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The oldest surviving royal library in the world is that of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria
(668-around 630 BC). British Museum archaeologists discovered more than 30,000 cuneiform
tablets and fragments at his capital, Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik).
Alongside historical inscriptions, letters, administrative and legal texts, were found
thousands of divinatory, magical, medical, literary and lexical texts.
This treasure-house of learning has held unparalleled importance to the modern study
of the ancient Near East ever since the first fragments were excavated in the 1850s.
King Ashurbanipal was the ruler of ancient Assyria, famous for his military accomplishments.
However, Ashurbanipal's establishment of a great library in the city of Nineveh, is considered
of far greater importance.
Ashurbanipal's library was not the first library of its kind but it was one of the largest and
one of the ones to survive to the present day.
A collection of 20,000 to 30,000 cuneiform tablets contains approximately 1,200 distinct
texts.
Like a modern library this collection was spread out into many rooms according to subject matter.
Some rooms were devoted to history and government, others to religion and magic and still others to
geography, science, poetry, etc.
The ancient Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh" and a nearly complete list of ancient Near Eastern rulers
among other priceless writings were preserved in Ashurbanipal's palace library at Nineveh.
Ashurbanipal's collection even held what could be called classified government materials.
This collection is now housed at the British Museum.
The importance of Ashurbanipal's Library can not be overstated and as a scholar Ashurbanipal
reached greatnesss.
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