The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History

When a team of Victorian archaeologists dug into a grassy hill in Iraq, they chanced upon one of the oldest and greatest stores of knowledge ever seen: the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, seventh century BCE ruler of a huge swathe of the ancient Middle East known as Mesopotamia. After his death, vengeful rivals burned Ashurbanipal’s library to the ground and this priceless treasure of ancient wisdom remained buried for millennia.

To celebrate the launch of her marvellous new book, The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History, Selena Wisnom will take us on an immersive tour of this extraordinary library, bringing ancient Mesopotamia and its people to life. This was a civilisation home to advanced mathematics, astronomy and banking, law and literature; a culture critically influential to the ancient Greeks, and whose myths were precursors to Bible stories. In short, a culture without which our lives today would be unrecognizable.

Selena Wisnom teaches the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester. A specialist in the interpretation of Mesopotamian cultural sources, she has also written three plays set in ancient Assyria. The most recent, Ashurbanipal: The Last Great King of Assyria was staged at London's Crypt Gallery in 2019.

Selena will be signing copies of her book purchased from the bookstall run by our wonderful partners Kibworth Books, who are delighted to be able to offer a £5 discount.

This event is brought to you in collaboration with the University of Leicester Library through a donation from the Margaret Jones bequest.