The Lost Library of Babylon
The BC period was characterized by the interest of scientists with great interest in science in the East, where we find that it was prosperous with the presence of large and ancient libraries such as the Library of Alexandria and the libraries of Granada and Zahra in Andalusia, most notably, the Library of Babylon, or the Library of "Ashurbanipal", but unfortunately, the attack of the Mongols came and they burned it until the library became the lost library of Babylon.
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- The BC era witnessed a flourishing of scientific interest in the East, marked by the existence of major ancient libraries like those in Alexandria, Granada, Zahra, and especially Babylon.
- The Library of Ashurbanipal, also known as the lost Library of Babylon, was destroyed after the fall of Nineveh in 611 BC, when it was buried beneath rubble and debris during a brutal conquest.
- Despite the destruction, the clay tablets survived due to their durable material, though many were shattered or scattered under the ruins.
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- Archaeological excavations in ancient Nineveh, particularly by British archaeologist Austin Henry Layard in 1849, led to the rediscovery of many of these lost tablets.
- The library’s contents were vast and diverse, including historical chronicles, religious texts, legal documents, scientific writings, and significant literary works like epics and myths.
- Ashurbanipal actively gathered and restored ancient texts from across Mesopotamia, translating and preserving them in a highly organized and categorized system.
- The partial survival of the Library of Ashurbanipal stands as a testament to the resilience of knowledge and the importance of libraries in preserving human history and culture.
Pre-Mongol Library of Babylon:
After the fall of the Assyrian Empire and the occupation and burning of its capital, Nineveh, in 611 BC as a kind of brutal celebration by the victorious armies. The library of Babylon or Ashurbanipal disappeared, under a hail of stones and rocks that blocked its doors, so the invaders forgot it and people abandoned it and remained under the rubble and hills of dirt, and the fire had touched some of its panels that had crumbled from it, and some of them fell from its place and broke, but it did not melt because it was made of proud clay.
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What's more?
Fortunately, the library was filled with stones and mounds of dirt, so the invaders did not bother and endured the trouble of removing all those stone blocks and earth piles in order to erase traces before them. When the pioneers of archaeology appeared, they began excavating archaeological sites indicative of the Assyrians and their civilization. In the hill of "Koinjak" (ancient Nineveh) began excavations, and they found the panels in more than one place, and found most of them scattered and shattered, and the British archaeologist "Austin Henry Layard" revealed, first, the largest part of them in the palace of "Sennacherib" in 1849. The library consisted of clay tablets engraved with inscriptions on various subjects, including:
1) History of literature.
2) The King's Library.
3) Temple Library.
4) Official royal correspondence.
5) Contracts, charters and miscellaneous texts.
Panel content:
The content of the lost tablets of the Library of Babylon or Ashurbanipal was varied as the annals of the Assyrian kings from the beginning of 1300 BC were found, which should be considered the first illustrated historical documents in human history without question, as well as legislation, foreign correspondence and contracts, aristocratic declarations, and financial matters. The rest of the texts contained literary and religious texts and hymns of various gods, while others included topics related to medicine, astronomy and literature. It also contained expressive literary works such as epics, myths, and another group of literary texts, namely lexical texts and lists of signs.
History of the Library:
When Ashurbanipal decided to establish the lost library of Babylon or Ashurbanipal, he sent his court writers to all parts of Mesopotamia and collected everything they found in the royal palaces, for the kings and rulers of Mesopotamia, from clay tablets written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, and asked them to rewrite what was damaged from them, and to translate the Sumerian texts of Akkadian, as it was the language in which the Assyrians spoke and wrote, and thousands of clay tablets representing the heritage of Mesopotamia were preserved in all branches of knowledge. They catalogued them, classified their themes, and placed them on homogeneous shelves.
The Lost Library of Babylon or Ashurbanipal consists of two sections, the first section is in the palace of Sennacherib, Ashurbanipal's grandfather, and contains most of the clay tablets that were ready for preservation. The second section, which was in the palace of Assyria, where he founded a second library, collected different tablets from the first, and used the two palaces, simultaneously, during the year. Ashurbanipal was not only the greatest emperor of the ancient world, but also the most civilized and cultured.
The Assyrian scholar Leo Oppenheim echoes what Ashurbanipal said about himself: I kept all the initial knowledge starting with the Sumerians, studied the wisdom of "Nabu" and acquired the art of writing and the knowledge of most of the sages, and learned archery, horsemanship and chariots. Thus I was able to read the mysterious Sumerian texts and the complex Akkadian and researched the cuneiform writing on the stone by the flood.
Libraries are the most important sources of science and knowledge throughout the ages, and acts of vandalism in them are an attempt to eliminate the history and structure of the place and this strategy was used in various eras and the lost library of Babylon or Ashurbanipal was not spared the consequences of this strategy... However, the fact that its contents were made of pottery was a great bounty, as a significant part of its contents and history were preserved for the rest of the world to learn from and this was Ashurbanipal's goal of the library.
