When Nineveh, the mighty Assyrian capital, fell in 612 BCE, its destruction accidentally saved history. The burning of the royal library baked more than 30,000 clay tablets—turning them hard as ceramic. Among them was the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s first great story. This fiery collapse preserved the world’s oldest surviving literary archive, a priceless window into the ancient Near East. | Ancient History Revived