The Rassam Cylinder
- Gallery: Room 1
- Culture: Neo-Assyrian
- Date: 643BC
- Object type: cylinder
- Materials: fired clay
- Museum number: 91026
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Rassam Cylinder," part of the famed Library of Ashurbanipal. This ten-sided clay cylinder is inscribed in cuneiform with the annals of King Ashurbanipal. The text details nine military campaigns against various enemies and records the rebuilding of a structure known as the 'bīt ridûti' in Sennacherib's time.
Made from fired clay, this artifact was excavated at the North Palace in ancient Nineveh. The cylinder contains an impressive 1,304 lines of script, a remarkable historical document from the Neo-Assyrian period. It dates to 643 BC and is notable for being one of the most complete accounts of Ashurbanipal’s reign.
This piece was photographed on display in 1902 by Benjamin Stone. As you examine the deep, carved lines, consider the hands that shaped and inscribed it—preserving history in a form that still speaks to us today.
See it in person
The Rassam Cylinder is on display in Room 1 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
