Nineveh

Nineveh, Assyrian Ninua ({{coor dm|36|22|N|43|07|E|}}), was an important city in ancient Assyria now lying in the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. This "exceeding great city", as it is called in the Book of Jonah, lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris, along which it stretched for some 50 kilometres (30 miles), having an average breadth of 20 km (10 mi) or more from the river back toward the eastern hills. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins.

History

Nineveh is mentioned about 1800 BC as a worship place of Ištar, who was responsible for the city's early importance. There is no large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built at all extensively in Nineveh during the 2nd millennium BC. When Sennacherib made Ninua his capital at the end of the 8th century BC, it was already an ancient settlement. Later monarchs whose inscriptions have appeared on the Acropolis include Shalmaneser I and Tiglath-Pileser I, both of whom were active builders in Asshur; the former had founded Calah (Nimrud). Nineveh had to wait for the neo-Assyrians, particularly from the time of Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883-859 BC) onward, for a considerable architectural expansion. Thereafter successive monarchs kept in repair and founded new palaces, temples to Sîn, Nergal, Nanna, Šamaš, Ištar, and Nabiu of Borsippa.

Related Topics:
1800 BC - Ištar - 8th century BC - Shalmaneser I - Tiglath-Pileser I - Nimrud - Ashurnasirpal II - Sîn - Nergal - Nanna - Šamaš - Nabiu - Borsippa

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It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out fresh streets and squares and built within it the famous "palace without a rival", the plan of which has been mostly recovered and has overall dimensions of about 210 by 200 m (630 by 600 ft). It comprised at least 80 rooms, of which many were lined with sculpture. A large part of tablets was found there; some of the principal doorways were flanked by human-headed bulls. At this time the total area of Nineveh comprised about 1,800 acres (7 km²), and 15 great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of 18 canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh, and several sections of a magnificently constructed aqueduct erected by the same monarch were discovered at Jerwan, about 40 km (25 miles) distant.

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Nineveh's greatness was short-lived. About 633 BC the Assyrian empire began to show signs of weakness, and Nineveh was attacked by the Medes, who subsequently, about 625 BC, joined by the Babylonians and Susianians, again attacked it. Nineveh fell in 612 BC, and was razed to the ground. The Assyrian empire then came to an end, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its provinces between them.

Related Topics:
633 BC - Assyrian empire - Medes - 625 BC - Babylonians - Susianians - 612 BC

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After having ruled for more than six hundred years with hideous tyranny and violence, from the Caucasus and the Caspian to the Persian Gulf, and from beyond the Tigris to Asia Minor and Egypt, the city vanished like a dream.

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Before the excavations in the 1800s, our knowledge of the great Assyrian empire and of its magnificent capital was almost wholly a blank. Vague memories had indeed survived of its power and greatness, but very little was definitely known about it. Other cities which had perished, as Palmyra, Persepolis, and Thebes, had left ruins to mark their sites and tell of their former greatness; but of this city, imperial Nineveh, not a single vestige seemed to remain, and the very place on which it had stood was only matter of conjecture.

Related Topics:
Palmyra - Persepolis - Thebes

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In the days of the Greek historian Herodotus, 400 BC, it had become a thing of the past; and when Xenophon the historian passed the place in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand the very memory of its name had been lost. It was buried out of sight, and no one knew its grave. It is never again to rise from its ruins.

Related Topics:
Herodotus - 400 BC - Xenophon - Retreat of the Ten Thousand

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