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NINEVEH

(Heb. nînĕwēh; Akk. Ninu[w]a)

A site on the outskirts of modern Mosul, at the confluence of the Tigris and Khosr rivers. Nineveh is best known as one of the capitals of the Assyrian Empire, but it was also the longest-lived settlement in the region, having been founded by the 7th millennium b.c. Its prominence was due to the abundance of agricultural land round it, as well as its location at the intersection of two routes: one following the Tigris to the north and south, and one crossing the Tigris and the Assyrian plains to the east and west.

Nineveh was one of the first Mesopotamian sites to be visited and excavated, having to date been excavated by 13 different French, British, Iraqi, and American projects. The site consists of two large mounds — Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus — separated from one another by the course of the Khosr River, and surrounded by a lower settlement of as much as 750 ha. (1850 a.). Early settlement was concentrated on the Kuyunjik mound, which in time grew to a height of 30 m. (98 ft.) and an area of 40 ha. (100 a.). A Muslim shrine to the prophet Yunus (Jonah) has prevented much excavation on Nebi Yunus.

Nineveh is said to have been founded by King Nimrod, grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:11). Actually, we have very little evidence about early occupation at Nineveh. Occupation up to the 3rd millennium was excavated in a deep sounding; apart from a mudbrick building with vaulted rooms dating to the late Uruk period, few architectural remains were recovered. The long-lived temple of Ishtar, the city goddess, may have been founded in the early 3rd millennium, the eponymous Ninevite V period. During the Akkadian period a fortification wall was built around Kuyunjik, and the Ishtar temple was renovated by rulers of the Akkadian dynasty; the famous copper head of an Akkadian ruler was found in Neo-Assyrian layers of the Ishtar temple. In the Ur III period a ruler of Nineveh named Tish-atal was in contact with, but independent of, the kings of Ur. No excavated material and virtually no textual references to Nineveh survive for the first half of the 2nd millennium. During the second half of the 2nd millennium, Nineveh was ruled by the Mitanni state and then by the rising state at Assur. Nineveh expanded greatly during the earlier part of the 1st millennium. Rulers built royal residences on Kuyunjik, and settlement expanded to the north of Kuyunjik in the recently identified “Old Town Mound.” Nineveh became the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the reign of Sennacherib (704-681). Sennacherib built his palace on Kuyunjik and called it the “Palace Without a Rival.” It contained more than 3 km. (1.9 mi.) of carved stone reliefs, including the famous scenes of Sennacherib’s siege of Lachish. Sennacherib also constructed gardens and orchards, in addition to waterworks 80 km. (50 mi.) long to bring water from the mountains. It has recently been suggested that these waterworks and gardens together constituted the famed Hanging Gardens of antiquity. Among Sennacherib’s other constructions were a royal road from the palace to the Nergal Gate at the northern end of the city; an arsenal on the Nebi Yunus mound; and a double fortification wall around the city, which had grown to its largest size of 750 ha. (1850 a.). Sennacherib’s murder by his sons in the temple at Nineveh is reported in 2 Kgs. 19:36-37 = Isa. 37:37-38.

Sennacherib’s grandson Assurbanipal (668-627) also built a palace on Kuyunjik. It is known for, among other things, a series of reliefs depicting the royal lion hunt. The palace also contained a large library of cuneiform texts that included literary accounts of the Flood.

The end of the Assyrian Empire was marked by the sack of Nineveh in 612 by Babylonians and Medes; remains of the slaughter have been excavated in the Hatzi Gate on the southeast of the city wall. The site was not completely abandoned after that event as has previously been assumed, but continued to be occupied through the Hellenistic and Parthian periods. In recent times, the inhabitants of Mosul have begun to live within the perimeter of Sennacherib’s wall, particularly in the area between Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus.

Most biblical references to Nineveh relate to its role as capital of the Assyrian Empire and to predictions of its fall (Jonah; Nahum; Zeph. 2:13). The lack of detail in these accounts suggests, however, that the authors did not have first-hand knowledge of the city.

Bibliography. S. Dalley, “Nineveh, Babylon and the Hanging Gardens: Cuneiform and Classical Sources Reconciled,” Iraq 56 (1994): 45-58; D. Stronach, “Village to Metropolis: Nineveh and the Beginnings of Urbanism in Northern Mesopotamia,” in Nuove fondazioni nel vicino oriente antioco, ed. S. Mazzoni (Pisa, 1994), 85-114.

Geoff Emberling

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NINEVEH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)