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Ashurbanipal, Assurbanipal or Sardanapal, in Akkadian Aššur-bāni-apli, (b. 685 BCE – d. 627 BCE) (reigned 669 – ca. 631 BC or 627 BC), the son of Esarhaddon and Naqi'a-Zakutu, was the last great king of ancient Assyria. He is famous as one of the few kings in antiquity who could himself read and write. Assyrian sculpture reached its apogee under his rule (Northern palace and south-western palace at Nineveh, battle of Ulai). The Greeks knew him as Sardanapalos; Latin and other medieval texts refer to him as Sardanapalus. In the Bible he is called As(e)nappar or Osnapper (Ezra 4:10).