The Library of Ashurbanipal (2025)

> All three of the languages in the Persian inscriptions were a complete mystery: Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian

> One of the languages (Old Persian) turned out to be related to modern Persian, in which Rawlinson was fluent, and in 1846 he published an edition and translation of the inscription.

Fascinating. I wonder if there were any other Persian speakers at the time who could have helped with this, or was this mainly about Rawlinson hoarding the glory?

> The results were published in scholarly journals, sometimes leading to collaboration and discoveries, and sometimes laying bare fierce rivalries and competing theories. Rawlinson, for example, was initially convinced that cuneiform represented letters rather than syllables, and that it originated in Egypt. When he changed his mind and started reading the signs as syllables, he claimed not to remember how he had come to these conclusions, but seems to have plagiarised Hincks, as he also copied some of his mistakes.

There we go.

This has nothing to do with the library of Ashurbanipal itself, but is still worth mentioning. Ashurbanipal's library gets referenced in the VERY clever parody song "I Am the Very Model of a Biblical Philologist", which you can watch on the author's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x2SvqhfevE (video is under 4 minutes long).

Depending on your knowledge of ancient history and archaeology, you may find the song either mildly funny, or side-splittingly hilarious. (And no particular religious position is advanced in the song, it's pure silliness. Putting that out there in case anyone was worried by the title). Personally, I landed on the "hilarious" side of things, which is why I wanted to share this video with you all.

I hope this brightens up your day a little.

If you are at all interested in this, I would strongly recommend a visit to the Assyrian section of the British Museum in London. The carved reliefs are incredible and look like they were done yesterday.

I find it fascinating how self-aware the Mespotamians were of their own literary culture and history. Later rulers would do early forms of archaeology and dig up the ruins of earlier kings. The Library of Ashurbanipal has sign lists (proto-dictionaries) which go way, way back, to the early Sumerian period, and it seems the Assyrian elite could still read inscriptions that were over two thousand years old, when Nineveh fell in 612 BC.

Only tangentially related, but I can really recommend There are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak, which starts in this library

In addition to the book written by the author of this article, there is another fascinating study about the discovery of the Assyrian archives and the recovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh:

David Damrosch (2007) Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh

https://www.amazon.com/Buried-Book-Rediscovery-Great-Gilgame...

> There are simply too few historians trained to read them to be able to cope with the supply.

Surely this is something AI tools will (eventually?) be able to help with?

I thought this name sounded familiar. Turns out it's similar to an NPC name in Morrowind (2002). Why aren't more video games drawing heavily from ancient history? https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Hanarai_Assutlanipal

> I can resolve complex [mathematical] divisions [and] multiplications

A claim far too many people these days can't make.