"I Ashurbanipal, king of the universe, on whom the gods have bestowed intelligence, who has acquired penetrating acumen for the most recondite details of scholarly erudition, I have placed these tablets for the future in the library at Nineveh for my life and for the well-being of my soul, to sustain the foundation of my royal name.

I, Ashurbanipal, within the palace, understood the wisdom of Nabu [the god of learning]. All the art of writing of every kind. I made myself the master of them all. I read the cunning tablets of Sumer and the dark Akkadian language which is difficult to rightly use; I took my pleasure in reading stones inscribed before the flood. I wrote on tablets, checked and collated, and deposited within my palace for perusing and reading."

Fred Parhad is a self-taught sculptor with more than 35 years of professional dedication to his work. Instead of pursuing artistic studies at UC Berkeley, Parhad chose instead to pursue a life in the arts and sought a path of his own. He considers history his greatest teacher, having spent countless hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art independently studying classical works. In 1978, Parhad began working on a considerable collection of classic Assyrian sculptures which are now found across the United States. One of his most famous works, the Ashurbanipal Monument, now stands tall outside the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California.