
• Lexical Lists and Dictionaries: To maintain a connection with their ancient Sumerian heritage, the Akkadian-speaking Assyrians needed dictionaries. The library contained extensive bilingual lists of words, as well as encyclopedic lists categorizing animals, plants, stones, and geographical locations, representing an early form of systematic science.

Trial by Fire, Preservation by Destruction

Ashurbanipal’s empire did not long outlive him. Decades of brutal warfare had exhausted its resources and fostered deep resentment among its subjects. In 612 BCE, a coalition of Babylonians and Medes sacked the glorious capital of Nineveh. The magnificent palaces were put to the torch and razed to the ground.

In a profound twist of historical irony, the very act of destruction that buried the Assyrian Empire ensured its voice would not be lost. The fires that consumed the palace baked the thousands of clay tablets, hardening them like pottery. While papyrus and parchment would have turned to ash, the clay tablets were fired for eternity. The collapsing mudbrick walls buried the library, protecting the now-vitrified tablets for over two and a half millennia.

Rediscovery and a Modern Legacy

For centuries, the library lay silent beneath a mound known locally as Kouyunjik. In the mid-19th century, British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard and his Iraqi assistant Hormuzd Rassam began excavating the site. In two rooms of what they dubbed the “South-West Palace”, they made a stunning discovery: a floor covered in a thick layer of broken clay tablets.

The jumbled fragments were shipped back to the British Museum. The task of deciphering them fell to a handful of dedicated scholars. One of them, a self-taught genius named George Smith, was sorting through the fragments in 1872 when he translated a passage that described a great flood, a ship landing on a mountain, and a bird being sent out to find dry land. Realizing he was reading a version of a story that predated the Bible by a millennium, a stunned Smith famously jumped up and, to the astonishment of his colleagues, began to undress. The discovery caused a global sensation and confirmed the immense historical value of Ashurbanipal’s collection.

Today, the Library of Ashurbanipal is the bedrock of Assyriology. It is our single most important source for the culture, religion, science, and literature of ancient Mesopotamia. Ashurbanipal’s obsession with collecting the words of his ancestors, intended to secure his own power, ultimately provided a priceless gift to the future. It stands as a powerful reminder that while empires turn to dust, knowledge, if preserved, can achieve a kind of immortality.