“I am Ashurbanipal: King of the world, King of Assyria” is the new exhibition at the British Museum in London.
It is the first-ever major exhibition to explore the life of Ashurbanipal.
Reliefs from the North Palace at Nineveh, Iraq, depict the king’s life.
These reliefs date back to 645-640 BC.
Ashurbanipal’s power was more about knowledge than strength.
“He liked to portray himself as a fierce, valiant warrior, hunting lions, brave protector of his people, but, unlike earlier kings, he never led his troops into battle,” says Gareth Brereton, curator at the museum.
Instead, he assembled the greatest library ever in existence during his reign.
The British museum has recreated it, with rows upon rows of intricately inscribed clay tablets.
Brereton described the library as a “state tool” that Ashurbanipal used to predict the future.
“He’d be surrounded by his scholars, who help interpret heavenly and earthly signals and try and predict what the gods would want them to do. Shall I go into battle? Shall I invade this place? On what day shall I do this?” Brereton says.
It is not clear how Ashurbanipal left the throne in 631 BC, but by 612 BC his empire had fallen apart.
Many of the objects featured are from archaeological sites in Iraq, that ISIS has targeted and destroyed.