Ashurbanipal Library
Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC) was not only the greatest emperor of the ancient world, but he was also the most civilized, aware, and cultured.
- H. said about her. G. Wells in his book “Outlines of History” says it is “the most valuable source of historical material in the world.”
It was established in the seventh century BC, and contained more than 30,000 clay tablets. It would indeed be “the most valuable, oldest, and largest library known in ancient history.”
- When Ashurbanipal decided to establish this library, he sent his court scribes to all parts of Mesopotamia and collected everything they found in the royal palaces of the ancient and contemporary kings and rulers of Mesopotamia, from clay tablets written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, and ordered them to return Writing what was destroyed, and translating the Sumerian texts into Akkadian, which is the language in which the Assyrians spoke and wrote, and storing thousands of clay tablets that represent the Mesopotamian heritage in all branches of knowledge, and they indexed them, tabulated their topics, and placed them on homogeneous shelves.
At the time of Ashurbanipal's rule, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever seen. Ashurbanipal was the grandson of Sennacherib, and the son of Esarhaddon, whom he chose as heir in 672 BC. Although not the eldest son, Ashurbanipal ascended to the throne in 669 BC jointly. With his older brother Shamash-shum-ukin, who became king of Babylon. He spent much of the early years of his reign fighting rebellions in Egypt, which his father had conquered.
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