Large Tile of King Ashurbanipal. Lion of Assyria. Display.
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Ashurbanipal was the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (668 to 627 B.C.E). He was as bloodthirsty as Genghis, as prolific empire builder as Alexander and as much a scholar as Alfred . . so that is what he would tell you if he were alive today. Oh, did I mention lion slayer? Even though he was merciless to his enemies, the Assyrians liked him. Maybe it was his ego: “All the art of writing of every kind, I made myself master of them all… the best of the scribal are, such works as none of the kings who went before me had ever learnt, remedies from the top of the head to the toenails, non-canonical selections, clever teachings, whatever pertains to the medical mastery of Ninurta and Gala, I wrote on tablets, checked and collated, and deposited within my palace for perusing and reading.”
Other than some great infrastructure projects, King Ashurbanipal was best known for his library in the ancient city of Nineveh . . . thousands of texts – mostly written in cuneiform on clay tablets – covering such topics as history, law, geography, medicine, sciences, lexicography, literature, poetry, religion, magic… just to name a few.
Much of the library was unearthed in the mid 1800s but more goes on even today. Many statues and other relics have been bulldozed, blew up, vandalized or destroyed during the time that the Islamic State held these lands. 30,000 tablets and fragments are housed in the British Museum.
I love these tiles, so full of details and historical visual significance. Felt backing. Plexi stand included.