Ashurbanipal
Last great king of Assyria; founder of the library at Nineveh
- Reigned
- 668–627 BCE
- Capital
- Nineveh
- Known for
- Library of Ashurbanipal
- Library rediscovered
- 1850s excavations at Nineveh
The last great Assyrian king, whose library at Nineveh preserved the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Enuma Elish and thousands of other tablets.
What is Ashurbanipal known for?
Ashurbanipal ruled Assyria from 668 to 627 BCE, at the height of its power. Britannica calls him the last of the great Assyrian kings and credits him with assembling the first systematically organized library in the ancient Middle East.
Tens of thousands of tablet fragments from his palaces at Nineveh were excavated in the 1850s and are now mostly in the British Museum. They include the standard Epic of Gilgamesh with its Flood story, copies of the Enuma Elish, omen series, and the story of Adapa. When George Smith read the Flood tablet in 1872, it came from this collection.
He is also famous for the lion-hunt reliefs from his North Palace.
Copies of Gilgamesh, Enuma Elish and Adapa that the site discusses come from his library at Nineveh.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeAdapa
- Rabbit holeEnuma Elish
- PersonGeorge Smith
- PersonNur-Aya
- PersonR. Campbell Thompson
- PersonSin-leqi-unninni
- PlaceNineveh
Sources
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