Nineveh

For other uses, see Nineveh (disambiguation).
Nineveh

The reconstructed Mashki Gate of Nineveh
Shown within Iraq
Location Mosul, Ninawa Governorate, Iraq
Region Mesopotamia
Coordinates 36°21′34″N 43°09′10″E / 36.35944°N 43.15278°E / 36.35944; 43.15278Coordinates: 36°21′34″N 43°09′10″E / 36.35944°N 43.15278°E / 36.35944; 43.15278
Type Settlement
Area 7.5 km2 (2.9 sq mi)
History
Abandoned 612 BC
Events Battle of Nineveh (612 BC)

Nineveh (/ˈnɪnɪvə/ or /ˈnɪnəvə/; Akkadian: Ninua) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in modern-day northern Iraq; it is on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

It was the largest city in the world for some fifty years[1] until, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria itself, it was sacked by an unusual coalition of former subject peoples, the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Chaldeans, Scythians and Cimmerians in 612 BC. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq. The two main tells, or mound-ruins, within the walls are Kouyunjik (Kuyuncuk), the Northern Palace, and Tell Nabī Yūnus.

Name

The English placename Nineveh comes from Latin Ninive and Septuagint Greek Nineyḗ (Νινευή) under influence of the Biblical Hebrew Nīnewēh (נִינְוֶה),[2] itself from the Akkadian Ninua (var. Ninâ)[3] or Old Babylonian Ninuwā.[2] The original meaning of the name is unclear, but may have referred to a patron goddess. The cuneiform for Ninâ is a fish within a house (cf. Aramaic nuna, "fish"). This may have simply intended "Place of Fish" or may have indicated a goddess associated with fish or the river itself, possibly originally of Hurrian origin.[3] The city was later said to be devoted to "the Ishtar of Nineveh" and Nina was one of the Sumerian and Assyrian names of that goddess.[3]

The city was also known as Ninii[4] or Ni[5] in Ancient Egyptian; Ninuwa in Mari;[3] Ninawa in Aramaic;[3] ܢܸܢܘܵܐ in Syriac; and Nainavā (نینوا) in Persian.

Nabī Yūnus is the Arabic for "Prophet Jonah". Kouyunjik was, according to Layard, a Turkish name, and it was known as Armousheeah by the Arabs,[6] and is thought to have some connection with the Kara Koyunlu dynasty.[7]

Geography

The remains of ancient Nineveh are the mound-ruins of Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus are located on a level part of the plain near the junction of the Tigris and the Khosr Rivers within an area of 750 hectares (1,900 acres)[8] circumscribed by a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) brick rampart. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by new suburbs of the city of Mosul.[9]

Nineveh was an important junction for commercial routes crossing the Tigris on the great highway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, thus uniting the East and the West, it received wealth from many sources, so that it became one of the greatest of all the region's ancient cities,[10] and the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Early history

Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. The area was settled as early as 6000 BC and, by 3000 BC, had become an important religious center for worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. The early city (and subsequent buildings) were constructed on a fault line and, consequently, suffered damage from a number of earthquakes. One such event destroyed the first temple of Ishtar, which was then rebuilt in 2260 BC by the Akkadian king Manishtusu.

Texts from the Hellenistic period and later offered an eponymous Ninus as the founder of Nineveh, although there is no historical basis for this.

Ninevite 5 period

The regional influence of Nineveh became particularly pronounced during the archaeological period known as Ninevite 5, or Ninevite V (2900-2600 BCE). This period is defined primarily by the characteristic pottery that is found widely, mostly in northern Mesopotamia.[11] Also, for the northern Mesopotamian region, the Early Jezirah chronology has been developed by archaeologists. According to this regional chronology, 'Ninevite 5' is equivalent to the Early Jezirah I–II period.[12]

Ninevite 5 was preceded by the Late Uruk period. Ninevite 5 pottery is roughly contemporary to the Early Transcaucasian culture ware, and the Jemdet Nasr ware.[13] Iranian Scarlet Ware culture also belongs to this period; this colourful painted pottery is somewhat similar to Jemdet Nasr ware. Scarlet Ware was first documented in the Diyala River basin in Iran. Later, it was also found in the nearby Hamrin Basin, and in Luristan.

Old Assyrian period

The historic Nineveh is mentioned in the Old Assyrian Empire during reign of Shamshi-Adad I in about 1800 BC as a centre of worship of Ishtar, whose cult was responsible for the city's early importance. The goddess's statue was sent to Pharaoh Amenhotep III of Egypt in the 14th century BC, by orders of the king of Mitanni. The Assyrian city of Nineveh became one of Mitanni's vassals for half a century until the early 14th century BC, when the Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I reclaimed it in 1365 BC while overthrowing the Mitanni Empire and creating the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC).[14]

There is no large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built at all extensively in Nineveh during the late 3rd and 2nd millenniums BC; it appears to have been originally an "Assyrian provincial town". Later monarchs whose inscriptions have appeared on the high city include the Middle Assyrian Empire kings Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC) and Tiglath-Pileser I (1114-1076 BC), both of whom were active builders in Assur (Ashur).

Neo-Assyrians

Nineveh had to wait for the Neo-Assyrian Empire, particularly from the time of Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BC) onward, for a considerable architectural expansion. Thereafter successive monarchs such as Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal kept in repair and founded new palaces, as well as temples to Sîn, Ashur, Nergal, Shamash, Ninurta, Ishtar, Tammuz, Nisroch and Nabiu.

Refined low-relief section of a bull-hunt frieze from Nineveh, alabaster, c. 695 BC (Pergamon Museum), Berlin.
The king hunting lion from the North Palace, Nineveh seen at the British Museum

Sennacherib

It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out new 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 503 by 242 metres (1,650 ft × 794 ft). It comprised at least 80 rooms, many of which were lined with sculpture. A large number of cuneiform tablets were found in the palace. The solid foundation was made out of limestone blocks and mud bricks; it was 22 metres (72 ft) tall. In total, the foundation is made of roughly 2,680,000 cubic metres (3,505,308 cu yd) of brick (approximately 160 million bricks). The walls on top, made out of mud brick, were an additional 20 metres (66 ft) tall. Some of the principal doorways were flanked by colossal stone door figures weighing up to 30,000 kilograms (30 t); they included many winged lions or bulls with a man's head. These were transported 50 kilometres (31 mi) from quarries at Balatai and they had to be lifted up 20 metres (66 ft) once they arrived at the site, presumably by a ramp. There are also 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) of stone panels carved in bas-relief, that include pictorial records documenting every construction step including carving the statues and transporting them on a barge. One picture shows 44 men towing a colossal statue. The carving shows three men directing the operation while standing on the Colossus. Once the statues arrived at their destination, the final carving was done. Most of the statues weigh between 9,000 and 27,000 kilograms (19,842 and 59,525 lb).[15][16]

The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib's men parading the spoils of war before him. He also bragged about his conquests: he wrote of Babylon: "Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city." He later wrote about a battle in Lachish: "And Hezekiah of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke...him I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city like a caged bird. Earthworks I threw up against him, and anyone coming out of his city gate I made pay for his crime. His cities which I had plundered I had cut off from his land." [17]

At this time, the total area of Nineveh comprised about 7 square kilometres (1,730 acres), and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh, and several sections of a magnificently constructed aqueduct erected by Sennacherib were discovered at Jerwan, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) distant.[18] The enclosed area had more than 100,000 inhabitants (maybe closer to 150,000), about twice as many as Babylon at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.

Some scholars believe that the Garden which Sennacherib built next to his palace, with its associated irrigation works, comprised the original Hanging Gardens of Babylon.[19]

After Ashurbanipal

Nineveh's greatness was short-lived. In around 627 BC, after the death of its last great king Ashurbanipal, the Neo-Assyrian empire began to unravel due to a series of bitter civil wars between rival claimants for the throne, and in 616 BC Assyria was attacked by its own former vassals, the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. In about 616 BC Kalhu was sacked, the allied forces eventually reached Nineveh, besieging and sacking the city in 612 BC, following bitter house-to-house fighting, after which it was razed to the ground. Most of the people in the city who could not escape to the last Assyrian strongholds in the north and west were either massacred or deported out of the city and into the countryside where they founded new settlements. Many unburied skeletons were found by the archaeologists at the site. The Assyrian empire then came to an end by 605 BC; the Medes and Babylonians dividing its colonies between them.

Assyria, including the Nineveh region, continued to exist as a geo-political entity (Achaemenid Assyria, Athura, Assuristan etc.) under the rule of various empires until its dissolution in the mid 7th century AD.

Following the defeat in 612 BC, the site remained largely unoccupied for centuries with only a scattering of Assyrians living amid the ruins until the Sassanian period, although Assyrians continue to live in the surrounding area to this day. The city is mentioned again in the Battle of Nineveh in 627 AD, which was fought between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanian Empire of Persia near the ancient city. From the Arab Islamic Conquest in 637 AD until the modern period, the city of Mosul on the opposite bank of the river Tigris became the successor of ancient Nineveh.

Biblical Nineveh

In the Hebrew Bible, Nineveh is first mentioned in Genesis 10:11: "Ashur left that land, and built Nineveh". Some modern English translations interpret "Ashur" in the Hebrew of this verse as the country "Assyria" rather than a person, thus making Nimrod, rather than Ashur, the founder of Nineveh.

Nineveh was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire (2 Kings 19:36) and was the home of King Sennacherib, King of Assyria, during the Biblical reign of King Hezekiah (יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ) and the lifetime of Judean prophet Isaiah (ישעיה). As recorded in Hebrew scripture, Nineveh was also the place where Sennacherib died at the hands of his two sons, who then fled to the vassal land of `rrt Urartu. (Isa. 37:37–38). The book of the prophet Nahum is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic denunciations against Nineveh. Its ruin and utter desolation are foretold (Nahum 1:14; 3:19, etc.). Its end was strange, sudden, and tragic. (Nahum 2:6–11) According to the Bible, it was God's doing, his judgment on Assyria's pride (Jonah 10:5-19). In fulfillment of prophecy, God made "an utter end of the place". It became a "desolation". The prophet Zephaniah also (2:13–15) predicts its destruction along with the fall of the empire of which it was the capital. Nineveh is also the setting of the Book of Tobit.

The Book of Jonah, set in the days of the Assyrian empire, describes it (Jonah 3:3ff; 4:11) as an "exceedingly great city of three days journey in breadth", whose population at that time is given as "more than 120,000". But it is also possible that it took three days to cover all its neighborhoods by walking, which would match the size of ancient Nineveh. The ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamles and Khorsabad form the four corners of an irregular quadrangle. The ruins of Nineveh, with the whole area included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn from the one to the other, are generally regarded as consisting of these four sites. The book of Jonah depicts Nineveh as a wicked city worthy of destruction. God sent Jonah to preach to the Ninevites of their coming destruction, and they fasted and repented because of this. As a result, God spared the city; when Jonah protests against this, God states He is showing mercy for the population who are ignorant of the difference between right and wrong ("who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand" [20]) and mercy for the animals in the city.

Nineveh's repentance and salvation from evil is noted in the Christian biblical canon's Gospel of Matthew (12:41) and the Gospel of Luke (11:32). To this day, Syriac and Oriental Orthodox churches commemorate the three days Jonah spent inside the fish during the Fast of Nineveh. The Christians observing this holiday fast by refraining from food and drinks. Churches encourage followers to refrain from meat, fish and dairy products.[21]

Classical history

Before the great archaeological excavations in the 19th century, there was almost no historical knowledge of the great Assyrian empire and of its magnificent capital. Other cities that had perished, such 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 became only a matter of conjecture.

In the days of the Greek historians Ctesias and Herodotus, 400 BC, Nineveh 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.[22]

In his History of the World (written c. 1616) Sir Walter Raleigh erroneously asserted (attributing the information to Johannes Nauclerus c. 1425–1510), that Nineveh had originally had the name Campsor before Ninus supposedly rebuilt it. This was still regarded as correct information when news of Layard's discoveries (see below) reached the west.[23]

Archaeology

Excavation history

The site was first identified by Europeans following Carsten Niebuhr's 1761–1768 Danish expedition. Niebuhr wrote afterwards that "I did not learn that I was at so remarkable a spot, till near the river. Then they showed me a village on a great hill, which they call Nunia, and a mosque, in which the prophet Jonah was buried. Another hill in this district is called Kalla Nunia, or the Castle of Nineveh. On that lies a village Koindsjug."[24]

In 1842, the French Consul General at Mosul, Paul-Émile Botta, began to search the vast mounds that lay along the opposite bank of the river. The locals whom he employed in these excavations, to their great surprise, came upon the ruins of a building at the mound of Khorsabad, which, on further exploration, turned out to be the royal palace of Sargon II, which was largely explored for sculptures and other precious relics.

Bronze lion from Nineveh.

In 1847 the young British adventurer Sir Austen Henry Layard explored the ruins.[25][26][27][28] In the Kuyunjik mound, Layard rediscovered in 1849 the lost palace of Sennacherib with its 71 rooms and colossal bas-reliefs. He also unearthed the palace and famous library of Ashurbanipal with 22,000 cuneiform clay tablets. Most of Layard's material was sent to the British Museum, but two large pieces were given to Lady Charlotte Guest and eventually found their way to the Metropolitan Museum.[29] The study of the archaeology of Nineveh reveals the wealth and glory of ancient Assyria under kings such as Esarhaddon (681–669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (669–626 BC).

The work of exploration was carried on by George Smith, Hormuzd Rassam (himself an Assyrian), and others, and a vast treasury of specimens of Assyria was incrementally exhumed for European museums. Palace after palace was discovered, with their decorations and their sculptured slabs, revealing the life and manners of this ancient people, their arts of war and peace, the forms of their religion, the style of their architecture, and the magnificence of their monarchs.[30][31]

The mound of Kouyunjik was excavated again by the archaeologists of the British Museum, led by Leonard William King, at the beginning of the 20th century. Their efforts concentrated on the site of the Temple of Nabu, the god of writing, where another cuneiform library was supposed to exist. However, no such library was ever found: most likely, it had been destroyed by the activities of later residents.

The excavations started again in 1927, under the direction of Campbell Thompson, who had already taken part in King's expeditions.[32][33][34][35] Some works were carried out outside Kouyunjik, for instance on the mound of Nebi Yunus, which was the ancient arsenal of Nineveh, or along the outside walls. Here, near the northwestern corner of the walls, beyond the pavement of a later building, the archaeologists found almost 300 fragments of prisms recording the royal annals of Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, beside a prism of Esarhaddon which was almost perfect.

After the Second World War, several excavations were carried out by Iraqi archaeologists. From 1951 to 1958 Mohammed Ali Mustafa worked the site.[36][37] The work was continued from 1967 through 1971 by Tariq Madhloom.[38][39][40] Some additional excavation occurred by Manhal Jabur in 1980, and Manhal Jabur in 1987. For the most part, these digs focused on Nebi Yunus.

Most recently, British archaeologist and Assyriologist Professor David Stronach of the University of California, Berkeley conducted a series of surveys and digs at the site from 1987 to 1990, focusing his attentions on the several gates and the existent mudbrick walls, as well as the system that supplied water to the city in times of siege. The excavation reports are in progress.[41]

Archaeological remains

Today, Nineveh's location is marked by two large mounds, Kouyunjik and Nabī Yūnus "Prophet Jonah", and the remains of the city walls (about 12 kilometres (7 mi) in circumference). The Neo-Assyrian levels of Kouyunjik have been extensively explored. The other mound, Nabī Yūnus, has not been as extensively explored because there was an Arab Muslim shrine dedicated to that prophet on the site. On July 24, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant destroyed the shrine as part of a campaign to destroy religious sanctuaries it deems "un-Islamic."[42]

Winged Bull excavated at Nebi Yunus by Iraqi archaeologists

City wall and gates

Simplified plan of ancient Nineveh showing city wall and location of gateways.

The ruins of Nineveh are surrounded by the remains of a massive stone and mudbrick wall dating from about 700 BC. About 12 km in length, the wall system consisted of an ashlar stone retaining wall about 6 metres (20 ft) high surmounted by a mudbrick wall about 10 metres (33 ft) high and 15 metres (49 ft) thick. The stone retaining wall had projecting stone towers spaced about every 18 metres (59 ft). The stone wall and towers were topped by three-step merlons.

The city wall was fitted with fifteen monumental gateways. In addition to serving as checkpoints on entering and exiting the city, these structures were probably used as barracks and armories. With the inner and outer doors shut, the gateways were virtual fortresses. The bases of the walls of the vaulted passages and interior chambers of the gateway were lined with finely cut stone orthostats about 1 metre (3 ft) high. A stairway led from one of the interior chambers to the top of the mudbrick wall.

The city wall has been destroyed by ISIS as of February, 2015. The wall was destroyed during an effort to destroy historical buildings and monuments in the province by the jihadist rebel group.[43]

Five of the gateways have been explored to some extent by archaeologists:

Translated "Gate of the Watering Places", it was perhaps used to take livestock to water from the River Tigris which currently flows about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) to the west. It has been reconstructed in fortified mudbrick to the height of the top of the vaulted passageway. The Assyrian original may have been plastered and ornamented.

Named for the god Nergal, it may have been used for some ceremonial purpose, as it is the only known gate flanked by stone sculptures of winged bull-men (lamassu). The reconstruction is conjectural, as the gate was excavated by Layard in the mid-19th century, and reconstructed in the mid-20th century.

Restored Adad Gate

Adad Gate is named for the god Adad. A reconstruction was begun in the 1960s by Iraqis, but was not completed. The result is a mixture of concrete and eroding mudbrick, which nonetheless does give one some idea of the original structure. The excavator left some features unexcavated, allowing a view of the original Assyrian construction. The original brickwork of the outer vaulted passageway is well exposed, as is the entrance of the vaulted stairway to the upper levels. The actions of Nineveh's last defenders can be seen in the hastily built mudbrick construction which narrows the passageway from 4 to 2 metres (13 to 7 ft).

Eastern city wall and Shamash Gate.

Named for the Sun god Shamash, it opens to the road to Arbil. It was excavated by Layard in the 19th century. The stone retaining wall and part of the mudbrick structure were reconstructed in the 1960s. The mudbrick reconstruction has deteriorated significantly. The stone wall projects outward about 20 metres (66 ft) from the line of main wall for a width of about 70 metres (230 ft). It is the only gate with such a significant projection. The mound of its remains towers above the surrounding terrain. Its size and design suggest it was the most important gate in Neo-Assyrian times.

Near the south end of the eastern city wall. Exploratory excavations were undertaken here by the University of California expedition of 1989–1990. There is an outward projection of the city wall, though not as pronounced as at the Shamash Gate. The entry passage had been narrowed with mudbrick to about 2 metres (7 ft) as at the Adad Gate. Human remains from the final battle of Nineveh were found in the passageway. [44]

Threats to Nineveh

The site of Nineveh is exposed to decay of its reliefs by a lack of proper protective roofing, vandalism and looting holes dug into chamber floors.[45] Future preservation is further compromised by the site's proximity to constantly expanding suburbs.

The ailing Mosul Dam is a persistent threat to Nineveh as well as the city of Mosul itself. This is in no part due to years of disrepair (in 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cited it as the most dangerous dam in the world), the cancellation of a second dam project in the 1980s to act as flood relief in case of failure, and occupation by ISIL in 2014 resulting in fleeing workers and stolen equipment. If the dam fails, the entire site could be as much as 45 feet underwater.[46]

In an October 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, Global Heritage Fund named Nineveh one of 12 sites most "on the verge" of irreparable destruction and loss, citing insufficient management, development pressures and looting as primary causes.[47]

By far, however, the greatest threat to Nineveh has been purposeful human actions by ISIL, which occupied that area in mid-2010s. In early 2015 they announced their intention to destroy the walls of Nineveh if the Iraqis try to liberate the city, they also threatened to destroy artifacts. On February 26 they destroyed several items and statues in the Mosul Museum, and are believed to have plundered others to sell overseas. The items were mostly from the Assyrian exhibit, which ISIL declared blasphemous and idolatrous. There were 300 items in the museum out of a total of 1900, with the other 1600 being taken to the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad for security reasons prior to the 2014 Fall of Mosul. Some of the artifacts sold and/or destroyed were from Nineveh.[48][49] Just a few days after the destruction of the museum pieces they demolished remains at major UNESCO world heritage sites Khorsabad, Nimrud, and Hatra.

Rogation of the Ninevites (Nineveh's Wish)

The Prophet Jonah before the Walls of Nineveh, drawing by Rembrandt, c. 1655

Assyrians of the Ancient Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East and Saint Thomas Christians of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church observe a fast called Ba'uta d-Ninwe (ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ) which means Nineveh's Wish. Copts and Ethiopian Orthodox also maintain this fast.[50]

Nineveh in popular culture

"Ode", the 1874 poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, includes the line

'We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;'

"The Released Rebel Prisoner", the 1865 poem by Herman Melville, includes the line

'Armies he's seen—the herds of war,
  But never such swarms of men
As now in the Nineveh of the North—
  How mad the Rebellion then!;'

Moby-Dick, the 1851 novel by Herman Melville, includes the line "It was this, if I remember right: Jonah was swallowed by the whale in the Mediterranean Sea, and after three days he was vomited up somewhere within three days' journey of Nineveh, a city on the Tigris, very much more than three days' journey across from the nearest point of the Mediterranean coast"

Rudyard Kipling's 1897 poem "Recessional" expresses the potential transience of the British Empire's dominance with the lines, "Far-called our navies melt away-/On dune and headland sinks the fire-/Lo, all our pomp of yesterday/ is one with Nineveh and Tyre."

"Cargoes", the poem by John Masefield starts with the line 'Quinquereme of Nineveh from distant Ophir.'

"The Far Side of the Dollar", the book by Ross MacDonald contains a reference in the third paragraph of chapter 19: "It was dead as Niveneh."

The 1953 Broadway musical Kismet, and the subsequent 1955 film version, featured a song entitled "Not Since Nineveh".

The opening scenes of the film The Exorcist depict (according to Director William Friedkin) a Chaikhana and a blacksmiths' shop adjacent to the Walls of Nineveh, supposedly 'right across from the tomb of King Nebuchadnezzar (sic), which was built on the 'tomb of the Prophet David' (sic). More likely he meant Nebi Yunus, the tomb (now Mosque) of the Prophet Jonah. The archaeological excavation depicted is at Hatra, some 133km south west by road.

The peplum movie, War Gods of Babylon, is based on the sacking and fall of Nineveh by the combined rebel armies led by the Babylonians.

Thrash Metal band Tourniquet refer to Nineveh in the song "Healing waters of the Tigris" from their 2003 album Where Moth and Rust Destroy. The lyrics refer to the Battle of Nineveh in 612 BC, giving reference to an alleged flood of the River Tigris during the battle.

Hymns from Nineveh is a Danish folk/rock band, formed in 2007 by Danish singer/guitarist Jonas Petersen.

The 1997 game Age of Empires features a campaign within Nineveh.

The Assyrian black metal band Melechesh opened their 2010 effort The Epigenesis with the song "Ghouls of Nineveh".

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Matt T. Rosenberg. "Largest Cities Through History". geography.about.com. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "Ninevite, n. and adj." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Nineveh", Encyclopaedia Judaica, Gale Group, 2008.
  4. ↑ Cooper, William Ricketts (1876), "Ninii", An Archaic Dictionary: Biographical, Historical, and Mythological; from the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Etruscan Monuments and Papyri, London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, p. 382.
  5. ↑ Rawlinson, George (1886), Ancient Egypt, 10th ed., Ch. XII, London: T. Fisher Unwin.
  6. ↑ Layard, 1849, p.xxi, "...called Kouyunjik by the Turks, and Armousheeah by the Arabs"
  7. ↑ "Koyundjik", E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, p. 1083.
  8. ↑ Mieroop, Marc van de (1997). The Ancient Mesopotamian City. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 9780191588457.
  9. ↑ Geoffrey Turner, Tell Nebi Yūnus: The ekal māšarti of Nineveh, Iraq, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 68-85, 1970
  10. ↑ "Proud Nineveh" is a constant emblem of earthly pride in the Old Testament prophecies: "And He will stretch out His hand against the north And destroy Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness." (Zephaniah 2:13).
  11. ↑ Ian Shaw, A Dictionary of Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons, 2002 ISBN 0631235833 p427
  12. ↑ Polish-Syrian Expedition to Tell Arbid 2015
  13. ↑ Ian Shaw, A Dictionary of Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons, 2002 ISBN 0631235833 p427
  14. ↑ Genesis 10:11 attributes the founding of Nineveh to an Asshur: "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh".
  15. ↑ "The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World" edited by Chris Scarre 1999 (Thames and Hudson)
  16. ↑ An experiment in the 1950s required 180 men to tow a ten-ton colossus on Easter Island.
  17. ↑ Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Mesopotamia: The Mighty Kings. (1995)
  18. ↑ Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd, Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan, Oriental Institute Publication 24, University of Chicago Press, 1935
  19. ↑ Dalley, Stephanie, (2013) The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: an elusive World Wonder traced, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966226-5
  20. ↑ Mechon Mamre Hebrew Bible translation, Jonah 4
  21. ↑ "Three Day Fast of Nineveh". Syrian Orthodox Church. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  22. ↑ Menko Vlaardingerbroek, The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography, Iraq, vol. 66, Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assriologique Internationale, Part One, pp. 233-241, 2004
  23. ↑ "Dr. Layard and Nineveh", Bentley's Miscellany Vol 29 (1851), p. 102
  24. ↑ Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1888), The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary, Explanatory and Practical, and Introductions to the Several Books, Volume II, p.123
  25. ↑ A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, John Murray, 1849
  26. ↑ A. H. Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, John Murray, 1853
  27. ↑ A. H. Layard, The Monuments of Nineveh; From Drawings Made on the Spot, John Murray, 1849
  28. ↑ A. H. Layard, A second series of the monuments of Nineveh, John Murray, 1853
  29. ↑ John Malcolm Russell, From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum & the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School, Yale University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-300-06459-4
  30. ↑ George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries: An Account of Explorations and Discoveries on the Site of Nineveh, During 1873 and 1874, S. Low-Marston-Searle and Rivington, 1876
  31. ↑ Hormuzd Rassam and Robert William Rogers, Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, Curts & Jennings, 1897
  32. ↑ R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, "The excavations on the temple of Nabu at Nineveh," Archaeologia, vol. 79, pp. 103–148, 1929
  33. ↑ R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, "The site of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nineveh excavated in 1929–30," Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. 18, pp. 79–112, 1931
  34. ↑ R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hamilton, "The British Museum excavations on the temple of Ishtar at Nineveh 1930–31," Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. 19, pp. 55–116, 1932
  35. ↑ R. Campbell Thompson and M E L Mallowan, "The British Museum excavations at Nineveh 1931–32," Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. 20, pp. 71–186, 1933
  36. ↑ Mohammed Ali Mustafa, Sumer, vol. 10, pp. 110–11, 1954
  37. ↑ Mohammed Ali Mustafa, Sumer, vol. 11, pp. 4, 1955
  38. ↑ Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: A preliminary report, Sumer, vol. 23, pp. 76–79, 1967
  39. ↑ Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: The 1967-68 Campaign, Sumer, vol 24, pp. 45–51, 1968
  40. ↑ Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: The 1968-69 Campaign, Sumer, vol. 25, pp. 43–49, 1969
  41. ↑ Shelby White - Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications - Nineveh Publication Grant
  42. ↑ "Officials: ISIS blows up Jonah's tomb in Iraq". CNN.com. 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  43. ↑ "Here Are the Ancient Sites ISIS Has Damaged and Destroyed". National Geographic. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  44. ↑ Diana Pickworth, Excavations at Nineveh: The Halzi Gate, Iraq, vol. 67, no. 1, Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part Two, pp. 295-316, 2005
  45. ↑ "Cultural Assessment of Iraq: The State of Sites and Museums in Northern Iraq – Nineveh". National Geographic News. May 2003.
  46. ↑ Borger, Julian. "Mosul dam engineers warn it could fail at any time, killing 1m people". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  47. ↑ Globalheritagefund.org
  48. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-isis-militants-pledge-to-destroy-remaining-archaeological-treasures-in-nimrud-10076133.html
  49. ↑ http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/26/isil-seen-in-new-video-destroying-7th-century-artifacts.html
  50. ↑ article about the Roagation of the Ninevites

References

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