Ashurbanipal has sometimes been characterized as a zealot. The king rebuilt, repaired and expanded a majority of the major shrines throughout his empire and many of the actions he took during his reign were due to omen reports, something he was very interested in. He appointed two of his younger brothers, Ashur-mukin-paleya and Ashur-etel-shame-erseti-muballissu, as priests in the cities Assur and Harran respectively."" He has also been seen as a patron of the arts due to the many sculptures and reliefs he erected in his palaces at Nineveh, depicting the most important events from his long reign. The style used in these works of art has an "epic quality" unlike the artwork produced under his predecessors. Assessment of Ashurbanipal has not solely been positive. In 639 BC, Ashurbanipal named the year (years were generally named after people in ancient Assyria, often military officials) after his chief musician, Bulluṭu, which Assyriologist Julian E. Reade saw as the move of an "irresponsible and self-indulgent" king. Though Assyria reached the apex of its power under Ashurbanipal's rule, the empire collapsed quickly after his death. Whether Ashurbanipal is partly to blame for Assyria's downfall is disputed. Delaunay, author of the "Encyclopaedia Iranica" entry on the king writes that the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Ashurbanipal had already began "exhibiting clear symptoms of impending dislocation and fall", while Donald John Wiseman, in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" article on the king, holds that "It is no indictment of his rule that his empire fell within two decades after his death; this was due to external pressures rather than to internal strife". Depictions of Ashurbanipal in artwork survive from his reign. The "Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal", a set of Assyrian palace reliefs from Ashurbanipal's palace, can be seen at the British Museum in London. These reliefs depict the king hunting and killing Mesopotamian lions. The Assyrian king was tasked with protecting his own people, often being referred to as a "shepherd". This protection included defending against external enemies and defending citizens from dangerous wild animals. To the Assyrians, the most dangerous animal of all was the lion, used (similarly to foreign powers) as an example of chaos and disorder due to their aggressive nature.