December 25, 2018 ☼ history ☼ 668BC ☼ exibition

Ashurbanipal | an exibition about his legacy

If you are in UK the next 3 months: an exhibition about the Neo-Assyrians.

Ashurbanipal, the greatest Assyrian King, while not necessary a nice guy, was outstandingly smart, educated and visionary. His Royal Library, the biggest in the world in the 7th century BC, is the reason we know about the “Epic of Gilgamesh” masterpiece. His vision ? “…libraries would be increasingly revered as sources of knowledge and wisdom- spiritual, magical, and earthly- and whoever controlled books and libraries possessed a unique power.”

The project was so outstanding that 300 years later Alexander the Great was inspired to build his own library. He died before completion but Ptolemy, his friend and successor in Egypt, finished it as “Library of Alexandria”. Great minds thinks alike.

A short intro here:
Introducing the Assyrians

Exibition: https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/ashurbanipal.aspx