
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
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
4.4
28122,812 ratings
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
5,389 Listeners
1,902 Listeners
4,675 Listeners
449 Listeners
230 Listeners
712 Listeners
3,043 Listeners
13,053 Listeners
1,762 Listeners
1,982 Listeners
2,649 Listeners
1,219 Listeners
1,420 Listeners
2,107 Listeners
66 Listeners
47 Listeners
908 Listeners
18 Listeners
12 Listeners
2 Listeners