The cruel king who built the world's first library: Who is Ashurbanipal?
Unlike other kings, Ashurbanipal was very hardworking, but was also very interested in science and the arts. The Ashurbanipal Library he founded was the first library in the world.
The Assyrian Empire, the largest empire of its time, ruled over present-day Iraq and its surrounding lands. One of the Assyrian Kings who had great power at that time was Ashurbanipal's father Esarhaddon. Ashurbanipal was not considered the heir to the throne while his father was on the throne. However, after his elder brother died, Ashurbanipal was chosen as heir. The election of Ashurbanipal as heir to his other brothers was an unexpected decision, and much training began to be put into becoming a king. Ashurbanipal, who made great progress after starting his education, managed to attract the attention of the administration at that time. In addition, Ashurbanipal, who also served as an intelligence officer, learned a lot about his country and politics.
Ashurbanipal was also improving himself in hunting and fighting. He developed himself in many fields such as archery, horse riding and using war tools by taking military training. At that time, he was also hunting lions as a show of power. In order to make the lion hunts more spectacular and permanent, he had many reliefs drawn while hunting lions and covered the palace with them. Later, these reliefs became one of the best-known works of art belonging to the Assyrian Empire.
The Reign of Ashurbanipal
B.C. During the reign of Ashurbanipal, ruler of the Assyrian Empire from 668-631, the Assyrian Empire had its largest territory. In those years, while the Assyrian Empire was mentioned all over the world, there were only small city-states in the Greek region. During his reign, Ashurbanipal committed many atrocities, from forcing a king he was fighting to live in a kennel to cutting off the head of another king he was fighting and keeping it as an ornament in the garden of his palace.
Much feared by his enemies, Ashurbanipal was seen as ruthless by his people, although he was more merciful to his people. He always glorified himself and even called himself the "king of the world" because he ruled the Assyrian Empire, which was the largest empire in the world at the time he lived. Later, it began to be referred to as such in many places.
With Ashurbanipal becoming emperor, his brother Shamash-shum-ukin became king of Babylon in Assyria. In the future, he seized some cities with a group he gathered. After these events, Ashurbanipal besieged Babylon for two years. After this time, human famines and other factors eventually took the city of Ashurbanipal and brutally murdered his brother and everyone who helped him.
The First Library in the World: Ashurbanipal Library
Ashurbanipal was surprisingly involved in the arts, sciences, and religions for his time. He could also read many languages spoken during his time. At his behest, Ashurbanipal's editorial staff gathered all manner of writings and texts from all over the empire. These books, whose general subjects are humans, animals, plants, and celestial bodies, were collected in Nineveh, where Ashurbanipal is located. At that time, information was written on tablets instead of paper in the Assyrian Empire. With these tablets, the world's first library, known as the library of Ashurbanipal or the library of Nineveh, was established. The library was buried under the walls of Ashurbanipal's palace and remained underground for nearly 2,000 years until it was discovered in 1849. Some 30,000 of the hundreds of thousands of tablets collected so far are exhibited in the British Museum.
The tablets collected in the library of Ashurbanipal have contributed a lot to the knowledge of many Mesopotamian epics today, and these tablets are the source of most information about both the Assyrian Empire and other states of that period. One of the most interesting articles in the library is the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Luxury Life of Ashurbanipal
One of the Assyrian rulers, famous for his lavish spending and ostentatiousness, was Ashurbanipal. The capital city of Nineveh, whose size and magnificence affected the whole world, attracting more people's attention with its magnificent gardens built by Ashurbanipal. The huge palace, statues, and gardens, which astonished the visitors, covered a very large area. The gardens, which have a stepped structure, were also built in such a way that kilometers-long canals could be irrigated. Various animals and plants brought from many different geographies lived in the gardens. Ashurbanipal, who spent most of his rest and entertainment time in these gardens, both organized entertainments in these gardens and tried to show other people how fertile and resourceful he was for this habitat and beauty that he created.
Ashurbanipal lived an ostentatious life and reflected in everything he did. With the library he created, he created a great resource on the history of that period and made a great leap compared to his own period. It is still unknown how Ashurbanipal, known as the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, died. However, in some sources, it is said that he committed suicide by burning himself after the capital city of Nineveh was occupied by the enemy.