"The library of Ashurbanipal, Assyria's last great king, held an astonishing collection at the forefront of knowledge in its day, from ancient traditions in religion and literature to the latest developments in magic and medicine. When the Assyrian empire fell, the library burned to the ground, and its contents, clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, lay buried for thousands of years until a team of Victorian archaeologists discovered the remnants in modern-day Iraq. The clay had baked and hardened; the very fire that consumed the library had helped its texts to survive for millennia. In THE LIBRARY OF ANCIENT WISDOM, scholar Selena Wisnom, one of only a few hundred experts able to read cuneiform script today, guides us inside this important collection and, through its contents, brings ancient Mesopotamia and its people to life."--Jacket flap

The scribal art -- The power of the gods -- Magic and witchcraft -- The treatment of disease -- Reading the signs -- Messages in the stars -- Literature -- The waging of war -- Lamentation -- A day in the life of Ashurbanipal -- Epilogue: The afterlife of cuneiform culture