The BabvlonianTexts of Nineveh Report on the British Museum's Ashurbanipal Library Project* By Jeanette C. Fincke (Heidelberg) "rr3l learned thc craft of Adapa, the sage, (which is) the secret knowledge, evcrything pertaining to thc scribal art, rr{I am wcll acquaintcdwith the signs of heavcn and carth, I was detiberating in thc assembly ofthe scribal cxpcrts,rrsl was calculating the livcr (which is) an imagc of hcaven together with thc (most) compctcnt oil (divination) cxpcrts, I16l solved complicatcd muthemulicalprohlems that havc not (cvcn) been understoodbeflorc, IrTl rcad the artfully writtcn texts in which thc Sumcrian version was obscurc and the Akkadian version for clarifying (too) difficult, rrtl am cnjoying the cunciform wedgcs (sc. writing) on stone(s) from before the flood." (Ashurbanipal, inscription Lr) This article is the final report on the AshurbanipalLibrary Project of the British Museum that I carried out at the Museum's Departmentof the Ancient Near East over six months in 2003.1 Table of contents I. The British Museum'sAshurbanipal Lihrary X. The Babyloniantexts of the Ninevite Librar- Project......... ill ies................ ............129 II. The British Museum'sexcavations at Kouvun- X. l. The literaryand scientifictexts ........................ 130 jik................. .....:......I 13 X.2. The divinationcorpus: library texts and divi- III. The so-calledAshurbanipal's Library 114 nationreports................... .............l3l IV. The historicalbackground regarding Babyloni- X.3. Comparisonwith the data of the library rec- an scholarsin Assyria.... l15 ords.............. ............134 V. Ashurbanipal'srise to power........... il9 X.4. The Babylonianarchival texts........................... 135 VI. Ashurbanipal'sinterest in the scribalart .........t20 XI. Comparisonwith other Mesopotamianroyal VII. Ashurbanipal'smethod of collectingBabyloni- libraries........ ............137 an tablets 122 XII. Summaryand prospectsfor furtherstudies...... 140 VIII. The Neo-Assyrianlibrary records 124 XIII. Appendix:List of the Museumnumbers of the IX. The writing-boardsof the Neo-Assyrianlibrar- Babyloniantablets from Nineveh accordingto ies in Nineveh................... 126 their genre ........'.......AZ I. The British Museum's Ashurbanipol Library texts the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal ordered to be Project included in his famous royal library. Ashurbanipal (668 - ca. 627 BC) was the sixth Neo-Assyrian king - This part of the British Museum's Ashurbanipal who ruled over Assyria as well as over Babylonia - Library Project sets out to investigate what kind of about 60 years after Tiglath-pileser III had conquered *) My sincerethanks go to ChristopherB. F. Walker and to publish the results of my research in this way. My grati- Dr. Irving L. Finkel of the British Museum,who supervised tude goes to the Townley Group of the Friends of the British the AshurbanipalLibrcry Project, for giving me the honour Museum for funding this project. Dr. Marie-Christine Ludwig to carry out this survey at the British Museum. I owe very kindly offered me hospitality during my first days in London, much to ChristopherWalker for his friendship,encourage- and her friendship, both was and is of much value to me. I ment, support, and tireless readinessto discuss manifold would like to thank Dr. Nils P. HeeBel, Heidelberg, who aspectsof the Kouyunjik Collection,the AshurbanipalLibrary carefully read the first draft of this article and suggested and Nineveh with me; I gaineda lot from my conversations many improvements; this manuscript has benefited from his with him. Irving Finkel constantlyfollowed the processof my critical reading. My thanks are due to Dr. St John Simpson researchand discussedvarious issueswith me. My cordial and, again, to Dr. Irving L. Finkel of the British Museum, thanksgo to the staff of the AncientNear EastDepartment of who kindly undertook the very important task of correcting the British Museumfor their kindnessand support.Dr. John my English where appropriate. My final thanks go to Dr. Curtis of the British Museum has always shown sincere Michaela Weszeli for her attention to this manuscript. concernfor my research,read the manuscript,and provided ') A preliminary report was given during the 49e Rencon- me with additionalinformation for which I am most grateful. tre Assyriologique Internationale, London, 7-1 I July 2003. I am indebted to the Trusteesof the British Museum for This paper will be published together with the other Rencon- "Nineveh" grantingme permissionto work on the Tablet Collectionand tre paperc on the subject in volume 66 of lraq. Archiv fir Orientfurschung 50 (200312004) 112 JeanetteC. Fincke Babylonia (729 BC\. During the first 20 years of Collection and to the collecting activities of Ashurba- Ashurbanipal'sreign, his brotherSamaS-Sum-ukin was nipal. This task has been limited by various facts. appointedking of Babylonia,but later revoltedagainst Firstly, the survey on the tablets of Ashurbanipal's his brother.In 648 BC, Ashurbanipalwas victoriousin library is inevitably basedon the material which has the civil war and took over the kingship of Babylonia. been excavatedso far. We do not know how many This situationgave him direct accessto all the Baby- tabletsare either still waiting in Nineveh to be discov- lonian templearchives. When Ashurbanipalcreated his ered5or have already perishedand been lost forever. extensiveroyal library in the citadel of his Assyrian Moreover,the invaderswho conqueredNineveh in 612 capital city Nineveh (Kouyunjik) he incorporatedAs- BC might have destroyed or even carried off an syrian and Babyloniantablets into the collection.The unknown number of cuneiform tablets. There might tabletswritten in Babyloniancharacters may havebeen also have been looters who ransackedthe ruins of imported from Babylonian libraries, whereas others Nineveh later, or casual visitors and travellers who could have been written by Babylonianscribes in the entered or re-openedearlier excavationsand whose serviceof the Assyrian king.2 finds have since appearedin private collectionsor on The AshurbanipalLibrary Project was initiated by the antiquitiesmarket.6 It is thereforeobvious that the Dr. Ali Yaseen of the University of Mosul who de- material in the British Museum's Kouyunjik Collec- scribed the project to a group of British Museum tion doesnot representthe completenumber of tablets curatorsduring the Nimrud conferencein March 2002. that were included in the libraries and archives in It was explained that the University of Mosul was Ashurbanipal'stime7. However, the numberand varie- intending to establisha new Institute of Cuneiform ty of texts unearthedso far is large enoughto outline Studies, specifically for the study of Ashurbanipal's the focus of Ashurbanipal'slibraries. The number of Library. A specially designedbuilding would contain tablets is also large enough for a statisticalsurvey. an exhibition of castsof tablets,computer facilities and Secondly,the task of relating the Babyloniantexts a library. Dr. Yaseenasked whether the British Muse- to the rest of the Kouyunjik Collection has to be um would agreein principle to supply castsof tablets, postponeduntil the carrying out of a similar project on and he was assuredthat the British Museum would the Ninevite Assyrian tablets.Within the limited time make every effort to co-operate.Shortly afterwardsthis of this initial project it was impossiblealso to examine was confirmed by Dr. John Curtis, Keeper of the the Assyrian texts, the number of which is several British'Museum's Ancient Near East Department,in times higher than the number of the Babyloniantexts an interview in Baghdadwith the Minister of Higher (seebelow). Therefore,the basic task of this research Educationand Scientific Research,Dr. Hummam Ab- has been to record the Babylonianwritten tablets and dul Khalik. This was followed by somepress coverage fragments of the Kouyunjik Collection, to identify the of the subject.3 compositions8or classiff the tablets and fragments As well as agreeingto supply castsof tabletsfrom Ashurbanipal'sLibrary, it was decided in the British 5) The relatively small numberof Ninevite letterswritten Museum that the opportunity should be taken to reap- to Sennacheribleads to the assumptionthat this king's ar- praisethe Library. As the first stageof this process,an chive has not yet been found; seebelow sectionX.4. 6) See e. g. the tablet with a historical epic of the Lord applicationwas madeto the British MuseumFriends to Binning Collectionpublished by C. B. F. Walker - S.N. fund a six-month post purpose. for this The present Kramer in their article "Cuneiform Tabletsin the Collection writer was appointed to this position for the period of Lord Binning," Iraq 44 (1982) 70-86as no. 2 (pp. 76-78). from the l0th of March until the 9th of September, Another exampleis the tablet fragmentof the Ecolepratique 2003. In the British Museum the work was supervised des Hautes Etudesthat is joined to a tablet of the British by the curatorsChristopher B. F. Walker and Irving L. Museum'sKouyunjik collectionand publishedby S. Parpola, "A Finkel. Letter to SennacheribReferring to the Conquestof Bit- This initial part of the Ashurbanipal Library Proj- Ha)iri and Other Events of the Year 693," AOAT 281, Mtinster2002,559-580. The British Museumalso purchased ecl is focusedexclusively on the Babyloniantablets of tabletsunearthed in Kouyunjik, e. g. the numbersor collec- the so-calledlibrary of Ashurbanipala.The intentionof tions1901-10-12,89. 1909-2-13, l. 1909-3-13,l.