The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal

Janae Bardell
History 134
9-14-14

The Library of Ashurbanipal is a historic milestone in terms of preserving important

texts of the time. Being the first known library, the library was a collection of thirtythousand clay tablets, including religious texts and Mesopotamian epics. King
Ashurbanipal was known as a fair king towards his people, but he has remained most
well-known for his library which he kept in Nineveh. Although the Assyrian Empire fell
apart after King Ashurbanipals death, and Nineveh was burned down by enemies, much
of the great library was preserved.
From 668-627 BCE, King Ashurbanipal ruled Assyria and all of the regions they
conquered, including Babylonia, Persia, Syria, and Egypt. i He was successor to his father,
Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipals grandmother, Zakutu, famously issued the Loyalty
Treaty of Naqia-Zakutu,ii which made Ashurbanipals ascension to the throne clean and
uncomplicated. While Ashurbanipal ruled, he destroyed Elam and was cruel to Elamites,
but he made sure that Assyria was the strongest power and could not be defeated. After he
made sure that his empire would not be overpowered, he turned his attention to the arts
and created the greatest library of the time, and one of the greatest libraries in history.
Not only was the library great for all of the texts found, but it was great for how the
texts were written. Most of the texts were written on clay tablets in cuneiform.iii This
helped to further decipher the writing. Although King Ashurbanipal knew how to read
many forms of writing, he and his predecessors kept records about the kingdom all
written in cuneiform. When Ashurbanipal took control of a city, he had all of their texts
taken for his library at Nineveh, no matter how they were written.
When Ashurbanipal had the texts gathered in Nineveh, they were originally taken to
four different locations in Nineveh; the South-West Palace, North Palace, near temples in

Nineveh, and near Kouyunjik.iv The first tablets were found at Kouyunjik, by British
archaeologist Austen Henry Layard. Many tablets existed in the library, but when found,
only a small number of tablets were in tact and could be deciphered. Among these tablets
were the Epic of Creation and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Epic of Gilgamesh has proven to be the most famous cuneiform tablet, with the
entire epic written on it. The tablet also won its fame because the story is remarkably
similar to the story of the flood in the book of Genesis. The epic is made up of five
Sumerian poems which, together, form the complete story of Gilgamesh. Although the
library at Nineveh is famous on its own, the Epic of Gilgamesh tablet makes the library
all that much more impressive.
Many of the tablets were kept at Ashurbanipals palace (North Palace), which was
decorated with many sculptures depicting how Ashurbanipal defeated the Elamites. For
example, in his palace he kept a sculpture of him and his wife holding the head of the
Elamite king. He also had panels on the walls of his palace depicting him killing lions for
sport.
King Ashurbanipal was seen as cruel by many, but he did many great things for his
empire like conquering new territory, and most importantly, building one of the most
important libraries in history. The Library of Ashurbanipal gives us insight to the past that
we would not have otherwise, and lets us know how important gaining knowledge and
preserving information really is.

Notes

In the article Ashurbanipal written by Joshua J. Mark on Ancient History Enclycopedia, he goes into detail about how
Ashurbanipal took over many territories.
ii

Assyria written by Joshua J. Mark on Ancient History Encyclopedia, explains why Zakutu entered into the Loyalty
Treaty.
iii
The British Museum shows the tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the cuneiform writing.
iv
Jeanette C. Fincke writes about The British Museums Ashurbanipal Library Project, describing the discovery of the
Library of Ashurbanipal.

Works Cited

Mark, Joshua J. "Assyria." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
The Ancient History Encyclopedia is a well-researched and educational website, which is aligned
with school history curriculum.

Wiseman, Donald John. "Personality and Significance." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
Encyclopedia Britannica is a reputable English-language encyclopedia, first published in 1768,
published in 15 editions.

"The Flood Tablet / The Gilgamesh Tablet / Library of Ashurbanipal."British Museum. N.p., n.d. Web.
14 Sept. 2014.
The British Museum database is an inventory of the museums collection and records what is
known about its artifacts.

Fincke, Jeanette C. "The British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library Project."Academia.edu. N.p., n.d.
Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
Jeanette C. Fincke researched the Royal Library and wrote an extensive journal on The British
Museums project on Ashurbanipals library.