Gods, demons, witches and exorcists: inside an ancient Assyrian library

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the seventh century BC, the ancient Assyrian king Ashurbanipal created a gigantic library in his capital city – one that contained centuries of wisdom. And this vast wealth of ancient knowledge can reveal a lot about how the people of the Near East thought about their gods. Dr Selena Wisnom tells David Musgrove more about the Assyrians' religious views, including how they tried to keep gods – and other supernatural entities – happy. (Ad) Selena Wisnom is the author of The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History (Penguin, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fthe-library-of-ancient-wisdom%2Fselena-wisnom%2F%2F9780241519639. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:19.2	Welcome to the History Extra podcast. Fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.
1:27.5	If you could travel back in time to one of the historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine.
1:34.2	If you could travel back in time to one of the greatest repositories of learning that humanity is ever produced, what could you learn? Well, let's find out because Dr. Selina Wisnum,
1:42.9	an expert in the history of ancient Mesopotamia,
1:45.6	is taking David Musgrove into the library of the ancient Assyrian king, Ashabanapal.
1:52.3	In today's episode, she explores what this extraordinary collection can reveal about how the
1:57.5	people of the Near East understood their deities and other supernatural entities.
	...

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