#cuneiform tablets

• Akkad — A proper noun designating a legendary ancient city-state and its surrounding region in central Mesopotamia (located north of Sumer, in modern-day Iraq), which became the political center of the first centralized multiethnic empire in human history, founded by the legendary king Sargon the Great in the 24th century BC; by extension, the flourishing Semitic civilization that developed within this geographical space. This structural hub of antiquity imposed the Akkadian language as a global diplomatic vehicle and redefined military architecture, although the exact location of its imperial capital, Agade, remains to this day one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of Oriental archaeology.
• Assyria — An ancient state and empire in the Near East, located in the northern region of Mesopotamia (on the territory of modern-day Iraq), along the upper course of the Tigris River. Named after its original capital, the city of Assur, this state structurally developed into a major military and economic power of antiquity, reaching the peak of its expansion under the Sargonid dynasty, when it controlled a vast territory encompassing Mesopotamia, the Levant, and parts of Egypt, historically recognized for its monumental palaces in Nineveh, cuneiform tablet libraries, and bas-relief art.
• Assurbanipal — The last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (reigning from 668 to c. 627 BC), famous both for his brutal military successes and his high level of erudition; he ordered the collection and copying of all literary, scientific, and religious texts across Mesopotamia, establishing the famous Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, where the Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered.