Ashurbanipal, Assurbanipal or Sardanapal, (reigned 669-627 BC), was the last great king of ancient Assyria. He is famous as one of the few kings in antiquity who could himself read and write. Assyrian sculpture reached its apogee under his rule. The Greeks knew him as Sardanapalos; Latin and other medieval texts refer to him as Sardanapalus. In the Bible he is called As(e)nappar or Osnapper (Ezra 4:10).

During his rule, Assyrian splendour was not only visible in its military power, but also its culture and art. Ashurbanipal created "the first systematically collected library" at Nineveh, where he gathered all cuneiform literature available by that time. A library was distinct from an archive: earlier repositories of documents had accumulated passively, in the course of administrative routine.

Tablets from the library of Nineveh preserve the most complete sources for both the Sumerian and Akkadian versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Other sets of tablets offer what is essentially a Sumerian-Akkadian dictionary. There are arcane astronomical/astrological texts. By far, the largest group of tablets (almost all of which are in the British Museum, London) are 'omen' texts that taught the scribes how to recognize the significance of portents.... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... hurbanipal View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Royalty • 7th Century BC • Assyrians • Iran • Iraq • Iron Age • Middle East • Rulers • Icons • People