Assyria From the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh Cambridge Library Collection - Archaeology Series

The Assyriologist George Smith (1840?76) was trained originally as an engraver, but was enthralled by the discoveries of Layard and Rawlinson. He taught himself cuneiform script, and joined the British Museum as a 'repairer' of broken cuneiform tablets. Promotion followed, and after one of Smith's most significant discoveries among the material sent to the Museum - a Babylonian story of a great flood - he was sent to the Middle East, where he found more inscriptions which contained other parts of the epic tale of Gilgamesh. In 1875, he published a history of Assyria for the 'Ancient History from the Monuments' series. Using biblical accounts as well as the Akkadian documents in clay and stone then being excavated in the area, Smith traces the history of the Assyrian empire from its origins until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BCE. Several other books by Smith are also reissued in this series.

Preface; 1. Country and people; 2. Early history of the country down to 1120 BC; 3. Tiglath-Pileser I and his successors; 4. Assur-Nazir-Pal; 5. Shalmaneser II; 6. Samsi-Vul III; 7. Vul-Nirari III and his successors; 8. Tiglath-Pileser II and Shalmaneser IV; 9. Sargon; 10. Sennacherib; 11. Esarhaddon; 12. Reign of Assur-Bani-Pal until the conquest of Karbat; 13. Reign of Assur-Bani-Pal from the conquest of Karbat to the conquest of Babylon; 14. Reign of Assur-Bani-Pal from the conquest of Babylon until his death; 15. Buildings, library, and character of Assur-Bani-Pal; 16. Bel-Zakir-Iskun and Assur-Ebil-Ili-Kain.