Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 121
the bas-reliefs which once announced his battles and victories
to the people have long ago crumbled away, there were
found in another section of the same southern wing of Sennacherib's
palace those precious relics which will hand down
from generation to generation the name of Ashurbanapal as
that of a great patron of art and literature, and as the powerful
monarch " instructed in the wisdom of the god Nebo."
One day Layard came upon two small chambers, opening
into each other, and once panelled with sculptured slabs, most
of which had been destroyed. But in removing the earth and
rubbish from their interior he recognized that "to the height
of a foot or more from the floor they were entirely filled
with cuneiform tablets of baked clay, some entire, but the
greater part broken into many fragments." He had discovered
part of the famous royal library of Nineveh founded
and maintained by the kings of the last Assyrian empire
(about 720-620 b. c.), the other half being later unearthed
by Rassam in Ashurbanapal's north palace at Qoyunjuk. It
was especially the last-mentioned king (668—626 b. c.) who
" enlarged and enriched the collection of tablets which his
predecessors had brought together, in such a way as to
constitute them into a veritable library, by the addition of
hundreds, even thousands of documents . . . dealing with
every branch of learning and science known to the wise men
of his day." 1 These tablets, when complete, varying in
length from one inch to fifteen inches, were made of the
1
Comp. Bezold, " Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik
Collection of the British Museum," vol. v. (London, 1899), p. xiii.
The statement made by Bezold on p. xiv. of this volume, " that in 1849
and 1850 Layard discovered the palace of Ashurbanapal," though found in
other Assyriological publications, is as erroneous as another view found, e.g.,
in Delitzsch's writings (comp. MurdteS' s Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens,
Calw and Stuttgart, 2nd ed. 1891, p. 5, or Ex Oriente Lux, Leipzig,
1898, p. 6) that it was only Rassam who discovered Ashurbanapal's library.
This library was stored in two palaces and discovered by both Layard (southwest
palace) and Rassam (north palace).