Library of Ashurbanipal

Library of Ashurbanipal
Gary Todd · CC0 · source
Name	Library of Ashurbanipal
Caption	A reconstruction of a cuneiform tablet from the library.
Established	c. 7th century BC
Location	Nineveh, Assyrian Empire
Collection size	Over 30,000 tablets and fragments
Director	Ashurbanipal (patron)

Library of Ashurbanipal. The Library of Ashurbanipal is a collection of thousands of cuneiform tablets assembled under the patronage of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BC. Housed in his palace at Nineveh, it represents one of the ancient world's most significant repositories of Mesopotamian knowledge. Its discovery provided a foundational corpus of texts for understanding Akkadian literature, Assyrian religion, and the broader intellectual traditions of the Ancient Near East, including those of Ancient Babylon.

Discovery and Excavation

The library's remains were first uncovered in the mid-19th century during excavations at the site of ancient Nineveh, the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The primary credit for its discovery goes to the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard and his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam, who worked at the site of Kuyunjik. Their excavations, conducted on behalf of the British Museum, revealed the North Palace of Ashurbanipal, where the majority of the tablet collection was found. A later, more systematic excavation was carried out by William Loftus. The recovered tablets and fragments, numbering over 30,000, were shipped to the British Museum in London, where they form a core part of its Department of the Middle East collections. The excavation of this library was a landmark event in the field of archaeology, rivaled only by later finds like the Royal Library of Alexandria.

Contents and Collection

The library's contents were remarkably comprehensive, reflecting Ashurbanipal's personal scholarly interests and a deliberate policy of collecting knowledge from across his empire. The collection included texts on divination, such as the extensive *Enūma Anu Enlil* omens and the *Šumma ālu* series, as well as important works of literature like the *Epic of Gilgamesh* and the *Enuma Elish* creation myth. Scientific and scholarly texts were well-represented, covering astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and lexicography, including synonym lists and Akkadian language grammars. There were also numerous administrative documents, royal inscriptions, treaties, and letters. A significant portion of the library consisted of Babylonian literature and scholarly works, which Assyrian scribes had copied and preserved. Key texts like the *Diagnostic Handbook* of Babylonian medicine and the *MUL.APIN* astronomical compendium were found here.

Significance for Assyriology

The discovery of the Library of Ashurbanipal was transformative for the nascent discipline of Assyriology. It provided a massive, centralized corpus of cuneiform texts that allowed scholars to decipher the Akkadian language and its dialects, Assyrian cuneiform and Babylonian cuneiform, with far greater accuracy. Pioneering assyriologists like Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, George Smith, and Jules Oppert relied heavily on its materials for their groundbreaking work. Smith's 1872 discovery of the Flood myth tablet within the library's collection, a part of the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, caused a worldwide sensation. The library serves as the primary source for understanding Assyrian culture, Assyrian law, and imperial administration, while also preserving older Sumerian literature that had been translated into Akkadian.

Relation to Babylonian Tradition

The library demonstrates a profound Assyrian reverence for and dependence on older Babylonian tradition. Ashurbanipal, who was educated in scribal arts, explicitly ordered his agents to collect and copy tablets from Babylonia, especially from temple libraries in cities like Babylon, Nippur, Uruk, and Borsippa. This systematic acquisition meant that the library at Nineveh became a major repository for preserving Babylonian science, Babylonian religion, and Babylonian mythology during a period of Assyrian political dominance. Texts central to Babylonian culture, such as the *Enuma Elish*, which celebrates the god Marduk as the patron of Babylon, were carefully copied by Assyrian scribes. This act of preservation highlights a cultural continuity where Assyrian elites viewed Babylonian knowledge as the classical foundation for their own scholarship and imperial legitimacy.

Preservation and Modern Study

The physical preservation of the library's clay tablets was ironically ensured by the fiery destruction of Nineveh in 612 BC by a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians. The heat from the burning palaces baked and hardened the tablets, allowing them to survive for millennia. Today, the collection is housed primarily at the British Museum, where ongoing conservation, digitization, and scholarly study continue. Modern research projects, such as the Ashurbanipal Library Project initiated by the British Museum, aim to digitally catalogue and reconstruct the original library's organization. The study of these texts remains crucial for historians of the Ancient Near East, providing unparalleled insights into the intellectual, religious, and administrative life of Mesopotamia. The library stands as a testament to the enduring value of preserving cultural and scholarly tradition.