There's always more to be said on the topic, but I wrote about this in Were there any archaeologists in ancient cultures?

The Neo-Assyrian kings were quite proud of their scholarly prowess. In one of his inscriptions, for instance, the Assyrian king Aššurbanipal bragged about his familiarity with ancient texts and the older forms of cuneiform signs.

I have studied elaborate compositions in obscure Sumerian and Akkadian which are difficult to get right. I have inspected cuneiform signs on stones from before the flood, which are cryptic, impenetrable, and muddled up...