King Ashurbanipal was the most powerful ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the mid-seventh century B.C.—he was also a librarian. At his capital of Nineveh, he assembled a vast library of clay tablets. From more than 30,000 tablets and fragments, historians have reconstructed daily life in Assyria and uncovered evidence of cultural exchange with neighboring civilizations.
https://on.natgeo.com/BRWA2326 