Before the famous Library of Alexandria rose to greatness, the Library of Ashurbanipal already stood as a monumental center of knowledge. Created in the 7th century BCE in Nineveh, it is considered the earliest known royal library and a priceless archive of Mesopotamian civilization.

A Scholar-King

Ashurbanipal, the last strong king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, boasted literacy in several languages. He ordered scribes to collect texts from across the empire, even having conquered cities shipped their archives to Nineveh.

A Library of Knowledge

The library contained over 30,000 clay tablets covering:

mythology
medicine
mathematics
astronomy
rituals
state documents
epics and literature

The Epic of Gilgamesh survives largely because of this collection.

Organization and Preservation

Tablets were arranged by subject, some stamped with Ashurbanipal’s seal. While the library burned when the city fell in 612 BCE, the fire baked the clay tablets, preserving them.

Rediscovery

Archaeologists in the 19th century discovered the library’s remains, drastically transforming our understanding of the ancient Near East.