STAMPER 1

Jamey Stamper
Professor Dyer
Ancient World History
September 11, 2014
The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal
The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal was located in the ancient City of Nineveh, which
was part of the Assyrian empire, and is named after the king who assembled it, King
Ashurbanipal. Ashurbanipal was born a prince in 685 BCE, his father being King Esarhaddon of
the Assyrian Empire. Ashurbanipal succeeded his father and served as king of Assyria circa 668
BCE to 627 BCE, which was during what is known as the Neo-Assyrian Empire (the last phase
of the empires great reign).
The Assyrian civilization went from being a vassal state of Babylon to governing one of
the largest empires of the first and second millennia B.C.E. They did this in a relatively short
amount of time and were successful in building and maintaining their empire through the
strategy of a number of different rulers, rulers like Ashurbanipal, Adad Nirari I, and TukultiNinurta I. Their greatest tool for bringing their great empire to fruition was the development of a
well-organized and armed military. The Assyrian military enabled them to spread their borders in
all directions. Their use of iron over bronze to forge their weapons gave them a huge advantage
on the battle field. Iron weapons could be quickly produced and in great quantities. Indeed, the
Assyrians even went as far as making their weapons within their caravan as they made the
pilgrimage to different cities to do battle.
Another accomplishment that allowed the Assyrians to achieve such a powerful empire
was their ability to formulate a well-designed government. In the History of Assyria from the on-

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line publication by the Ancient History Encyclopedia, Jan van der Crabben explains this when he
says Under Tiglath-pilese III (ruled 745-727 BCE)..for the first time in history the idea of a
centralization was introduced into politics; the conquered provinces were organized under an
elaborate bureaucracy, with each district paying a fixed tribute and providing a military
contingent. This basic form of taxation and conscription allowed them to grow their army
exponentially and enabled the Assyrians to attain a long and prosperous empire.
By the time King Ashurbanipal took the throne, he took it upon himself to rebuild and reestablish the war torn empire. In the History of the Babylonians and Assyrians: Last days of
splendor Ashurbanipal. 668-626 BC, George Godspeed describes Ashurbanipal as a builder.
Temples in Nineveh, Arbele, and Tarbish, in Babylon, Borsippa, Sippar, Nippur, and Uruk were
embellished or rebuilt by him. He also states that he (Ashurbanipal) repaired and enlarged its
(Ninevehs) defenses.
After the Assyrian empire had gathered significant size and strength, King Ashurbanipal
saw an opportunity to turn his attention elsewhere. According to Joshua J. Mark in the article
Ashurbanipal published on-line in the Ancient History Encyclopedia, the king was a great
patron to the arts and now turned his attention to these pursuits. He established his famous
library of over 30,000 clay tablets at Nineveh. Mark goes on to describe some of the more
notable works in the library, like the Enuma Elish (the Babylonian Epic of Creation) and the
great epic tale of Gilgamesh, the oldest adventure story extant, as well as the original
Mesopotamian story of the Great Flood, which predates the story in the Bible. Mark states that
the library has since been considered one of the greatest and most important archeological finds
in history.

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Nowadays, most people dont think much of libraries, or if they do, its in regards to
homework or some other necessary, usually dreaded task. This is especially true since the advent
of the internet. Its nothing for a teenager in their bedroom to get on their IPhone and learn just
about anything about any topic with the few strokes of a keyboard. But 3,000 years ago, a library
full of tablets containing historical and scientific information would have been priceless.
So when the archaeologist Austen Layard discovered The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal
in modern day Iraq back in 1849, it was an impressive find of substantial importance. The library
contained thousands of clay cuneiform tablets covering everything from political proclamations
to religious writings to scientific literature. The article Ashurbanipals Enduring Archetype:
Thoughts on the Librarys Role in the Future published in the College & Research Libraries
Volume 47 describes the library as the first known library-Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, which
flourished in the seventh century BCE-performed the same basic functions as a library today. It
(a) assiduously collected written texts from throughout the known world; (b) cataloged and
classified them by subject; (c) conserved records by recopying; (d) used them to answer the
kings questions (reference); and (e) provided him and a few other high official with something
to read (circulation).
The tablets were scribed in cuneiform, which the book Communication in the Ancient
World by Paul Challen describes as a form of writing in which words or ideas were represented
by characters made up of triangles and straight lines Archeological evidence indicates that this
manner of writing began sometime in the 4th millennium BCE and was born of pictograms,
which were just pictures that told a story. Six thousand years may seem like a long time, but in
reality, its not that long to have an established form of writing considering that mankind has
been in its current form for about 200,000 years. Just imagine what it would be like to write a

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research paper having only stories and songs from your family or tribe to rely on for information.
Talk about unreliable sources!
Now, Ashurbanipal was known as one of Assyrias great kings. He had many successful
military conquests and brought the Assyrian Empire to perhaps its great height. He was also
known as an intellect and took great pride in his ability to read many different types of script. He
wasnt only able to read these scripts, but he was known to write them as well, as some of the
tablets in the library bore his signature. Amy Schwartz describes Ashurbanipals ability in The
Wilson Quarterly as a rare skill among rulers of the ancient Near East.
Ashurbanipal built this great library by collecting and translating tablets from across
Mesopotamia. As noted in Communication in the Ancient World by Paul Challen The Assyrian
king, Ashurbanipal, ordered his scribes to copy and collect cuneiform clay tablets from across
the region to keep in the capital, Nineveh.
The Assyrian Empire crumbled after Ashurbanipals death and the City of Nineveh was
burned to the ground. The Encyclopedia of World History states that The Assyrian Empire
collapsed quickly, and that There was apparently a revolt on Ashurbanipals death. So how did
these tablets survive the collapse of this great city? In The Wilson Quarterly, Amy Schwartz
quotes Lionel Casson form his book Libraries In the Ancient World as saying that these (clay
tablets) are more likely to survive than papyrus, because fire only makes them more durable:
When a conqueror set a Mesopotamian palace ablaze, he helped ensure the survival of any clay
tablets in it. After the fall of Nineveh, the library remained hidden under the earth for more than
two millennia.

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Works Cited
Briscoe, Peter, Alice Bodtke-Roberts, Nancy Douglas, Michele Heinold, Nancy Koller, and
Roberta Peirce. Ashurbanipal's Enduring Archetype: Thoughts on the Library's Role in
the Future. College & Research Libraries. 2nd ed. Vol. 47. Chicago: American Library
Association, 1986. 121. Print. 11 Sept. 2014. In this section of the Journal, the authors
contrast the library of Ashurbanipal to modern day libraries, discussing library functions
as an institution, as well as their place/effect on the general public.
Challen, Paul. "Ancient Mesopotamia." Communication in the Ancient World. New York:
Crabtree Pub., 2012. 8-11. Print. 11 Sept. 2014. This chapter briefly covers the
communications of Ancient Mesopotamia. Included in this chapter are the types of
writing, poetry, numbering systems, record keepers, scribes, and the Library of
Nineveh.
Van Der Crabben, Jan. "History of Assyria." Ancient History. Ancient History Encyclopedia
Limited, 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. Crabben briefly coverts the timeline of the
Assyrian Empire, discussing the major events and rulers of the era.
Godspeed, George. "History Of The Babylonians And Assyrians: Last Days Of Splendor
Ashurbanipal. 668-626 B.C.." History of the World. Bureau of Electronic Publishing,
1992. n.pag. eLibrary. Web. 12 Sep. 2014. This article extensively details the last
generation of the Assyrian Empire and the last days of Ashurbanipal.
Mark, Joshua J. "Ashurbanipal." Ancient History. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited, 2 Sept.
2009. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. Mark goes over the life and death of the King Ashurbanipal,
detailing some of his greatest exploits, like the library in Nineveh and his military
conquests.

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Schwartz, Amy. "Libraries in the Ancient World." The Wilson Quarterly 25.3 (2001): 124.
ELibrary. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. In her article for The Wilson Quarterly, Schwartz
discusses the book Casson, Lionel. Libraries in the Ancient World. New Haven: Yale UP,
2001. Print. The article creates a loose illustration of the timeline for the story,
highlighting some of the more prominent events.
"Mesopotamia, 668-332 B.C.E.: The Neo-Assyrians and the Neo-Babylonians." The
Encyclopedia of World History. 2001. eLibrary. Web. 12 Sep. 2014. The article covers
the military conquests of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia.