Podcast Summary: The Ancients - Ashurbanipal: The Last Great King of Assyria
Host: Tristan Hughes
Guest: Dr. Selina Wisnom (University of Leicester)
Date: August 21, 2025
Overview of the Episode
This episode explores the multifaceted legacy of Ashurbanipal, the last great king of Assyria. Host Tristan Hughes and guest Dr. Selina Wisnom delve into Ashurbanipal’s reign in the seventh century BC, highlighting his dual identity as both a ruthless military leader and a pioneering scholar. The discussion covers the scope and power of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Ashurbanipal's brutal campaigns, his legendary library at Nineveh, and his enduring influence on the intellectual traditions of the ancient world.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Ashurbanipal: Warrior and Scholar [01:00–05:39]
- Duality of Ashurbanipal: Tristan and Dr. Wisnom stress the king's unusual combination of ferocity and scholarship. He portrayed himself “strangling lions with his bare hands,” yet with a “stylus in his belt” (Dr. Selina Wisnom, 05:05).
- Ashurbanipal preferred intellectual pursuits, often staying in his library rather than leading battles personally, yet these aspects were deeply intertwined.
2. The Neo-Assyrian Empire & Babylonian Rivalry [05:39–09:58]
- Geographic Extent: The empire spanned northern Iraq (modern Kurdistan) outward into Iran, Turkey, and even Egypt.
- Assyria vs. Babylon: Babylon was culturally illustrious but politically dominated. Ashurbanipal’s father, Esarhaddon, split up the empire, giving Babylon to Ashurbanipal’s brother, which seeded a major civil war.
3. Assyrian Dynasty and Legacy [09:58–12:23]
- Family History: The dynasty begins with Sargon (Ashurbanipal’s great-grandfather), followed by Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal. The family legacy is marked by both triumph and tragedy, often stemming from unresolved spiritual anxieties and repeated cycles of destruction and restoration—especially concerning Babylon.
4. Sources on Ashurbanipal’s Reign [12:30–14:43]
- The Library: 33,000 cuneiform tablets from Ashurbanipal’s library have survived—far more than the lost Library of Alexandria. These offer insight into everything from political intrigue to science, mathematics, law, and literature.
- Dramatic and human moments, such as royal doctors urging kings to eat or advisors chiding monarchs for paranoia, illuminate daily court life.
5. Civil War and Military Ruthlessness [14:43–26:55]
- Brotherly Conflict: The civil war with Babylon lasted four years, following 17 years of escalating tension. Letters depict a shift from affectionate to bitter language.
- “He suddenly starts railing against him instead, calling him ungrateful brother.” (Dr. Wisnom, 15:13)
- Use of Family as Diplomats: Dr. Wisnom recounts a vivid Aramaic tale where Ashurbanipal’s sister acts as an envoy, scolding both the Babylonian brother and the queen for academic shortcomings.
- Wider Campaigns: Ruthlessness extended to other enemies, like the Elamites (Iran), where he devastated cities, deported populations, and displayed heads of rivals in his palace gardens.
- Notable Moment: The wall relief showing Ashurbanipal relaxing with his queen beneath the head of the defeated Elamite king (24:17).
- Consequences for Empire: Such brutality bred rebellion, weakened buffer states like Elam, and ultimately contributed to the empire’s vulnerability and fall.
6. Intellectualism and the Assyrian Library [26:55–41:13]
- Nature of Scholarship: Ashurbanipal’s court was a hub for systematic learning—astrology, divination, medicine, magic, and lamentation. He commissioned encyclopedias, standardized texts, and conducted academic research.
- “He commissioned a new medical encyclopedia which aimed to bring together all of the treatments from different traditions” (Dr. Wisnom, 27:25).
- Babylonian Influence: Many practices, especially lamentation, were imported from Babylon, leading to cultural tensions between Assyrian and Babylonian scholars.
- Divination: Sheep liver divination, astrology, and omens were common, with extensive guides surviving to this day.
- Pragmatic Knowledge: Scholarship wasn’t just academic—it was essential for governance, military decision-making, and interpreting the will of the gods.
7. Organization and Operations of the Library [33:11–37:36]
- Ashurbanipal’s efforts built upon scholarly traditions of predecessors but systematized them on an unprecedented scale, sometimes through forced relocation of scholars or compulsory copying of texts.
- While the exact original organization is lost due to the library’s destruction, “labels” survived indicating subject categorization—celestial omens, earthly omens, etc.—and storage used deep, packed compartments rather than scrolls or books.
- Some surviving tablets are believed to be written by Ashurbanipal himself, including training exercises, prayers, and technical texts.
8. Life at Court: Scholars, Rivalries, and Factionalism [41:13–46:56]
- Academic Intrigue: Court scholars formed rival factions vying for royal favor, sometimes denouncing each other in letters.
- “Call himself a scholar. How on earth could he get this wrong?” (Dr. Wisnom, on a scholar misidentifying Venus vs. Mercury, 44:03)
- Extraordinary Stories: A scholar killed a calf and its owner to cover up a potentially ominous birth (calf resembling a lion)—highlighting the very real consequences of interpreting omens.
9. Mystery, Legacy, and Historical Memory [47:53–55:51]
- End of Reign: Ashurbanipal ruled for 38 years, but his death and final years are shrouded in mystery. After his time, Assyria quickly declined, culminating in Nineveh’s destruction in 612 BC.
- Greek Legends: Later Greek stories (Sardanapalus) paint the last king as decadent—a misreading of Ashurbanipal’s actual legacy as a scholar-king.
- Influence Across Ages: The knowledge from Ashurbanipal’s library spread to Babylon, Greece, and possibly even as far as India and China—laying foundations for later scholarly advances.
- “Much of the knowledge in it was translated into other languages. It turns up in Hebrew texts. It has influenced Greek and Roman culture... These omens were carried to India, Central Asia, maybe even China.” (Dr. Wisnom, 53:17–54:49)
- Ptolemy used Babylonian eclipse data for his astronomical calculations (55:00).
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Ashurbanipal’s Personality:
“This is a man who portrays himself as strangling lions with his bare hands, but he has a stylus in his belt while he is doing it.”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom [05:05] -
On the Uniqueness of the Nineveh Library:
“History fans are often lamenting the loss of the Library of Alexandria, but very few people know that there is this other library which is not lost to history, but survives... 33,000 documents that hardly anyone has bothered to read.”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom [12:37] -
On Scholarly Rivalry:
“Call himself a scholar. How on earth could he get this wrong?”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom, quoting a furious court astrologer [44:03] -
On Ashurbanipal’s Reputation:
“...they just celebrate it more. If you think about some of the horrible things that modern nation states have done... they just don’t put it on the walls. You know, we don’t have Hiroshima on the walls of the US Capitol, for instance, but they still do these horrible things.”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom [27:25] -
On Academic Knowledge and Governance:
“It is stuff that would have helped him to rule his empire, stuff that would have helped him solve problems... not only his own personal problems, but political issues as well.”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom [47:33] -
On Ashurbanipal’s Enduring Legacy:
“I think Ashurbanipal would have wanted to be remembered as a scholar and a military man, and that these things go together. Actually, it’s easy for us to think that they are two completely different worlds... but in Assyria, they are both used in service of the other.”
— Dr. Selina Wisnom [53:17]
Timeline of Important Segments
- 01:00–05:39 – Framing Ashurbanipal’s complex identity
- 05:39–09:58 – The Neo-Assyrian empire and Babylonian relations
- 12:30–14:43 – The library at Nineveh and the sources for Ashurbanipal’s reign
- 14:43–26:55 – The brotherly civil war and brutality in war
- 26:55–41:13 – Ashurbanipal’s scholarly legacy, library organization, and domains of knowledge
- 41:13–46:56 – Courtly intrigue and academic competition
- 47:53–55:51 – Final years, the empire’s fall, and the library’s influence on world history
Conclusion
Dr. Selina Wisnom argues for remembering Ashurbanipal not as a cartoonishly brutal despot or a passive scholar but as an extraordinary blend of both—a warrior-king whose pursuit of knowledge forged a legacy that shaped the intellectual traditions of the Near East and beyond. The episode closes with the observation that the surviving texts of Nineveh’s library likely fueled scholarly developments as far as the Library of Alexandria and classical Greece, underscoring Ashurbanipal's enduring impact on the world.
Recommended Reading:
Dr. Selina Wisnom’s book The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History.
This summary is designed for listeners seeking a thorough understanding of the episode’s content and themes, providing context, narrative flow, and highlighted insights from the discussion.