Assurbanipal

See also: Sardanapale

Assurbanipal or Ashurbanipal , king of Assyrie (Mésopotamie) of 669 av. J-C. with 627 av. J-C., was the last large king of Assyrie Antique. Its name, Aššur-round of applause-apli , mean " Assur is the creator of the son héritier".

It is known like one of rare the Souverain S of its time knowing to read and write. The Assyrian sculpture reached her apogee under her reign (northern and south-western Palate of Ninive). The Greeks knew it under the name of Sardanapale and regarded it as a symbol of lust what explains besides the direction of the word sardanapale in French, sensual. The Latin texts and other medieval texts refer to him like Sardanapale ( Sardanapalus ). In the Bible, it is called As (E) nappar or Osnapper (Ezra 4:10).

During its reign, the Assyrian fame was not only due to its military power, but also with its culture and its Article Assurbanipal founded with Ninive, its capital, a library in which it collected the whole of the literature Cunéiforme available to its time, thus creating “the first library” (as an organized and systematic gathering, in opposition to a files, made up of a simple successive documents received). The Tablettes of the library of Ninive include/understand in particular the most complete source of the epic sumérienne/Babylonian epopee of Gilgamesh. Other series of shelves constitute a dictionary Sumérien/Akkadien. One also finds there texts treating of Astronomie and Astrologie. However, the majority of the shelves (which all are almost with the British Museum of London) are texts of “predictions” which made it possible the scribes to recognize the direction of predict.

Assurbanipal was crowned king into 672, with died of Sin-iddina-apla, oldest son of Assarhaddon. Assurbanipal was very unpopular at the court and among the priests. It made from the agreements with the Assyrian leaders, the foreign family members royal and sovereigns in order to make sure of their honesty towards the crowned prince. But one needed all the energy of his Naqi' grandmother has Zakutu to make it go up on the throne to dead of Assarhaddon during a military campaign to Egypt.

The reign of Assurbanipal, like that of the majority of the Assyrian kings, was marked by ceaseless wars. It started by making the Guerre with his brother Shamash-shum-ukin, who was king of Babylon; Assurbanipal conquered Babylon and destroyed it. It reigned of an iron hand, by crushing the Egyptian insurrections as those which his/her brother carried out against him in Babylon. It also conquered Élam, the Phénicie, the Arménie and most of the Arabia, and overcame the city of Suse.

The date completion of the reign (or dead) of Assurbanipal is not known with certainty: the last shelf which mentions its name is a private contract of Nippur going back to 631, the 38e year of its reign. Other texts mention a 42 years reign, i.e. until into 627-626.

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