1 00:00:01,340 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:05,479 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,860 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson. 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:16,080 Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Frey. 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,050 Speaker 2: We have another episode inspired by the trip I took 6 00:00:20,090 --> 00:00:22,890 Speaker 2: to England this past May, although the subject matter for 7 00:00:22,910 --> 00:00:26,980 Speaker 2: the most part is not about England itself. When I 8 00:00:27,020 --> 00:00:30,390 Speaker 2: was in school, what we learned about Mesopotamia was in 9 00:00:30,460 --> 00:00:36,670 Speaker 2: pretty broad strokes. We talked about things like cuneiform script 10 00:00:37,030 --> 00:00:40,070 Speaker 2: and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their cycles of 11 00:00:40,170 --> 00:00:43,750 Speaker 2: flooding and the whole idea of the cradle of civilization. 12 00:00:44,570 --> 00:00:47,310 Speaker 2: There were some names that came up like in the 13 00:00:47,370 --> 00:00:50,330 Speaker 2: Bible in church, and I read the Epic of Gilgamesh 14 00:00:50,370 --> 00:00:52,830 Speaker 2: while studying literature. But beyond that, when it came to 15 00:00:52,930 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 2: actual history classes, I don't think I learned about any 16 00:00:56,700 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: specific Mesopotamian leaders, aside from maybe Hammurabi, who was ruler 17 00:01:02,420 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 2: of Babylon, and that was mostly in the context of 18 00:01:05,180 --> 00:01:06,340 Speaker 2: Hammurabi's code. 19 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,119 Speaker 1: That was one of the first codes of law. 20 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,459 Speaker 2: So when I was at the British Museum this past May, 21 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:17,740 Speaker 2: I was really fascinated by the Library of Ashurbanipal, which 22 00:01:17,819 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 2: was a name that I mostly recognized from lyrics to 23 00:01:21,540 --> 00:01:25,620 Speaker 2: a They Might Be Giants song, Not anything I remember 24 00:01:25,740 --> 00:01:30,330 Speaker 2: ever learning in school. Something else that struck me in 25 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,770 Speaker 2: that trip to the British Museum was that I was 26 00:01:32,890 --> 00:01:37,990 Speaker 2: reading all about Ashurbanipal's library, and Patrick was somewhere else 27 00:01:38,110 --> 00:01:42,220 Speaker 2: in the same room reading other stuff about Ashurbanipal as 28 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 2: king of Assyria. And when the two of us came 29 00:01:45,380 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 2: back together, we had radically different impressions of this man. 30 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 2: Because I was sort of thinking, wow, this guy's library 31 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 2: sounds so amazing. And Patrick, having read other signs, was like, wow, 32 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,340 Speaker 2: that guy seems really ruthless. 33 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:07,900 Speaker 1: So to get some groundwork in, Mesopotamia actually means between rivers, 34 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,710 Speaker 1: and that's an apt name because it is describing exactly that, 35 00:02:12,090 --> 00:02:16,410 Speaker 1: that area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These rivers 36 00:02:16,470 --> 00:02:19,169 Speaker 1: start in what is now Turkey, and they pass through 37 00:02:19,210 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: a corner of Syria before traveling through Iraq in a 38 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: diagonal manner, and then they eventually cross come together to 39 00:02:26,260 --> 00:02:30,140 Speaker 1: form the Shat al-Arab River and discharge into the Persian Gulf. 40 00:02:30,940 --> 00:02:33,900 Speaker 1: But the kingdoms and empires that are usually framed as 41 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,430 Speaker 1: ancient Mesopotamia go beyond this geographical area, stretching all the 42 00:02:38,470 --> 00:02:41,110 Speaker 1: way from the Zagros Mountains in the east to the 43 00:02:41,169 --> 00:02:45,030 Speaker 1: Arabian Peninsula in the west, and in some cases, conquering 44 00:02:45,110 --> 00:02:47,050 Speaker 1: territory that was even farther away. 45 00:02:47,770 --> 00:02:50,489 Speaker 2: When I was in school, History classes in the United 46 00:02:50,530 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 2: States often described Mesopotamia as the birthplace of civilization, but 47 00:02:56,060 --> 00:02:59,859 Speaker 2: today the term cradle of civilization is used to describe 48 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:03,620 Speaker 2: multiple regions on Earth. They're all near rivers or other 49 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,830 Speaker 2: sources of water, and they are places where people established settlements, 50 00:03:07,970 --> 00:03:10,950 Speaker 2: which grew into cities, with those cities and societies that 51 00:03:10,970 --> 00:03:14,610 Speaker 2: they were home to becoming more and more complex. Other 52 00:03:14,770 --> 00:03:19,410 Speaker 2: cradles of civilization include the Indus Valley on the Indian subcontinent, 53 00:03:19,850 --> 00:03:23,970 Speaker 2: the western coast of South America, including Lake Titicaca and 54 00:03:24,010 --> 00:03:28,070 Speaker 2: the Indian Plateau, and the Yangtze and Yellow River systems 55 00:03:28,190 --> 00:03:32,570 Speaker 2: in China, as well as Mesoamerica. Starting with the establishment 56 00:03:32,669 --> 00:03:36,430 Speaker 2: of its first cities, ancient Mesopotamia spans more than 3,000 57 00:03:36,430 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 2: years of history. civilizations, kingdoms, and empires overlapped and influenced 58 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 2: each other. So trying to put together a linear timeline 59 00:03:47,660 --> 00:03:50,970 Speaker 2: or even a more relative one is actually quite challenging. 60 00:03:51,770 --> 00:03:54,650 Speaker 2: On top of that, we're still getting new information about 61 00:03:54,690 --> 00:03:58,910 Speaker 2: Mesopotamia in its ancient roots, both through archaeological work that 62 00:03:58,950 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 2: started in the mid-19th century and through reconstruction and translation 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 2: of texts that were and. 64 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:11,350 Speaker 1: Still are being unearthed. That includes Ashurbanipal's library, only a 65 00:04:11,530 --> 00:04:14,390 Speaker 1: fraction of which has been reconstructed and translated. 66 00:04:14,410 --> 00:04:16,970 Speaker 2: Yeah, what I wanted to put in this part of 67 00:04:17,010 --> 00:04:20,469 Speaker 2: the episode was a basic timeline to situate when we 68 00:04:20,529 --> 00:04:23,490 Speaker 2: are talking about, and I found that task to be impossible. 69 00:04:24,710 --> 00:04:28,150 Speaker 2: Assyria was, though, one of the later empires to be 70 00:04:28,190 --> 00:04:33,980 Speaker 2: established in Mesopotamia. Modern historians and archaeologists typically divide Assyrian 71 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:39,460 Speaker 2: history into multiple parts, There's Early Assyrian, starting around 2600 BCE, 72 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:43,380 Speaker 2: Old Assyrian, starting around 2025 BCE, Middle Assyrian, starting around 73 00:04:43,380 --> 00:04:46,190 Speaker 2: 1363 BCE, and Neo-Assyrian, which spanned from 911 to 609 BCE. 74 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 2: That's then followed by a post-imperial period when Assyria no 75 00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 2: longer existed as an organized state, but the region that 76 00:05:03,779 --> 00:05:06,230 Speaker 2: it had been home to had not been fully conquered 77 00:05:06,290 --> 00:05:11,169 Speaker 2: by other kingdoms or empires yet. The Assyrian ethnic group 78 00:05:11,230 --> 00:05:14,050 Speaker 2: still exists today, with an estimated 3 million to 5 79 00:05:14,050 --> 00:05:19,130 Speaker 2: million people in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey considering themselves Assyrian. 80 00:05:19,830 --> 00:05:23,180 Speaker 2: The Neo-Assyrian period is seen as the height of the 81 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,920 Speaker 2: Assyrian Empire, and Ashurbanipal was one of that period's last kings. 82 00:05:28,810 --> 00:05:32,410 Speaker 2: At that point, Assyria was the largest empire in the world, 83 00:05:32,570 --> 00:05:37,100 Speaker 2: encompassing what's now Iraq, part of Iran, the Levant, including 84 00:05:37,130 --> 00:05:41,150 Speaker 2: the island of Cyprus, and northern Egypt. Its capital was 85 00:05:41,230 --> 00:05:44,490 Speaker 2: Nineveh in what's now Iraq, near the modern city of Mosul. 86 00:05:45,270 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal's father was Esarhaddon, and it doesn't appear that Ashurbanipal 87 00:05:50,380 --> 00:05:54,460 Speaker 2: was originally intended to be his successor. Esarhaddon had an 88 00:05:54,700 --> 00:05:58,659 Speaker 2: older son named Sin-idn-Apli, who is believed to have died 89 00:05:58,860 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 2: sometime before 672 BCE. But oracles and prophecies were a 90 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 2: huge part of the way Assyrian culture related to and 91 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,940 Speaker 2: understood the world. And it's also possible that there was 92 00:06:12,060 --> 00:06:17,390 Speaker 2: some kind of divination or omen involved in Sin-Iden-Apli not 93 00:06:17,450 --> 00:06:19,450 Speaker 2: being named as his father's successor. 94 00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:22,789 Speaker 1: It also seems like there may have been some kind 95 00:06:22,850 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: of omen or prophecy related to Ashurbanipal or to another 96 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: of Esarhaddon's sons, Shemashumukhin. Shemashumukhin was older than Ashurbanipal, and 97 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,339 Speaker 1: ordinarily he would have been next in line to succeed 98 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: their father. But almost everyone, including Esarhaddon, seems to have 99 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:48,620 Speaker 1: preferred Ashurbanipal. So in 672 BCE, Esarhaddon decided to divide 100 00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:54,610 Speaker 1: his son's responsibilities, giving Shamashum-Ukin control of Babylon, while Ashurbanipal 101 00:06:54,650 --> 00:06:57,310 Speaker 1: was named crown prince of the Assyrian Empire. 102 00:06:57,330 --> 00:07:01,550 Speaker 2: This was sort of a throwback to some earlier family 103 00:07:01,670 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 2: and dynastic history and the greater history of Mesopotamia. Centuries 104 00:07:06,820 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 2: before this, Babylon had been established as the capital of 105 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,940 Speaker 2: the kingdom of Babylonia, which covered much of southern Mesopotamia. 106 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: But Babylon faced a series of raids and invasions, starting 107 00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 2: with the Hittites in the 16th century BCE. By the 108 00:07:22,780 --> 00:07:27,700 Speaker 2: 11th century BCE, the Assyrians were continually fighting with their neighbors, 109 00:07:27,900 --> 00:07:32,110 Speaker 2: including the Chaldeans and the Arameans, over control of Babylon, 110 00:07:32,630 --> 00:07:36,610 Speaker 2: with Babylonia also trying to maintain itself and its own independence. 111 00:07:37,590 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 2: Babylon sometimes allied with Assyria's enemies to do this. Then 112 00:07:43,500 --> 00:07:48,910 Speaker 2: in 689 BCE, Esarhaddon's own father, Sennacherib, became convinced that 113 00:07:48,930 --> 00:07:52,730 Speaker 2: there was no way that Assyria would ever retain peaceful 114 00:07:52,790 --> 00:07:57,450 Speaker 2: control of Babylon, so he destroyed it and then diverted 115 00:07:57,470 --> 00:08:02,740 Speaker 2: a canal to drown the ruins. Sennacherib also passed over 116 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 2: an older son to name Esarhaddon as his heir. There's 117 00:08:06,900 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 2: a bit of murkiness after this, but afterward, one or 118 00:08:10,140 --> 00:08:14,750 Speaker 2: more of Esarhaddon's brothers, murdered their father, something that is 119 00:08:14,810 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 2: understandably interpreted as having been done because they were angry 120 00:08:18,620 --> 00:08:21,860 Speaker 2: about the line of succession. This sparked a civil war 121 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 2: in which Esarhaddon defeated his brother's forces and took the throne. 122 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:31,850 Speaker 2: One of Esarhaddon's projects was to rebuild Babylon. Like a 123 00:08:31,910 --> 00:08:36,230 Speaker 2: lot of life in ancient Mesopotamia, this had a religious underpinning, 124 00:08:36,929 --> 00:08:40,969 Speaker 2: Babylon's chief god was Marduk, and Marduk was also a 125 00:08:41,010 --> 00:08:46,190 Speaker 2: deity in Assyria. Even Sennacherib's supporters feared that his actions 126 00:08:46,330 --> 00:08:51,390 Speaker 2: in Babylon had angered and offended Marduk. Sennacherib's assassination by 127 00:08:51,460 --> 00:08:55,429 Speaker 2: his son or sons was seen as a divine retribution 128 00:08:55,510 --> 00:08:59,959 Speaker 2: for his having done this to Babylon, and Esarhaddon's rebuilding 129 00:09:00,059 --> 00:09:04,220 Speaker 2: of Babylon happened alongside a reframing of its destruction as 130 00:09:04,300 --> 00:09:10,410 Speaker 2: another divine punishment. Esarhaddon framed himself as Babylon's governor rather 131 00:09:10,450 --> 00:09:13,150 Speaker 2: than its king, and he worked to gain the support 132 00:09:13,190 --> 00:09:18,470 Speaker 2: of other cities in Babylonia. Esarhaddon's decision to name Ashurbanipal 133 00:09:18,570 --> 00:09:22,130 Speaker 2: as heir to the throne of Assyria and Shemashumukhin as 134 00:09:22,210 --> 00:09:25,550 Speaker 2: crown prince of Babylon seems to have been done in 135 00:09:25,590 --> 00:09:28,309 Speaker 2: an attempt to prevent a repeat of the civil war 136 00:09:28,350 --> 00:09:31,210 Speaker 2: that had been part of his own ascension. We're going 137 00:09:31,230 --> 00:09:35,250 Speaker 2: to come back to that idea later. But Ashurbanipal's education 138 00:09:35,309 --> 00:09:38,739 Speaker 2: was already underway when he was named crown prince of Assyria, 139 00:09:38,860 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 2: so he had started studying subjects that weren't really typical 140 00:09:42,820 --> 00:09:49,260 Speaker 2: of Assyrian kings. He had learned horsemanship, charioteering, archery, military tactics, 141 00:09:49,860 --> 00:09:52,530 Speaker 2: and courtly decorum, which were all things that would be 142 00:09:52,590 --> 00:09:56,729 Speaker 2: expected of a royal. But he also studied literature and history, 143 00:09:56,870 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 2: and he knew multiple Sumerian and Akkadian languages, including how 144 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,540 Speaker 2: to read and write them in cuneiform script. It was 145 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,079 Speaker 2: not typical for kings of this era to get a 146 00:10:07,140 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 2: really scholarly education or really even to be literate. That 147 00:10:11,500 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 2: was the work of scholars and scribes. It's probably something 148 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:18,610 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal was only able to do because in the earliest 149 00:10:18,650 --> 00:10:21,530 Speaker 2: part of his life, He hadn't been totally focused on 150 00:10:21,590 --> 00:10:25,790 Speaker 2: preparing to become king. We will talk about Ashurbanipal as 151 00:10:25,850 --> 00:10:39,570 Speaker 2: king of Assyria after a sponsor break. When Ashurbanipal was 152 00:10:39,790 --> 00:10:43,330 Speaker 2: named crown prince of Assyria, its capital was in Nineveh 153 00:10:43,470 --> 00:10:48,990 Speaker 2: near modern-day Mosul, Iraq. Ashurbanipal's grandfather, Sennacherib, had moved the 154 00:10:49,030 --> 00:10:52,829 Speaker 2: capital to Nineveh and built a magnificent palace there, known 155 00:10:52,870 --> 00:10:57,110 Speaker 2: as the Palace Without Rival. This palace had extensive gardens 156 00:10:57,350 --> 00:11:02,750 Speaker 2: irrigated by a network of canals and aqueducts, which Ashurbanipal expanded. 157 00:11:03,510 --> 00:11:07,189 Speaker 2: There is some speculation that these were the fabled Hanging 158 00:11:07,270 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 2: Gardens of Babylon, rather than a site somewhere in Babylon. 159 00:11:12,290 --> 00:11:15,900 Speaker 2: One of the people to propose this is Assyriologist Stephanie 160 00:11:15,940 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 2: Daly of the University of Oxford. 161 00:11:18,980 --> 00:11:22,300 Speaker 1: While his father was still living, Ashurbanipal took on a 162 00:11:22,620 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: lot of responsibility. Esarhaddon undertook a series of military campaigns 163 00:11:28,059 --> 00:11:31,859 Speaker 1: to put down uprisings in outlying parts of Assyrian territory 164 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,980 Speaker 1: and to try to conquer new territory. This included a 165 00:11:36,020 --> 00:11:39,260 Speaker 1: campaign to take control of more of what is now Egypt. 166 00:11:39,929 --> 00:11:45,500 Speaker 1: While Esarhaddon was away, Ashurbanipal was effectively in charge. Ashurbanipal 167 00:11:45,790 --> 00:11:48,340 Speaker 1: also acted as his father's spymaster. 168 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 2: Esarhaddon died in 669 BCE while he was on the 169 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,679 Speaker 2: way to Egypt to put down a revolt against Assyrian rule. 170 00:11:57,460 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal's ascension went smoothly. There were already treaties in place 171 00:12:01,780 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 2: that required Assyria's vassal states to be loyal to Esarhaddon's successor, 172 00:12:06,860 --> 00:12:12,710 Speaker 2: And Ashurbanipal's grandmother, Nakia Zakutu, required counselors and nobles to 173 00:12:12,790 --> 00:12:16,390 Speaker 2: sign oaths of loyalty to him. And for more than 174 00:12:16,429 --> 00:12:20,170 Speaker 2: a decade, his relationship with his brother and their divided 175 00:12:20,250 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 2: responsibilities over Assyria and Babylon, that all seems to have 176 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,420 Speaker 2: gone okay. Ashurbanipal, whose name is translated as the god 177 00:12:29,620 --> 00:12:33,890 Speaker 2: Asher has made a son, was religiously devout or even zealous. 178 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,859 Speaker 2: He learned methods of divination, including reading the entrails of 179 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:43,070 Speaker 2: sacrificed animals and reading patterns in oil. During his reign, 180 00:12:43,350 --> 00:12:46,070 Speaker 2: he also built a lot of temples and added new 181 00:12:46,170 --> 00:12:50,030 Speaker 2: adornment to existing ones. He was also a patron of 182 00:12:50,070 --> 00:12:53,710 Speaker 2: the arts. He similarly built and adorned palaces, and he 183 00:12:53,770 --> 00:12:58,339 Speaker 2: commissioned extensive reliefs to decorate those palaces. A lot of 184 00:12:58,380 --> 00:13:03,219 Speaker 2: these reliefs featured depictions of him fighting his enemies, hunting lions, 185 00:13:03,420 --> 00:13:06,620 Speaker 2: and just living everyday life in the wealth and splendor 186 00:13:06,660 --> 00:13:10,490 Speaker 2: of his kingdom. Some of the reliefs depicting royal life 187 00:13:10,610 --> 00:13:13,930 Speaker 2: also referred back to those military conquests since there are 188 00:13:14,010 --> 00:13:17,730 Speaker 2: severed heads of some of his enemies on display. In 189 00:13:17,750 --> 00:13:20,630 Speaker 2: a lot of depictions of Ashurbanipal, he's shown with a 190 00:13:20,790 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 2: riding stylus in his belt, including in some when he's 191 00:13:24,860 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 2: doing things like killing a lion with a sword. 192 00:13:27,990 --> 00:13:31,709 Speaker 1: He might want to journal after. He might. The reliefs 193 00:13:31,750 --> 00:13:34,950 Speaker 1: that were created during Ashurbanipal's reign are seen as the 194 00:13:35,010 --> 00:13:38,850 Speaker 1: pinnacle of Assyrian art. In the words of the 1925 195 00:13:38,850 --> 00:13:43,030 Speaker 1: edition of Cambridge Ancient History, quote, For modern students, the 196 00:13:43,220 --> 00:13:46,530 Speaker 1: age of Ashurbanipal marks a definite stage in the history 197 00:13:46,580 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: of culture, and the modern term as rightly links that 198 00:13:49,780 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: king's name with his time as it connects to the 199 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: glories of imperial Rome with the name of Augustus. The 200 00:13:56,980 --> 00:14:00,540 Speaker 1: depictions of his lion hunt provide an example of how 201 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,780 Speaker 1: Assyrian art of this era was different from what came before. 202 00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:08,440 Speaker 1: To quote from that same volume, quote, the Masons no 203 00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:12,209 Speaker 1: longer cut figure after figure, whether human or animal, in 204 00:14:12,250 --> 00:14:15,870 Speaker 1: the same attitude, with the same expression, in monotonous succession. 205 00:14:16,660 --> 00:14:21,020 Speaker 1: The attempt to differentiate, to give each figure an individual interest, 206 00:14:21,500 --> 00:14:24,870 Speaker 1: renders the frieze of the lion hunt most interesting of 207 00:14:25,070 --> 00:14:28,810 Speaker 1: all the Assyrian sculptures, and a careful examination of the 208 00:14:28,850 --> 00:14:31,950 Speaker 1: battle scenes will show a more sustained effort of the 209 00:14:32,010 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: same kind in a crowded field. Above all, there is 210 00:14:35,500 --> 00:14:39,860 Speaker 1: a fertility of invention and an exquisite delicacy of carving, 211 00:14:40,300 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: both illustrated in the scene, which shows Ashurbanipal and his 212 00:14:44,020 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: queen feasting, a rare combination of qualities which had previously 213 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:53,370 Speaker 1: been lacking in work of this type. Reliefs of Ashurbanipal's 214 00:14:53,530 --> 00:14:57,530 Speaker 1: lion hunt are now in the British Museum. This era 215 00:14:57,690 --> 00:15:01,980 Speaker 1: is also known for its extremely intricate cylinder seals. which 216 00:15:02,060 --> 00:15:05,560 Speaker 1: produce a complex pattern or image when rolled across clay. 217 00:15:05,580 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: And there was also, of course, Ashurbanipal's library, which we 218 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:11,420 Speaker 1: are going to get into eventually. 219 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 2: While Ashurbanipal is associated with all of these achievements in 220 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,990 Speaker 2: Assyrian art and culture, none of this came out of 221 00:15:19,030 --> 00:15:22,850 Speaker 2: thin air, of course. He had inherited an empire that 222 00:15:22,890 --> 00:15:26,510 Speaker 2: had existed for thousands of years, and the flourishing that 223 00:15:26,550 --> 00:15:29,630 Speaker 2: is framed as the Neo-Assyrian period had started more than 224 00:15:29,630 --> 00:15:32,290 Speaker 2: 200 years before he came to power, so he was 225 00:15:32,370 --> 00:15:35,650 Speaker 2: really building on all of those foundations. He was also 226 00:15:35,690 --> 00:15:39,510 Speaker 2: regarded as a popular king and a capable administrator, and 227 00:15:39,810 --> 00:15:42,370 Speaker 2: Assyria really prospered when he was in control. 228 00:15:43,330 --> 00:15:46,170 Speaker 1: At the same time, though, he was ruthless and even 229 00:15:46,330 --> 00:15:49,790 Speaker 1: cruel when it came to his enemies. Some of this, 230 00:15:50,050 --> 00:15:53,970 Speaker 1: like displaying their severed heads, was typical of leaders in 231 00:15:54,050 --> 00:15:58,830 Speaker 1: ancient Mesopotamia. But in depictions he commissioned and in surviving 232 00:15:58,890 --> 00:16:03,250 Speaker 1: accounts produced by other people, Ashurbanipal is seen as taking 233 00:16:03,310 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: it to an extreme, like salting the earth after putting 234 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,420 Speaker 1: down an uprising against him, forcing people to grind up 235 00:16:10,460 --> 00:16:13,979 Speaker 1: the bones of their ancestors to make bricks for his palaces, 236 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,180 Speaker 1: forcing defeated Elamite kings to pull his chariot during a 237 00:16:18,260 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: triumphal parade, that he threw for himself, and forcing one 238 00:16:22,260 --> 00:16:26,020 Speaker 1: of his rivals to live in a dog kennel. Some 239 00:16:26,060 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: accounts describe that particular rival as being forced to wear 240 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,530 Speaker 1: a dog collar, but others describe it as having a 241 00:16:32,660 --> 00:16:36,270 Speaker 1: chain punched through his jaw, neither of which sounds great. 242 00:16:36,810 --> 00:16:38,590 Speaker 2: No, it's one of those things that I think is 243 00:16:38,690 --> 00:16:41,570 Speaker 2: depicted in some of the reliefs, and it's hard to 244 00:16:41,610 --> 00:16:45,390 Speaker 2: tell from the relief exactly which way it should be interpreted. Yeah. 245 00:16:46,570 --> 00:16:51,210 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal and other Assyrian kings also dealt with conquered peoples 246 00:16:51,350 --> 00:16:55,630 Speaker 2: by deporting their citizens to other parts of the empire. Often, 247 00:16:55,820 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 2: they would install local princes as vassal rulers to try 248 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 2: to retain a region's loyalty. But a lot of the 249 00:17:02,700 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 2: people that had been living in those regions would be 250 00:17:05,180 --> 00:17:08,490 Speaker 2: sent elsewhere to exile. serve in the Assyrian army or 251 00:17:08,550 --> 00:17:11,050 Speaker 2: to work on farms or to work on the emperor's 252 00:17:11,130 --> 00:17:15,460 Speaker 2: building projects, just whatever work the empire thought was most 253 00:17:15,660 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 2: necessary in that moment. This also included sending scribes to 254 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 2: work for the royal court or taking the more educated 255 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,850 Speaker 2: sons of local leaders hostage to serve as scribes and 256 00:17:27,890 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 2: scholars in the capital. Ashurbanipal's military campaigns began with finishing 257 00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 2: what his father had tried to start in Egypt, putting 258 00:17:37,180 --> 00:17:39,939 Speaker 2: down the uprising that Esarhaddon had been on his way 259 00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 2: to deal with when he died. There, Ashurbanipal's forces fought 260 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,790 Speaker 2: against the Kushites and the Nubians, ultimately capturing Memphis and 261 00:17:48,830 --> 00:17:52,810 Speaker 2: taking control of what is now Egypt. Assyria's control of 262 00:17:52,890 --> 00:17:56,250 Speaker 2: Egypt was relatively brief, but that was when the empire 263 00:17:56,310 --> 00:18:00,900 Speaker 2: was at its largest. Other campaigns included besieging the Phoenician 264 00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:05,090 Speaker 2: city of Tyre, which had supported uprisings in Egypt and 265 00:18:05,150 --> 00:18:09,010 Speaker 2: in Lydia, and ongoing disputes with the kingdoms of Elam 266 00:18:09,130 --> 00:18:12,890 Speaker 2: in what's now southwestern Iran and Urartu in what's now 267 00:18:12,990 --> 00:18:15,490 Speaker 2: northwestern Iran, Armenia, and Turkey. 268 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: And then there was Babylon and Ashurbanipal's relationship with his 269 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,620 Speaker 1: brother Shamashum Ukin, a little family drama in play. This 270 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,270 Speaker 1: has been characterized in a couple of different ways, in 271 00:18:28,330 --> 00:18:32,950 Speaker 1: part because documentation about it is still being reconstructed and translated. 272 00:18:33,810 --> 00:18:38,389 Speaker 1: So one is that Esarhaddon's intention was always for Ashurbanipal 273 00:18:38,430 --> 00:18:42,730 Speaker 1: to be ruler of the whole empire, with Shamashum-Ukin's governorship 274 00:18:42,810 --> 00:18:46,980 Speaker 1: of Babylon more like that of a vassal state. The 275 00:18:47,100 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: other is that Esarhaddon was dividing the empire, with his 276 00:18:50,380 --> 00:18:56,250 Speaker 1: two sons having different responsibilities and different territory. Either way, 277 00:18:56,470 --> 00:18:59,820 Speaker 1: when their father died, Ashurbanipal was fond of his brother, 278 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: but over time, that relationship deteriorated. Ashurbanipal started describing his 279 00:19:06,340 --> 00:19:10,850 Speaker 1: brother as being ungrateful and traitorous. He wouldn't even mention 280 00:19:10,910 --> 00:19:17,210 Speaker 1: Shamashumukhin's name without some kind of epithet. And Shamashumukhin increasingly 281 00:19:17,369 --> 00:19:21,300 Speaker 1: chafed at Ashurbanipal's attempts to control Babylon and to tell 282 00:19:21,340 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: him what to do. 283 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 2: Eventually, Ashurbanipal was encouraging the citizens of Babylon to rebel 284 00:19:28,180 --> 00:19:34,220 Speaker 2: against Shemashumukin, and Shemashumukin was working directly with Lydia, Elam, 285 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:39,900 Speaker 2: and other territories to revolt against Ashurbanipal. Ashurbanipal started attacking 286 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 2: and besieging the cities that were involved, including taking on 287 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,740 Speaker 2: a two-year siege of Babylon, during which conditions in that 288 00:19:47,780 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 2: city became truly horrific. Shamashum Ukin is believed to have 289 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,300 Speaker 2: taken his own life during the siege in 648 BCE 290 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,050 Speaker 2: by throwing himself into the flames while his palace was burning. 291 00:20:00,869 --> 00:20:04,230 Speaker 1: Ashurbanipal ruled the Assyrian Empire from 668 BCE to 627 BCE. 292 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,340 Speaker 1: But there's not as much information about the last four 293 00:20:11,380 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: or five years of that, at least not yet. In 294 00:20:14,660 --> 00:20:17,500 Speaker 1: yet another attempt to deal with the line of succession, 295 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:24,699 Speaker 1: Ashurbanipal gave two of his sons, Ashur-ed-el-elani and Sin-shar-esh-kun, co-regency 296 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,109 Speaker 1: with different territories and different powers. But especially considering the 297 00:20:30,170 --> 00:20:34,950 Speaker 1: communication and transportation methods that existed in the 7th century BCE, 298 00:20:35,450 --> 00:20:40,100 Speaker 1: the Assyrian Empire was enormous. There were ongoing divisions within 299 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,790 Speaker 1: and pressure from neighboring kingdoms and empires after Ashurbanipal's death. 300 00:20:45,570 --> 00:20:48,350 Speaker 1: His successors were not able to keep the empire together 301 00:20:48,410 --> 00:20:51,410 Speaker 1: in the face of all of that, and progressively they 302 00:20:51,470 --> 00:20:52,490 Speaker 1: lost territory. 303 00:20:53,609 --> 00:20:57,580 Speaker 2: A coalition of kingdoms, including the Babylonians and the Medeans, 304 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 2: conquered the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BCE. Assyria 305 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 2: was absorbed into the Babylonian Empire, and then that fell 306 00:21:07,140 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 2: to the Persians in 539 BCE. The Persians drew a 307 00:21:12,060 --> 00:21:16,169 Speaker 2: lot of influence from Neo-Assyrian culture, and the roads and 308 00:21:16,330 --> 00:21:20,290 Speaker 2: other infrastructure that were built by the Assyrians were critical 309 00:21:20,350 --> 00:21:23,570 Speaker 2: to the building and the expansion of the Persian Empire. 310 00:21:24,609 --> 00:21:26,970 Speaker 2: We are finally going to get to that library after 311 00:21:27,010 --> 00:21:39,180 Speaker 2: we pause for a sponsor break. Now we have finally 312 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,949 Speaker 2: gotten to Ashurbanipal's library. This was a massive library that 313 00:21:44,010 --> 00:21:47,689 Speaker 2: he assembled in the capital of Nineveh. Tablets from the 314 00:21:47,730 --> 00:21:51,110 Speaker 2: library have been found around the remains of multiple buildings 315 00:21:51,190 --> 00:21:54,409 Speaker 2: in that city, the Southwest Palace, the North Palace, and 316 00:21:54,450 --> 00:21:57,480 Speaker 2: then the areas around the temples of Ishtar and Nabu. 317 00:21:58,510 --> 00:22:02,050 Speaker 2: It is not fully clear whether this is where the 318 00:22:02,170 --> 00:22:06,790 Speaker 2: library collections were before the city was destroyed, or if 319 00:22:06,830 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 2: that's more where tablets wound up over the course of 320 00:22:10,060 --> 00:22:12,660 Speaker 2: the city's destruction in the centuries that have followed. 321 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,179 Speaker 1: Obviously, plenty of monarchs and temples and wealthy people had 322 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:22,260 Speaker 1: collections of documents and texts long before this, but this 323 00:22:22,340 --> 00:22:25,970 Speaker 1: is one of the oldest known systematically acquired and organized 324 00:22:26,010 --> 00:22:30,660 Speaker 1: libraries in the world. It was intentionally collected and curated 325 00:22:30,740 --> 00:22:34,620 Speaker 1: as a repository of knowledge. It's also the largest collection 326 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,129 Speaker 1: of Assyrian texts in the world. Excavations there have unearthed 327 00:22:39,210 --> 00:22:43,350 Speaker 1: more than 20,000 clay tablets and fragments, and many have 328 00:22:43,390 --> 00:22:47,750 Speaker 1: standardized colophons that suggest a systematic method for labeling and 329 00:22:47,810 --> 00:22:52,380 Speaker 1: cataloging the texts. That number includes a lot of pieces, 330 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,460 Speaker 1: and the total number of complete tablets is actually unknown. Yeah, 331 00:22:56,490 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: it's obviously less than 20,000, but it's hard to pinpoint 332 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,910 Speaker 1: how many texts there were when the library existed as 333 00:23:05,990 --> 00:23:10,929 Speaker 1: a functioning entity. Ashurbanipal ordered the creation of this library. 334 00:23:11,250 --> 00:23:14,500 Speaker 1: He ordered temples and palaces all across his empire to 335 00:23:14,580 --> 00:23:18,430 Speaker 1: send their texts to Nineveh. Often these texts were copied 336 00:23:18,550 --> 00:23:21,550 Speaker 1: and Ashurbanipal would be sent either the copies or the originals. 337 00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:25,030 Speaker 1: There is some surviving documentation that suggests that what he 338 00:23:25,070 --> 00:23:29,479 Speaker 1: really wanted was those originals and that maybe people creatively 339 00:23:29,540 --> 00:23:33,100 Speaker 1: misunderstood his instructions so that they could keep the originals 340 00:23:33,180 --> 00:23:38,030 Speaker 1: in their temple or their collection. Surviving correspondence also suggests 341 00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:41,860 Speaker 1: that he was really knowledgeable about where to find the 342 00:23:41,910 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: text that he wanted for his library and also who 343 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,180 Speaker 1: was likely to have works that would be good additions 344 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,620 Speaker 1: to the library, but that he didn't specifically know about already. 345 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: I love that he has like a scholarly network of 346 00:23:56,859 --> 00:24:00,929 Speaker 1: acquisitions librarians to talk to. Some of the texts in 347 00:24:00,970 --> 00:24:03,980 Speaker 1: the library are ones that he wrote himself. and many 348 00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: are inscribed with colophons that he wrote. There is also 349 00:24:07,859 --> 00:24:13,139 Speaker 1: a ten-sided cylinder covered in cuneiform containing the annals of Ashurbanipal, 350 00:24:13,540 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: including an account of his ascension to the throne and 351 00:24:16,790 --> 00:24:21,990 Speaker 1: his expeditions and conquests against Egypt, Tyre, Elam, Arabia, and 352 00:24:22,030 --> 00:24:26,990 Speaker 1: his brother in Babylon, among others. Assyriologist Hormuzd Rasam, who 353 00:24:27,030 --> 00:24:30,020 Speaker 1: was born in Mosul, unearthed this cylinder from the site 354 00:24:30,060 --> 00:24:32,660 Speaker 1: of the North Palace, and it is called the Rassam 355 00:24:32,700 --> 00:24:33,700 Speaker 1: Cylinder today. 356 00:24:34,660 --> 00:24:39,730 Speaker 2: Ashrapanipal described this library as containing all knowledge. There are 357 00:24:39,790 --> 00:24:44,530 Speaker 2: texts on medicine, mathematics, and history. There's also literature, including 358 00:24:44,710 --> 00:24:48,990 Speaker 2: epics and myths and dictionaries and other reference works. A 359 00:24:49,130 --> 00:24:52,650 Speaker 2: lot of the Assyrian literature that still exists today has 360 00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:56,830 Speaker 2: survived because Ashurbanipal included it in the library. That includes 361 00:24:56,890 --> 00:24:59,970 Speaker 2: the Epic of Gilgamesh and its famous tablet relating a 362 00:25:00,050 --> 00:25:03,550 Speaker 2: flood that has some distinct similarities to the biblical book 363 00:25:03,590 --> 00:25:04,230 Speaker 2: of Genesis. 364 00:25:04,930 --> 00:25:05,470 Speaker 1: And there are. 365 00:25:05,490 --> 00:25:09,210 Speaker 2: Extensive legal texts and documents relating to the functioning of 366 00:25:09,260 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 2: the Assyrian Empire. There is also a lot of material 367 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,950 Speaker 2: that relates to divination in some way. As we said earlier, 368 00:25:18,170 --> 00:25:21,930 Speaker 2: omens and divination were a key part of the Assyrian worldview. 369 00:25:22,910 --> 00:25:27,580 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal wanted his library to contain every bit of information 370 00:25:27,619 --> 00:25:31,020 Speaker 2: that could possibly be used to interpret signs and omens, 371 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:36,010 Speaker 2: believing this knowledge would benefit and strengthen the empire. That 372 00:25:36,050 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 2: includes books on astrology and omen texts. Based on what 373 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,679 Speaker 2: has been translated so far, it is likely that roughly 374 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,180 Speaker 2: half of the library's works relate to divination. And there 375 00:25:47,220 --> 00:25:51,380 Speaker 2: are also texts there that are related to magic. The 376 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,510 Speaker 2: sacking of Nineveh in 612 BCE both preserved and destroyed 377 00:25:56,660 --> 00:26:01,710 Speaker 2: Ashurbanipal's library. As the city burned, the clay tablets hardened 378 00:26:01,730 --> 00:26:03,909 Speaker 2: in the heat, and then they were protected by the 379 00:26:03,990 --> 00:26:07,750 Speaker 2: fallen rubble of the city around them. But writing boards, 380 00:26:07,890 --> 00:26:10,330 Speaker 2: which would have been made of wood or ivory that 381 00:26:10,350 --> 00:26:15,109 Speaker 2: was covered with wax, those were largely destroyed. The tablets 382 00:26:15,170 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 2: were also broken and scattered during the destruction of the city, 383 00:26:18,410 --> 00:26:21,260 Speaker 2: and as they have been unearthed, it hasn't always been 384 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 2: clear where in the capital they were originally housed. That 385 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 2: scattering of fragments was compounded by the excavation of the 386 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:35,220 Speaker 2: library after its rediscovery in the 19th century. English archaeologist 387 00:26:35,380 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 2: Austin Henry Layard was working with Hormuzd Razam, who had 388 00:26:39,060 --> 00:26:42,149 Speaker 2: been Layard's assistant before training at Oxford and becoming an 389 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:48,230 Speaker 2: Assyriologist in his own right. The two started excavating Nineveh 390 00:26:48,590 --> 00:26:52,610 Speaker 2: in 1849 and found numerous clay tablets and fragments. Razam 391 00:26:52,670 --> 00:26:56,859 Speaker 2: continued excavations after Layard moved on and found another huge 392 00:26:56,900 --> 00:27:01,980 Speaker 2: collection of tablets that began in 1852. At the time, 393 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,180 Speaker 2: this area was under Ottoman control, and the excavation site 394 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 2: was known as Koyunyik. I'm sorry for my bad pronunciation 395 00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:13,620 Speaker 2: of that. Much of the material that Laird and other 396 00:27:13,700 --> 00:27:17,580 Speaker 2: archaeologists excavated at Koyunyik was sent to the British Museum. 397 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,310 Speaker 2: There were also French archaeology projects in the area, so 398 00:27:21,369 --> 00:27:23,869 Speaker 2: some of these materials are also now in the Louvre. 399 00:27:24,660 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: Although the fire had hardened and preserved the tablets, many 400 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: of them were broken, and during excavations, archaeologists and workers 401 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,930 Speaker 1: didn't fully document exactly where each piece was found. It's 402 00:27:38,109 --> 00:27:41,290 Speaker 1: obvious that tablets found in different places were all part 403 00:27:41,350 --> 00:27:45,060 Speaker 1: of the same overall collection, because many are marked Palace 404 00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:48,820 Speaker 1: of Ashurbanipal, King of the World, King of Assyria. But 405 00:27:48,859 --> 00:27:53,160 Speaker 1: without knowing exactly where in Nineveh any individual piece was found, 406 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: it is extremely difficult to figure out which other pieces 407 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,740 Speaker 1: that piece might go with. Yeah, the focus was much 408 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,500 Speaker 1: more on sending these archaeological treasures to England than on 409 00:28:06,100 --> 00:28:10,810 Speaker 1: thoroughly documenting the context where each piece was found. Yeah, 410 00:28:10,850 --> 00:28:12,669 Speaker 1: get them out as quickly as you can and get 411 00:28:12,710 --> 00:28:13,300 Speaker 1: them on their way. 412 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:18,859 Speaker 2: Yeah. So reconstructing these tablets is just an incredibly laborious process. 413 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,800 Speaker 2: Only a fraction of the tablets have been reassembled, and 414 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,270 Speaker 2: a lot of those still do have missing pieces. An 415 00:28:26,460 --> 00:28:31,229 Speaker 2: average of 35 texts have been reconstructed and transcribed every 416 00:28:31,330 --> 00:28:35,189 Speaker 2: year since the mid-19th century, and that means there is 417 00:28:35,270 --> 00:28:36,970 Speaker 2: still a whole lot left to go. 418 00:28:38,130 --> 00:28:41,990 Speaker 1: Even so, the library has been a massive source of 419 00:28:42,090 --> 00:28:48,070 Speaker 1: information about ancient Mesopotamia and the Assyrian Empire. Researchers first 420 00:28:48,130 --> 00:28:52,150 Speaker 1: deciphered cuneiform in 1857, just a few years after the 421 00:28:52,190 --> 00:28:55,860 Speaker 1: first tablets from the library were found. A key part 422 00:28:55,900 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: of this was the Bisitun inscription. That's an inscription on 423 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,240 Speaker 1: a rock face in the Zagros Mountains in what is 424 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: now Iran, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site today. 425 00:29:06,830 --> 00:29:10,490 Speaker 1: Much like the Rosetta Stone, the Bessitun inscription contains an 426 00:29:10,550 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: inscription in three languages. It's an account of Achaemenid king 427 00:29:14,780 --> 00:29:19,900 Speaker 1: Darius I written in Babylonian, Old Persian, and Elamite. Henry 428 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,310 Speaker 1: Rawlinson published his work on the Old Persian section of 429 00:29:23,570 --> 00:29:27,050 Speaker 1: it in 1849, and that enabled the translation of the 430 00:29:27,110 --> 00:29:31,780 Speaker 1: other languages. Ashurbanipal's library was part of the process of 431 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:36,330 Speaker 1: deciphering cuneiform as it provided an array of additional samples 432 00:29:36,410 --> 00:29:38,150 Speaker 1: of cuneiform script to work from. 433 00:29:38,170 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 2: Once people were able to read the cuneiform script that 434 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,260 Speaker 2: they were written in, the tablets in Ashurbanipal's library became 435 00:29:46,740 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 2: the source of just a wealth of new historical information. 436 00:29:51,410 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 2: Prior to this, the vast majority of information about ancient 437 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 2: Mesopotamia and the Assyrian Empire had been in the Hebrew 438 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 2: Bible and the Christian Old Testament derived from it, and 439 00:30:02,460 --> 00:30:07,100 Speaker 2: from Greek and Roman writers. The biblical texts were really 440 00:30:07,340 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 2: primarily focused on things that related to the Levant and Egypt, 441 00:30:11,660 --> 00:30:13,870 Speaker 2: and then the Greek and Roman accounts were often ones 442 00:30:13,890 --> 00:30:16,970 Speaker 2: that were written centuries later. Neither of them was like 443 00:30:17,030 --> 00:30:21,630 Speaker 2: a complete... nuanced history of the Assyrian Empire. 444 00:30:22,550 --> 00:30:25,650 Speaker 1: Something that historians and other scholars were able to start 445 00:30:25,770 --> 00:30:30,180 Speaker 1: correcting after the discovery of Ashurbanipal's library was the existing 446 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,940 Speaker 1: knowledge about Ashurbanipal himself. Greek sources had turned him into 447 00:30:34,980 --> 00:30:39,810 Speaker 1: a semi-mythical figure called Sardana Paulus, conflating elements of Ashurbanipal 448 00:30:39,850 --> 00:30:45,330 Speaker 1: with his brother Shemashumukhin. The Greek version of Sardanapalus was 449 00:30:45,410 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: the last king of Assyria and burned himself to death 450 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,220 Speaker 1: in his palace alongside all of his riches and concubines. 451 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:57,860 Speaker 1: Sardanapalus was depicted in European literature and art, particularly during 452 00:30:57,900 --> 00:31:01,910 Speaker 1: the Romantic era, including in George Gordon Lord Byron's verse 453 00:31:01,930 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 1: drama Sardanapalus and Eugène Delacroix's painting Death of Sardanapalus. reconstructing 454 00:31:08,940 --> 00:31:12,940 Speaker 1: and deciphering the works in the library is ongoing. The 455 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:18,220 Speaker 1: British Museum established the Ashurbanipal Library Project in 2002 in 456 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,380 Speaker 1: cooperation with the University of Mosul. This project has gone 457 00:31:22,420 --> 00:31:27,020 Speaker 1: through multiple phases of funding and has involved cataloging, the 458 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:31,130 Speaker 1: creation of high-resolution 3D imagery of the tablets and fragments, 459 00:31:31,370 --> 00:31:36,050 Speaker 1: and multiple projects to reconstruct and translate the texts. So today, 460 00:31:36,090 --> 00:31:39,690 Speaker 1: these images and other information is available for scholars to 461 00:31:39,930 --> 00:31:43,570 Speaker 1: use to try to work on furthering the deciphering process 462 00:31:43,610 --> 00:31:47,060 Speaker 1: of all of these pieces. And great news, you can 463 00:31:47,100 --> 00:31:50,860 Speaker 1: see a lot of this online today. The Ashurbanipal Library 464 00:31:50,940 --> 00:31:54,660 Speaker 1: Project's online home is at ORAC, or the Open Richly 465 00:31:54,780 --> 00:32:04,210 Speaker 1: Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. at oracc.museum.upenn.edu. And the British Museum can 466 00:32:04,270 --> 00:32:08,330 Speaker 1: be visited virtually on Google Maps, including Room 55, which 467 00:32:08,390 --> 00:32:11,780 Speaker 1: is where the Ashurbanipal Library exhibit is located. 468 00:32:12,820 --> 00:32:16,020 Speaker 2: And that is yet another installment of what I did 469 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:17,160 Speaker 2: on my summer vacation. 470 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: Do you have a Cuneiform listener mail? I have listener form. 471 00:32:22,660 --> 00:32:25,490 Speaker 2: Listener form? That's not what it means, but sure, we'll 472 00:32:25,510 --> 00:32:27,530 Speaker 2: call it that. It's listener form from now on. 473 00:32:27,550 --> 00:32:29,110 Speaker 1: There you go. It's not. 474 00:32:29,150 --> 00:32:32,390 Speaker 2: I'll forget by the next time we do it. So 475 00:32:32,490 --> 00:32:36,830 Speaker 2: this is from Gwendolyn, and Gwendolyn wrote and said, Hello, 476 00:32:36,870 --> 00:32:39,260 Speaker 2: Holly and Tracy. I'm a longtime listener who has earned 477 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,620 Speaker 2: a PhD in your history offerings, though like to purposely 478 00:32:42,660 --> 00:32:45,590 Speaker 2: get a little behind. in order to have multiple episodes 479 00:32:45,690 --> 00:32:49,090 Speaker 2: saved up for when I need them. My latest listening 480 00:32:49,150 --> 00:32:52,770 Speaker 2: spree included your week of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, which I 481 00:32:52,850 --> 00:32:54,750 Speaker 2: knew would be exciting for me as I am a 482 00:32:54,830 --> 00:32:58,750 Speaker 2: chemist and have also done x-ray crystallography. I think you 483 00:32:58,770 --> 00:33:00,670 Speaker 2: were a few minutes into the second part when you 484 00:33:00,710 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 2: mentioned Dorothy went to the doctor for pain in her hands. 485 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 2: I looked at my dog, Tungsten, more on him in 486 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 2: a moment, and said, uh-oh, I think Dorothy might have 487 00:33:10,260 --> 00:33:14,370 Speaker 2: rheumatoid arthritis. Sure enough, within a few minutes, you confirmed 488 00:33:14,430 --> 00:33:16,630 Speaker 2: this had been the case, though for her, it took 489 00:33:16,690 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 2: several years to get that answer. This was funny to 490 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 2: me because I also have rheumatoid arthritis, and I have 491 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 2: somehow correctly diagnosed several people, myself included, well before the 492 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 2: official diagnosis was reached. It's a little sad that most people, 493 00:33:30,700 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 2: and especially women, still go years between, hey, my hands hurt, 494 00:33:34,930 --> 00:33:37,810 Speaker 2: and receiving the final answer. And on another note, I 495 00:33:37,950 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 2: too have been given paradoxical information of just rest and 496 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,620 Speaker 2: move your hands more because as Holly mentioned, this disease 497 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,170 Speaker 2: is different for everyone it impacts. And despite many advances 498 00:33:49,210 --> 00:33:51,690 Speaker 2: in treatment, we're still kind of shrugging our shoulders about 499 00:33:51,730 --> 00:33:54,190 Speaker 2: how to really fix it for people with stubborn cases. 500 00:33:54,980 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 2: As an autoimmune girly, I'm always so grateful when you 501 00:33:57,700 --> 00:34:00,900 Speaker 2: discuss the facts about illnesses and disabilities. It's so important, 502 00:34:00,980 --> 00:34:05,350 Speaker 2: especially given today's climate, not believing scientists and healthcare professionals, 503 00:34:05,830 --> 00:34:09,650 Speaker 2: as well as the ever-increasing disregard for people with disabilities. 504 00:34:10,830 --> 00:34:12,569 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for not shying away from the 505 00:34:12,610 --> 00:34:14,670 Speaker 2: tough topics and handling them with care. 506 00:34:14,810 --> 00:34:17,050 Speaker 1: You're a wonderful host. It's basically longtime. 507 00:34:16,690 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 2: Friends at this point. And I always look forward to 508 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,359 Speaker 2: hearing your voices and insights when I have the time 509 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,140 Speaker 2: to catch up on episodes. I will also add here 510 00:34:24,250 --> 00:34:26,330 Speaker 2: that Holly and I seem to have some kind of 511 00:34:26,430 --> 00:34:29,670 Speaker 2: spooky connection where we both think of an Eddie Izzard 512 00:34:29,730 --> 00:34:32,870 Speaker 2: reference for the same thing, and I always get a 513 00:34:32,890 --> 00:34:36,950 Speaker 2: big laugh whenever that happens. After that very long email, 514 00:34:36,969 --> 00:34:39,049 Speaker 2: you deserve some pet tax. I have included a couple 515 00:34:39,070 --> 00:34:43,280 Speaker 2: of pictures of the aforementioned Tungsten, a truly American melting 516 00:34:43,340 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 2: pot mix, my constant companion. 517 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: And a long little doggie. 518 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,910 Speaker 2: In one of the photos, he is patiently waiting while 519 00:34:49,950 --> 00:34:54,509 Speaker 2: my 97.5-year-old grandmother looks absolutely shocked that dog treats can 520 00:34:54,530 --> 00:34:58,870 Speaker 2: be shaped like ice cream cones. The third picture is 521 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:02,100 Speaker 2: of an embroidery project I completed recently for a friend's grandson. 522 00:35:02,140 --> 00:35:04,700 Speaker 2: I was terrified as it was the most complicated project 523 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:06,219 Speaker 2: I had done in a while, but he turned out 524 00:35:06,260 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 2: all right. Here's to many more years of great episodes, Gwendolyn. 525 00:35:10,780 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 2: Gwendolyn has a postscript with an episode topic suggestion. I 526 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,910 Speaker 2: will leave that secret in case it becomes a topic 527 00:35:20,930 --> 00:35:23,070 Speaker 2: in the future. So then, yes, we do have very 528 00:35:23,170 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 2: cute dog pictures. What a cute boy. And then a. 529 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,940 Speaker 1: Really cool project. This looks like a moth. It does. 530 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:37,779 Speaker 2: A really intricate... I cannot imagine how challenging that must 531 00:35:37,820 --> 00:35:38,580 Speaker 2: have been to do. 532 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: I'm wondering because it looks a lot like a kit 533 00:35:41,739 --> 00:35:44,740 Speaker 1: I bought to do a very similar bat. Oh, yeah? 534 00:35:45,140 --> 00:35:48,420 Speaker 1: Maybe we are experiencing spooky action at a distance because 535 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,180 Speaker 1: we are apparently embroidering the same kinds of things as well. 536 00:35:52,219 --> 00:35:53,259 Speaker 1: Maybe so. 537 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:56,990 Speaker 2: I had not thoroughly read the whole rest of the 538 00:35:57,090 --> 00:36:02,390 Speaker 2: email when I just scrolled through it today and did not, 539 00:36:02,770 --> 00:36:05,890 Speaker 2: like I had not seen the context. For the photo 540 00:36:06,170 --> 00:36:09,529 Speaker 2: of the grandmother and the dog. I was like, what 541 00:36:09,610 --> 00:36:12,590 Speaker 2: is happening? What is she holding? And now I know 542 00:36:12,610 --> 00:36:14,739 Speaker 2: it is a dog treat shaped like a little ice 543 00:36:14,780 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 2: cream cone. 544 00:36:15,380 --> 00:36:15,780 Speaker 1: Precious. 545 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,500 Speaker 2: So thank you so, so much, Gwendolyn, for this email. 546 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,380 Speaker 2: It was very kind and gracious. I always feel a 547 00:36:23,380 --> 00:36:26,180 Speaker 2: little awkward reading the very kind, gracious parts out loud 548 00:36:26,969 --> 00:36:30,709 Speaker 2: on the show. But thank you so much. I also 549 00:36:30,750 --> 00:36:33,930 Speaker 2: just realized, because it was hidden under the part of 550 00:36:33,969 --> 00:36:36,969 Speaker 2: the screen where Holly is, so I can see you 551 00:36:37,010 --> 00:36:40,130 Speaker 2: when I'm talking to you, that the title of the 552 00:36:40,250 --> 00:36:45,259 Speaker 2: email was rheumatoid arthritis worthy dot dot dot win question mark, 553 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 2: which is also great. If you would like to send 554 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:54,779 Speaker 2: us a note, we are at historypodcast at iheartradio.com. You 555 00:36:54,820 --> 00:36:57,820 Speaker 2: can also find the show notes for all of our episodes, 556 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,090 Speaker 2: including all of the sources that we've used for our research. 557 00:37:01,130 --> 00:37:05,210 Speaker 2: That's at our website, which is at missedinhistory.com. And you 558 00:37:05,250 --> 00:37:08,220 Speaker 2: can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app, but 559 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:16,020 Speaker 2: anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff You 560 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,219 Speaker 2: Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For 561 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,620 Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 562 00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:25,710 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.