Description: "The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia. In THE LIBRARY OF ANCIENT WISDOM, scholar Selena Wisnom, one of only a few hundred experts able to read cuneiform script today, guides us inside this important collection and, through its contents, brings ancient Mesopotamia and its people to life."--Jacket flap.
Brief description: Selena Wisnom is a lecturer in the heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester. The author of Weapons of Words: Intertextual Competition in Babylonian Poetry, she has also written three plays set in ancient Assyria, including Ashurbanipal: The Last Great King of Assyria.
Review Quotes: "A fascinating book about the contents of the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. . . . An excellent bibliographical essay, useful timelines, maps, and illustrations, and a helpful list of the historical figures who people this story enhance Wisnom's tour of an astounding collection." -- "Library Journal"