Ashurbanipal

Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BCE) was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria before its rapid collapse later in the century. Inheriting the throne from his father Esarhaddon after being named favored heir, he presided over one of the longest reigns of any Assyrian king, continuing military campaigns across the ancient Near East including a notable war against Egypt and the destruction of the Elamite capital Susa. He is also renowned for assembling a vast library of cuneiform tablets at Nineveh, the Library of Ashurbanipal, which preserved much of Mesopotamian literature, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, and remains one of the most important sources for the study of ancient Mesopotamian civilization.