Information’s Oldest Hero Ashurbanipal The World’s First Librarian Ashurbanipal carrying a basket during the rebuilding of a temple at Babylon

Ashurbanipal’s Territory King of Assyria Reigned 668 to 626 BC Lived in Ninevah

Ashurbanipal supported the establishment of the first systematically organized library in the world. The library contained 20,000 to 22,000 works in the form of clay tablets.

Cuneiform Tablets Consisted of clean, washed, smooth clay. While still wet, the clay had wedge-shaped letters impressed in it with a stylus. It was then kiln fired or sun dried. Tablets were made in three shapes: cone-shaped, drum-shaped, and flat. They were often placed in clay envelopes.

Ashurbanipal Organized, Classified, Catalogued, and Conserved Information Trained as a scribe, the king of Assyria copied many of the documents in his famed library which comprised not only official documents but prophecies, sacred lore, epic poems, and folk tales. He even created a dictionary! Sumerian words with Akkadian translations Proverb from the Library of Ashurbanipal: Writing is the mother of eloquence and the father of artists.

World Map, ca. 600 BC from Ashurbanipal’s library Shows Babylon as a rectangle intersected by two vertical lines representing the Euphrates River. Small circle stands for surrounding kingdoms, and an ocean encircles the world.

The King of Assyria Controlled the Flow of Information Ashurbanipal had a hand in choosing each work. He selected and censored as he saw fit. In addition to his roles as selector, censor, and cataloger, he acted as policy maker and enforcer of strict punishments on those who damaged or defaced his tablets.

A Warning Found in the World’s First Library May all the gods curse anyone who breaks, defaces, or removes this tablet. Upon him be a curse which cannot be relieved, terrible and merciless, as long as he lives. May they let his name and his seed be carried off from the land, and may they put his flesh in a dog's mouth.

Who’s Who in the Ancient Mideast In Ezra 4:10, Ashurbanipal’s name is rendered "Asnapper" or "Osnapper". His library of literary texts included an epic of the creation, the Flood, and other stories mentioned in the Bible. The Flood Tablet

Ashurbanipal Set a Precedent The content of Ashurbanipal’s library provided the basis for many national libraries that followed. It became important to not only preserve archives and records, but also national stories and mythological works as well. Modern librarians owe a great deal to this Assyrian king for his contributions to the field of library science before there ever was a library science.

Ashurbanipal Web references: The First Librarian http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.utk.edu%2F%7Ejdavis41%2Fashurbanipal.html http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct-frame.pl?http://icias.com/e.o/ashurbanipal.htm http://web.utk.edu/~smincey/ Denise Lajetta lajetta@ku.edu