Assyria's Newest Imperial Possession

Ashobanipa wrote to cities and centres of learning all across the empire requesting copies of every written work ever set in clay. Eventually he would amass a collection of over 30 thousand clay tablets. Most were observations of events and omens, texts detailing the behavior of certain peoples and animals. The library also contained religious texts, rituals, fables, prayers and incantations. Many of the traditional mesopotamian stories and tales known to day have only survived into the modern day because they were included in ash banipal's library.