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Library of Ashurbanipal
- andrewstuart 3y agoI hope some mega billionaire is printing all the books and Wikipedia to metal tablets and storing multiple copies in hidden caves around the world, and in low lying areas where the coming floods will hide the tablets and reveal them again when the seas recede in millennia to come. On a different topic... this episode of the "Fall of Civilisations" podcast is where I heard about the Library of Ashurbanipal. It's probably the best podcast episode of all time on any topic that I've ever listened to: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/13-the-assyrians-empire-of-iron/id1449884495?i=1000525464222 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/13-the-assyrians-empir... 3.5 hours long! "Fall of Civilisations" probably being my favorite of all podcasts.
- dantondwa 3y agojust commented to write this as well. By coincidence, I have listened to the Assyrian episode today. There is really nothing like it. I also recommend the youtube videos of the same podcast. They are really the perfect companion to this incredible history podcast.
- ulizzle 3y agoOh, yeah, I saw that one too. A scholar and a psycho, excelling both in art and genocide. That podcast is a good one. Ashurbanipal is also in Civ 5!
- titanomachy 3y agoSomeone is doing it with clay tablets! https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/01/human-knowledge-salt-mine/512552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/01/human...
- andrewstuart 3y agoHopefully someone will build a pyramid on the Moon and store all the tablets within it. This will fulfill all my science fiction hope and dreams for the human race.
- mordechai9000 3y agoSomewhere past the present orbit of Mars might be nice. People could still visit it after the sun goes red giant.
- adriand 3y agoThanks for the reco! I would also like to make one, which is the book “Assyria: the rise and fall of the world’s first empire” by Eckart Frahm. An absolutely fascinating read which leverages modern scholarship and archaeological discoveries to paint a much more nuanced picture of the Assyrian empire than the strongly anti-Assyrian standard narrative that has roots in the biblical perspective. I learned a ton. The amazing thing about ancient history, for me, is that it helps situate my experience and this present moment. The more I learn the more the past feels close. And it is so close! What we call ancient history is just a few dozen generations ago. These people were so much like us. It is truly remarkable how far we have come in terms of technology but how little progress we have made in terms of wisdom.
- throwaway2202 3y agoThe second persian empire did this. Well, in reverse. They tried to preserve books in high dry lands, believing there will be flood (coming from the west if I remember correctly).
- Nevermark 3y agoPerhaps in a decade we can efficiently do this with an ILLM (insanely large language model) with eidetic memory, trained on the web and all our other media. Store the model in an elaborately constructed polygonish gold-etched glowy ball that fits in the palm of a hand, complete with a plutonium thermal energy core, carbon fiber audio sensor and speakers, and then hide it somewhere - but leave clues. I know we are not supposed to post Chat Gen stuff here, but I couldn't resist getting some help with the critical part, naming the artifact: Omniscube of Existential Continuity TerraQuorium, a Human Codex PlutoniLex, Oracle of Mankind The Nexus Cube of Cosmic Archives Anthrokora Galactica Rosetta Helixicon Pinnacle of Human Intellect Quintessence Eternal Brain MetaMnemnon, The Earth Archive Solon's Cubic Echomancer Tempuscrate's Timeless Witness Apotheotic MindStone Pandora's Polyhedron: Repository of Reality Aside from the names, I think placing devices like this on various solar system bodies would be an effective and convenient back up for aliens to interact with. Just a couple years ago this would have sounded fantastical and impractical. Today it would be sensible.
- mikhailfranco 3y ago... and the most beautiful theme music, loaded with appropriate melancholy: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N3_fjdUiamc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N3_fjdUiamc Great that the composer put it in the public domain. Play it at my funeral!
- dantondwa 3y agoOn the topic, I can absolutely recommend this sublime episode of Fall Of Civilizations on the Neo-Assyrian Empire: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jpAphcaVJIs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jpAphcaVJIs
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ashurbanipal 3y agoYou’re welcome
- glompers 3y agoNah, we're good, but thanks anyway
- andrewstuart 3y agoOlder than the Library of Alexandria, with 30,000 texts found. Much of the library was written on clay tablets, and when the library was burned, the clay tablets were fired like a kiln, preserving them for thousands of years.
- usrnm 3y ago7th century BCE
- walthamstow 3y agoThe subject of a very good episode of BBC Radio 4's In Our Time https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b7r71 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b7r71
- laserdancepony 3y agoSeventh century BCE, not AD!
- trackflak 3y agoSeventh century BC if we want to be more accurate.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mrlonglong 3y agoNope, you'll upset people using different calendars. BCE, Before Common Era.
- mcphage 3y agoHow is "BC" more accurate than "BCE"?
- trackflak 3y agoThe 'C' in BC reflects what event makes the era 'common', 'common era' is meaningless on its own. Whether or not you're religious, the birth of Christ is a convenient starting point for the western ('Gregorian' - who is Gregory?) calendar.
- DemocracyFTW2 3y agoTitle factually wrong and edited, nowhere to be found in the linked article, which clearly states: Contrary to often-repeated claims, the Library of Ashurbanipal was not the first library in the world. Libraries existed in Sumer, attached to scribal houses, temples, and palaces by the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 BCE). Akkadians and Babylonians also had libraries and so did earlier Assyrian kings. Scribes in ancient Mesopotamia also kept private libraries aside from those they would have referenced at the palace, school, or temple. The Library of Ashurbanipal is just the oldest one systematically organized to preserve a comprehensive collection of knowledge (not limited to one subject or type of work) and, owing to the importance of the tablets found there, the most significant. With being predated by other know collections by ~2000 years, hardly "the oldest known", not by a long stretch.
- dang 3y agoThe submitted title was "The 7th century Library of Ashurbanipal is the oldest known library in the world" and then it was edited to "7th century BCE Library of Ashurbanipal is the oldest recovered library". This submission seems great for HN so I've put it in the second-chance pool (https://news.ycombinator.com/pool https://news.ycombinator.com/pool, explained at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308). As part of that, I've reverted the title. Since it will get a random placement on HN's front page, it doesn't need extra help from the title any longer.
- andrewstuart 3y agoI fixed the title to reflect your observations.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- DemocracyFTW2 3y agocheers
- Perenti 3y agoFor those interested, there are several videos of Dr Irving Finkel from the British Museum talking about the Library of Asshurbanipal on Youtube. Dr Finkel is a brilliant speaker and fluent in Sumerian, Akkadian and Assyrian writing systems.
- cjs_ac 3y agoThis lecture by Dr Finkel on how he discovered the original Babylonian version of the Noah's Ark story is equal parts fascinating and hilarious: https://youtu.be/s_fkpZSnz2I https://youtu.be/s_fkpZSnz2I
- harel 3y agoThat was absolutely fascinating and hilarious, exactly as you described it. Thank you!