Earlier still we find the chief of the astronomers at Nineveh alluding to Mercury in a report which he made to assurbanipal, the King of Assyria.
"The Story of the Heavens"
Robert Stawell Ball
assurbanipal, after a reign of forty-two years, died about 625 B.C., and was succeeded by his son, Assuretililani.
"The World's Greatest Books, Vol XI."
Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton
Many thousands of such tablets, collected by assurbanipal, King of Assyria in the middle of the seventh century B.C., were stored in the library of his palace at Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken and mutilated condition, they have yielded a marvellous amount of information to the patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars have bestowed upon them.
"Hasisadra's Adventure Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition""
Thomas Henry Huxley