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

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. Fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. If you could travel back in time to one of the greatest repositories of learning that humanity has ever produced, What could you learn? Well, let's find out, because Dr.

Selina Wisnam, an expert in the history of ancient Mesopotamia, is taking David Musgrove into the library of the ancient Assyrian king Ashabanipal. In today's episode, she explores what this extraordinary collection can reveal about how the people of the Near East understood their deities and other supernatural entities. Today we are going to talk about an ancient library and the treasure trove of wisdom it holds within. But if that sounds a bit dry, thin, not far from it, we're going to hear stories about exorcism, witches, a demon with a snake for his penis, and the sexual self control of an ancient Assyrian king called Ashabanapal. So let's head into the Library of Ancient Wisdom with Dr.

Selina Wisham. Selina, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing? Great, thanks. Great to be here.

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