The Assyrian Empire would rule over the northern Mesopotamian lands for over 1500 years. The last great king of the empire, Ashurbanipal, constructed a grand library which contained thousands of secrets of this once great empire.
In 612 BC, a coalition led by the Babylonians would topple the reign of the civilization, and the king’s extraordinary library went down in flames, leaving the empire’s story a forever mystery.

That is, until 1849.

English Archaeologist Austen Henry Layard returned from an excavation in Modern-day Iraq, telling his people about his magnificent find.

The fire which engulfed the now buried library had dried the clay tablets, preserving them for millenia. The library’s chambers were excavated for years to follow and 30,000 clay tablets would be translated.
This discovery would be known as "the most precious source of historical material in the world." - H.G Wells

Ashurbanipal was a king known to torture and kill, yet he never left his palace to go to battle. Instead, he stayed inside his palace walls and wrote. He'd spend the day studying the great tablets of clay his soldiers brought him, of which we will be exploring today.

00:00 Intro
1:41 The Story of Ashurbanipal
5:44 Rassam Cylinder / Egypt
9:30 Tablet of Battle of Ulai
12:12 A Tale of Two Brothers
15:25 Enuma Elis Tablet
19:32 Rassam Cylinder / Destruction of Elam
22:37 The Epic of Adapav
24:57 The Last Writings
26:59 The Fall of Asyria
29:48 Rediscovery
33:18 The Epic of Gilgamesh
39:47 Ashurbanipal Library Project