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147-534: It was the largest city in the world for approximately fifty years until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples including the Babylonians , Medes , and Scythians . The city was never again a political or administrative centre, but by Late Antiquity it was the seat of a Christian bishop. It declined relative to Mosul during

294-569: A Babylonian clay tablet discovered in the 19th century named the Fall of Nineveh Chronicle , there was a bitter 12-year struggle between Babylon and Assyria , as well as civil wars in Assyria itself. They describe that in the tenth year of Nabopolassar (616 BC) the Babylonians defeated the Assyrian army and marched up the river, sacking Mane , Sahiri and Baliḫu . The conflict was renewed

441-744: A Turkish name (Layard used the form kouyunjik , diminutive of koyun "sheep" in Turkish); known as Armousheeah by the Arabs, it is thought to have some connection with the Qara Qoyunlu dynasty. These toponyms refer to the areas to the North and South of the Khosr stream, respectively: Kuyunjiq is the name for the whole northern sector enclosed by the city walls and is dominated by the large (35 ha) mound of Tell Kuyunjiq, while Nabī (or more commonly Nebi) Yunus

588-624: A brother"; Biblical Hebrew : אֵסַר־חַדֹּן ‎ ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn ) was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 BC to 669 BC. The third king of the Sargonid dynasty , Esarhaddon is most famous for his conquest of Egypt in 671 BC, which made his empire the largest the world had ever seen, and for his reconstruction of Babylon , which had been destroyed by his father. After Sennacherib's eldest son and heir Aššur-nādin-šumi had been captured and presumably executed in 694,

735-425: 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. The Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I reclaimed it in 1365 BC while overthrowing

882-585: A few Assyrian sources discuss, ended in what some scholars have assumed was possibly one of Assyria's worst defeats. The Egyptians had for years sponsored rebels and dissenters in Assyria and Esarhaddon had hoped to storm Egypt and take this rival out in one fell swoop. Because Esarhaddon had marched his army at great speed, the Assyrians were exhausted once they arrived outside the Egyptian-controlled city of Ashkelon , where they were defeated by

1029-605: A few kilometers to the northeast. Nineveh was a typical farming village in the Halaf Period . In 5000 BC, Nineveh transitioned from a Halaf village to an Ubaid village. During the Late Chalcolithic period Nineveh was part one of the few Ubaid villages in Upper Mesopotamia which became a proto-city. Others include Ugarit , Brak, Hamoukar, Arbela , Alep , and regionally Susa, Eridu, Nippur. During

1176-596: A gathering of my brothers he asked Shamash, "is this my heir?" and the gods answered, "he is your second self". And then my brothers went mad. They drew their swords, godlessly, in the middle of Nineveh. But Ashur, Shamash, Bel, Nabu, Ishtar , all the gods looked with wrath on the deeds of these scoundrels, brought their strength to weakness and humbled them beneath me. Arda-Mulissu was forced to swear loyalty to Esarhaddon by his father, but repeatedly appealed to Sennacherib to again accept him as heir instead. These appeals were not successful, and Sennacherib came to realize that

1323-420: A more equal standing. The two crown princes soon became heavily involved with Assyrian politics, which lifted some of the burden from the shoulders of their sickly father. Esarhaddon's mother Naqiʾa ensured that any potential enemies and claimants took an oath to support Ashurbanipal's rise to the Assyrian throne, another step to avoid the bloodshed which had begun Esarhaddon's own reign. In order to ensure

1470-457: A permanent skin rash which covered most of his body, including his face. The physicians, likely the best in Assyria, were perplexed and eventually had to confess that they were powerless to aid him. This is clearly expressed in their letters, such as the following: My lord, the king, keeps telling me: "Why do you not identify the nature of my disease and find a cure?" As I told the king already in person, his symptoms cannot be classified. Because

1617-677: A similar trajectory out of the neolithic. Caves in the Zagros Mountains adjacent to the north side of the Nineveh Plains were used as PPNA settlements, most famously Shanidar Cave . Nineveh itself was founded as early as 6000 BC during the late Neolithic period. Deep sounding at Nineveh uncovered soil layers that have been dated to early in the era of the Hassuna archaeological culture . The development and culture of Nineveh paralleled Tepe Gawra and Tell Arpachiyah

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1764-726: A six-week long civil war. His brothers' attempted coup had been unexpected and troublesome for Esarhaddon and he would be plagued by paranoia and mistrust for his officials, governors and male family members until the end of his reign. As a result of this paranoia, most of the palaces used by Esarhaddon were high-security fortifications located outside of the major population centers of the cities. Also perhaps resulting from his mistrust for his male relatives, Esarhaddon's female relatives, such as his mother Naqiʾa and his daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat , were allowed to wield considerably more influence and political power during his reign than women had been allowed in any previous period of Assyrian history, with

1911-412: A substantial amount of work had been completed. It is likely that Esarhaddon fulfilled most of his restoration goals, including the near complete restoration of Esagila and Etemenanki , with the possible exception of the city walls, which were likely fully restored by his successor. Esarhaddon also sponsored restoration programs in other southern cities. In his first regnal year, Esarhaddon returned

2058-449: A substitute (preferably one with mental deficiencies) took the king's place by sleeping in the royal bed, wearing the crown and the royal garbs and eating the king's food. During these hundred days, the actual king remained hidden and was known only under the alias "the farmer". The goal of the ritual was that any evil intended for the king would instead be focused on the substitute king, who was killed regardless of if anything had happened at

2205-408: A succession crisis. This time, Esarhaddon appointed two crown princes; his eldest living son Shamash-shum-ukin was selected as the heir to Babylon whilst a younger son, Ashurbanipal , was selected as the heir to Assyria. The two princes arrived at the capital of Nineveh together and partook in a celebration with foreign representatives and Assyrian nobles and soldiers. Promoting one of his sons as

2352-605: A victorious Neo-Babylonian from the reign of Nabopolassar (The primary chronicle is numbered 21901, which was translated by C. J. Gadd in 1923, and can be found in the British Museum ), by the Babylonian tradition set down by Herodotus much later, by a Hebrew tradition attributed to Nahum , and by references in Egyptian chronicles, all of which were hostile to Assyria. There are also legends that have grown up in

2499-478: Is "the great city". The ruins of Kuyunjiq, Nimrud , Karamlesh and Khorsabad form the four corners of an irregular quadrilateral. The ruins of the "great city" 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 description of Nineveh in Jonah likely was a reference to greater Nineveh, including

2646-579: Is also contemporary with the Proto-Elamite period in Susa. At this time, Nineveh was still an autonomous city-state . It was incorporated into the Akkadian Empire . The early city (and subsequent buildings) was 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 rebuilt in 2260 BC by

2793-465: Is evidence of repairs at the temple of Nabu after 612 and for the continued use of Sennacherib's palace. There is evidence of syncretic Hellenistic cults. A statue of Hermes has been found and a Greek inscription attached to a shrine of the Sebitti . A statue of Herakles Epitrapezios dated to the 2nd century AD has also been found. The library of Ashurbanipal may still have been in use until around

2940-418: Is located below the destroyed Mosque of the prophet Jonah on Tell Nebi Yunus. Archaeological excavations are conducted since 2019. Subsequently, an extensive research project, currently under the direction of Stefan M. Maul , University of Heidelberg, developed, focusing also on other areas of Nineveh. At Tell Kuyunjiq, activities started in 2021 with rescue and restoration measures for the destroyed reliefs in

3087-949: Is not clear whether Nineveh came under the rule of the Medes or the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 612. The Babylonian Chronicle Concerning the Fall of Nineveh records that Nineveh was "turned into mounds and heaps", but this is literary hyperbole. The complete destruction of Nineveh has traditionally been seen as confirmed by the Hebrew Book of Ezekiel and the Greek Retreat of the Ten Thousand of Xenophon (d. 354 BC). There are no later cuneiform tablets in Akkadian from Nineveh. Although devastated in 612,

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3234-509: Is now one immense area of ruins overlaid by c. one third by the Nebi Yunus suburbs of the city of eastern Mosul. The site of ancient Nineveh is bisected by the Khosr river. North of the Khosr, the site is called Kuyunjiq, including the acropolis of Tell Kuyunjiq; the illegal village of Rahmaniye lay in eastern Kuyunjiq. South of the Khosr, the urbanized area is called Nebi Yunus (also Ghazliya, Jezayr, Jammasa), including Tell Nebi Yunus where

3381-413: Is something that cannot be done. Notes and letters preserved from those at the royal court, including Esarhaddon's physicians, describe his condition in some detail, discussing violent vomiting, constant fever, nosebleeds, dizziness, painful earaches, diarrhea and depression. The king often feared that his death was near, and his condition would have been apparent to anyone who saw him as he was affected by

3528-541: Is the southern sector around of the mosque of Prophet Yunus/Jonah, which is located on Tell Nebi Yunus. The remains of ancient Nineveh, the areas of Kuyunjiq and Nabī Yūnus with their mounds, are located on a level part of the plain at the junction of the Tigris and the Khosr Rivers within an area of 750 hectares (1,900 acres) circumscribed by a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) fortification wall. This whole extensive space

3675-704: The Akkadian king Manishtushu . In the final phase of the Early Bronze, Mesopotamia was dominated by the Ur III empire. After the fall of Ur in 2000 BC, with the transition into the Middle Bronze, Nineveh was absorbed into the rising power of Assyria . The historic Nineveh is mentioned in the Old Assyrian Empire during the reign of Shamshi-Adad I (1809-1775) in about 1800 BC as

3822-734: The Arabian Peninsula , Anatolia , the Caucasus , and the Levant , defeated the Kushite Empire and conquered Egypt and Libya , enforced a vassal treaty upon the Medes and Persians and ensured a peaceful transition of power to his two sons and heirs Ashurbanipal as ruler of the empire and Šamaš-šuma-ukin as king of Babylonia after his death. Although Esarhaddon had been the crown prince of Assyria for three years and

3969-521: The Assyrian heartland as well, although they were not as civically oriented as those in Babylonia. In Assyria, Esarhaddon constructed and restored temples but also worked on palaces and military fortifications. Possibly in order to reassure the Assyrian people that his projects in the south would be matched with projects of equal proportion in the north, Esarhaddon ensured that repairs were made to

4116-631: The Cimmerians invaded the westernmost provinces of the empire and by 676 they had penetrated further into Esarhaddon's empire, destroying temples and cities on the way. To stop this invasion, Esarhaddon personally led his soldiers in battle in Cilicia and successfully repelled the Cimmerians. In his inscriptions, Esarhaddon claims to personally have killed the Cimmerian king Teušpa . While

4263-645: 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, and the last capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire . Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. Texts from the Hellenistic period later offered an eponymous Ninus as the founder of Νίνου πόλις (Ninopolis), although there is no historical basis for this. Book of Genesis 10:11 says that Nimrod or Ashur , depending on

4410-609: 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. Sir Walter Raleigh 's notion that Nimrod built Nineveh has been disputed by eighteenth century scholar Samuel Shuckford . The discovery of

4557-522: The Kushite Pharaoh Taharqa . Following this defeat, Esarhaddon abandoned his plan to conquer Egypt for the moment and withdrew back to Nineveh . By the time of Esarhaddon's first failed invasion of Egypt in 673 BC, it had become apparent that the king's health was deteriorating. This presented a problem since one of the chief requirements of being the Assyrian king was that one had perfect mental and physical health. The king

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4704-490: The Metropolitan Museum . 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 Hormuzd Rassam (an Assyrian ), George Smith and others, and a vast treasury of specimens of Assyria was incrementally exhumed for European museums. Palace after palace

4851-554: The Middle Ages and was mostly abandoned by the 13th century AD. Its ruins lie across the river from the historical city center of Mosul. The two main tells , or mound-ruins, within the walls are Tell Kuyunjiq and Tell Nabī Yūnus , site of a shrine to Jonah . According to the Hebrew Bible and the Quran , Jonah was a prophet who preached to Nineveh. Large numbers of Assyrian sculptures and other artifacts have been excavated from

4998-420: The Neo-Assyrian Empire , particularly from the time of Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BC) onward, there was considerable architectural expansion. Successive monarchs such as Tiglath-pileser III , Sargon II , Sennacherib , Esarhaddon , and Ashurbanipal maintained and founded new palaces, as well as temples to Sîn , Ashur , Nergal , Shamash , Ninurta , Ishtar , Tammuz , Nisroch and Nabu . It

5145-635: The Uruk Expansion because of its location as the highest navigable point on the Tigris. It was contemporary and had a similar function to Habuba Kabira on the Euphrates. By 3000 BC, the Kish civilization had expanded into Nineveh. At this time, the main temple of Nineveh becomes known as Ishtar temple, re-dedicated to the Semite goddess Ishtar , in the form of Ishtar of Nineveh. Ishtar of Nineveh

5292-463: The fall of Nineveh is conventionally dated between 613 and 611 BC, with 612 BC being the most supported date. Rebelling against the Assyrians , an allied army which combined the forces of Medes and the Babylonians besieged Nineveh and sacked 750 hectares of what was, at that time, one of the greatest cities in the world. The fall of Nineveh led to the destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as

5439-403: The Assyrian throne with great difficulty, Esarhaddon took several steps in order to ensure that the transition of power following his own death would be a smooth and peaceful one. A treaty concluded between Esarhaddon and his vassal Ramataia , the ruler of a Median kingdom in the east called Urakazabarna in c.   672 BC makes it clear that all of Esarhaddon's sons were still minors at

5586-446: The Assyrian throne. Some inscriptions suggest that they were alive and free as late as 673. In the early months of 671 BC, Esarhaddon again marched against Egypt . The army assembled for this second Egytian campaign was considerably larger than the one Esarhaddon had used in 673 and he marched at a much slower speed in order to avoid the problems that had plagued his previous attempt. On his way he passed through Harran , one of

5733-454: The Assyrians saw illness as divine punishment, a king who was ill would have been seen as an indication that the gods were not supportive of him. Because of this, Esarhaddon's poor health had to be hidden from his subjects at all costs. That his subjects remained unaware was ensured through the ancient royal Assyrian tradition that anyone who approached the king had to be both on their knees and veiled. Seeing as he himself had only acquired

5880-543: The Cimmerian invasion was underway, one of Esarhaddon's vassals in the Levant , the Phoenician city-state of Sidon , rebelled against his rule. Sidon had only recently been conquered by Assyria, having been made a vassal by Esarhaddon's father in 701. Esarhaddon marched his army down along the Mediterranean coast and captured the rebellious city in 677 but its king, Abdi-Milkutti , escaped by boat. He

6027-474: The Egyptians, he performed the substitute king ritual , an ancient Assyrian method intended to protect and shield the king from imminent danger announced by some sort of omen. Esarhaddon had performed the ritual earlier in his reign, but this time it left him unable to command his invasion of Egypt. The "substitute king" ritual involved the Assyrian monarch going into hiding for a hundred days, during which

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6174-634: The Elamites and some Chaldean rebels which had fled there. In response to this attack, the Elamites invaded from another route Babylonia in the south of Sennacherib's empire and in 694 successfully captured Ashur-nadin-shumi at the city of Sippar . The prince was taken back to Elam and probably executed, causing Sennacherib to wreak savage revenge on the Elamites, Chaldeans and Babylonians. After Aššur-nādin-šumi's presumed death, Sennacherib elevated his second eldest surviving son, Arda-Mulissu , as crown prince. After several years as crown prince, Arda-Mulissu

6321-523: The Great restored the temple of Ishtar at Nineveh and probably encouraged resettlement. A number of cuneiform Elamite tablets have been found at Nineveh. They probably date from the time of the revival of Elam in the century following the collapse of Assyria. The Hebrew Book of Jonah , which Stephanie Dalley asserts was written in the 4th century BC, is an account of the city's repentance and God's mercy which prevented destruction. Archaeologically, there

6468-768: The Mitanni Empire and creating the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC). There is a large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built 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). During

6615-638: The Tigris, possibly originally of Hurrian origin. The word נון/נונא in Old Babylonian refers to the Anthiinae genus of fish, further indicating the possibility of an association between the name Nineveh and fish. In the Quran , Jonah is referred to as Dhu'n-Nun "owner of the fish", though this may be related to the story of him being swallowed by a "large fish". Nabī Yūnus is the Arabic for "Prophet Jonah ". Kuyunjiq was, according to Layard ,

6762-550: The aid of the Babylonians themselves. This precipitated the Neo-Babylonian Empire , whose goal was to overthrow the Neo-Assyrian Empire, seize the capital Nineveh , and transfer the seat of Mesopotamian power to Babylon . Nineveh was not only a political capital, but home to one of the great libraries of Akkadian tablets and a recipient of tribute from across the near east, making it a valuable location to sack. The Assyrian chronicles end abruptly in 639 BC after

6909-609: The archaeological period known as Ninevite 5 , or Ninevite V (2900–2600 BC). This period is defined primarily by the characteristic pottery that is found widely throughout Upper Mesopotamia. Also, for the Upper 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. Ninevite 5

7056-693: The battle of Nineveh was a turning point in the war, Ashur-uballit II would fight on for several more years. His ultimate fate is not known or recorded — he may have been killed at the fall of Harran in 609 BC (which ended the Assyrian Empire) or at Carchemish in 605 BC (where Egypt and remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire were defeated); or he may have simply disappeared into obscurity. Esarhaddon Esarhaddon , also spelled Essarhaddon , Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon ( Neo-Assyrian Akkadian : 𒀭𒊹𒉽𒀸 , also 𒀭𒊹𒉽𒋧𒈾 Aššur-aḫa-iddina , meaning " Ashur has given me

7203-795: The beasts in the city. Nineveh's repentance and salvation from evil can be found in the Hebrew Tanakh , also known as the Old Testament , and referred to in the Christian New Testament and Muslim Quran . To this day, Syriac and Oriental Orthodox churches commemorate the three days Jonah spent inside the fish during the Fast of Nineveh . Some Christians observe this holiday fast by refraining from food and drink, with churches encouraging followers to refrain from dairy products, fish and other meats. The location of Nineveh

7350-567: The centuries afterwards, among peoples who descend from one of the involved nationalities, including the still Mesopotamian Eastern Aramaic speaking and Christian Assyrians of northern Iraq , southeast Turkey , northwest Iran and northeast Syria . One of the recountings of the actual battle is taken from the excerpts of Persica , written by Ctesias , preserved in Diodorus Siculus and Photius , whose account may have been mixed with accounts of other battles. According to

7497-489: The chiefs of the Chaldeans bless the king, saying, "(It is he) who resettled (the people) of Babylon". The rebuilding of the city was not completed during Esarhaddon's lifetime and much work was also done during the reign of his successors. Exactly how much of the reconstruction was done during the reign of Esarhaddon is uncertain, but stones with his inscriptions are found in the ruins of the city's temples, suggesting that

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7644-556: The cities of Der , Humhumia and Sippar-aruru . In the years to follow, statues were also returned to the cities of Larsa and Uruk . As he had in Babylon, Esarhaddon also cleared away debris in Uruk and repaired the city's Eanna temple, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar . Similar small-scale restoration projects were undertaken in the cities of Nippur , Borsippa and Akkad . Because of Esarhaddon's extensive building projects in

7791-473: The city of Assur , with the Babylonian text recounting how in 614 BC their Median ally destroyed Assur's temples and sacked the city, but their army did not reach the city until after the plundering had been done. In 612 BC, the Babylonians mustered their army again and joined with Median king Cyaxares encamping against Nineveh. They laid siege to the city for three months and, in August, finally broke through

7938-517: The city of Sippar . The Assyrian army had been away at the time, campaigning in Anatolia , and was forced to abandon this campaign in order to defend the southern provinces. Little is recorded of this conflict and as the fall of Sippar was an embarrassment it is not mentioned by Esarhaddon in any of his inscriptions. Shortly after seizing Sippar, the Elamite king Khumban-khaltash II died, which left

8085-579: The city was not completely abandoned. Yet, to the Greek historians Ctesias and Herodotus (c. 400 BC), Nineveh was a thing of the past; and when Xenophon passed the place in the 4th century BC he described it as abandoned. The earliest piece of written evidence for the persistence of Nineveh as a settlement is possibly the Cyrus Cylinder of 539/538 BC, but the reading of this is disputed. If correctly read as Nineveh, it indicates that Cyrus

8232-630: The city's destruction, he only refers to himself as a king "ordained by the gods" in his inscriptions in Babylon, only mentioning Sennacherib in his inscriptions in the north and blaming the city's destruction not on his father but on Babylon "offending its gods". Writing of his reconstruction of Babylon, Esarhaddon states the following: Great king, mighty monarch, lord of all, king of the land of Assur, ruler of Babylon, faithful shepherd, beloved of Marduk, lord of lords, dutiful leader, loved by Marduk's Consort Zurpanitum, humble, obedient, full of praise for their strength and awestruck from his earliest days in

8379-534: The city. While his account is often suspect, this aspect has been given attention. The allied armies entered the area of the outer wall and fought to enter the palace. Temples were looted and the palace was burned, though this did not destroy the city, and may have aided the preservation of clay texts. There would be several more campaigns against Assyria by the Neo-Babylonians and their allies, including one against an allied Egyptian-Assyrian army. Thus, while

8526-415: The death of Ashurbanipal, a series of bitter and bloody wars of succession occurred, weakening the empire – from 625 BC onward, the empire's domination over the Middle East , Asia Minor , Caucasus and East Mediterranean gradually began to fade. An alliance was formed between external states, such as the Chaldeans, who took advantage of the upheavals in Assyria to take control of much of Babylonia with

8673-478: The death of its last great king Ashurbanipal , the Neo-Assyrian Empire began to unravel through 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 Chaldean , Babylonians , Medes and Scythians . 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

8820-418: The defenses and began plundering and burning the city. The major factor in the city’s downfall was the Medes. The Assyrian King Sin-shar-ishkun was killed in the siege. His brother Ashur-uballit II was made King of Assyria. He refused to submit, however, and successfully fought his way out of Nineveh, founding a final capital at Harran . According to tradition laid out in Diodorus, the Tigris river flooded

8967-446: The designated heir of King Sennacherib , with the entire empire having taken oaths to support him, it was only with great difficulty that he successfully ascended the Assyrian throne. Sennacherib's first choice as successor had been his eldest son, Aššur-nādin-šumi , who he had appointed as the ruler of Babylon in about 700 BC. Shortly thereafter, Sennacherib attacked the land of Elam (modern day southern Iran ) in order to defeat

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9114-419: The destruction of Susa , the capital of Elam , and the subjugation of a rebellious Babylon ruled by Ashurbanipal's own brother Shamash-shum-ukin . Business records are missing after 631 BC. The Medes were ruled by King Cyaxares . Although initially defeated by the Assyrians, he rebuilt his army and attacked Nineveh in conjunction with other warring factions. The primary sources are written afterwards, by

9261-414: The dominant state in the Ancient Near East over the following three years. Archeological records show that the capital of the once mighty Assyrian Empire was extensively de-urbanized and depopulated in the decades and centuries following the battle. A garbled account of the fall of the city later led to the story of the legendary king Sardanapalus . Babylon became the imperial center of Mesopotamia for

9408-436: The doors of the temple and the pedestal that was to house the statue of Bel was constructed in gold. A report from the governor Esarhaddon installed in Babylon confirms that the reconstruction was very well received by the Babylonians: I have entered Babylon. The Babylonians have received me kindly, and daily they bless the king, saying, "what was taken and plundered from Babylon, he has returned" and from Sippar to Bab-marrat

9555-405: The end of the hundred days, keeping the real monarch safe. Whatever omen Esarhaddon was fearing, he survived 671 and would perform the ritual twice during the two years that followed, which left him unable to fulfill his duties as the Assyrian king for a total of almost a year. During this time, most of the civil administration of his empire was overseen by his crown princes and the army in Egypt

9702-542: The enemy generals fled. He then marched on Nineveh without opposition. Six weeks after his father's death he was accepted and recognized as the new Assyrian king at Nineveh. Shortly after taking the throne, Esarhaddon made sure to execute all conspirators and political enemies he could get his hands on, including the families of his brothers. All servants involved with the security of the royal palace at Nineveh were "dismissed" (i.e. executed). Arda-Mulissu and Nabû-šarru-uṣur survived this purge as they had escaped as exiles to

9849-479: The fact that Esarhaddon's grandfather Sargon II had acquired the Assyrian throne through usurpation and may not have been related to any earlier Assyrian king. It is possible that descendants of earlier kings may still have been alive and in a position to press their claims on the Assyrian throne. In order to avoid a civil war upon his death, Esarhaddon appointed his eldest son Sin-nadin-apli as crown prince in 674, but he died just two years later, again threatening

9996-435: 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 as an "exceedingly great city of three days' journey in breadth", whose population at that time is given as "more than 120,000". Genesis 10:11–12 lists four cities "Nineveh, Rehoboth , Calah , and Resen ", ambiguously stating that either Resen or Calah

10143-420: The fifteen Jubilees texts found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls has since shown that, according to the Jewish sects of Qumran, Genesis 10:11 affirms the apportionment of Nineveh to Ashur. The attribution of Nineveh to Ashur is also supported by the Greek Septuagint , King James Bible , Geneva Bible , and by Roman historian Flavius Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews (Antiquities, i, vi, 4). Nineveh

10290-413: The final carving was done. Most of the statues weigh between 9,000 and 27,000 kilograms (19,842 and 59,525 lb). The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib's men parading the spoils of war before him. The inscriptions boasted of his conquests: he wrote of Babylon : "Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled

10437-421: The fires had instead spread into Ubumu. The political refugees were captured and executed. Some criminals from Urartu, who the Shuprian king had similarly refused to give up to the king of Urartu, were seized and sent to Urartu, perhaps in order to improve relations. Ubumu was repaired, renamed and annexed, with two eunuchs being appointed as its governors. In 675, the Elamites invaded Babylonia and captured

10584-478: The first time in over a thousand years, leading to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, claiming imperial continuity as a new dynasty. The Neo-Assyrian Empire emerged in the 10th century BC and peaked in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, succeeding the Middle Assyrian Empire (1366–1074 BC) as the largest empire the world had yet seen. By the reign of Ashurbanipal , it controlled or held in vassalage most of

10731-468: The garden which Sennacherib built next to his palace, with its associated irrigation works, were the original Hanging Gardens of Babylon ; Dalley's argument is based on a disputation of the traditional placement of the Hanging Gardens attributed to Berossus together with a combination of literary and archaeological evidence. The greatness of Nineveh was short-lived. In around 627 BC, after

10878-505: The gods they alienated my father's well-disposed heart from me, though in secret his heart was affected with compassion, and he still intended me to exercise kingship. Though Sennacherib had foreseen the danger of keeping Esarhaddon near his ambitious brothers, he had not foreseen the dangers to his own life. On 20 October 681, Arda-Mulissu and another of Sennacherib's sons, Nabû-šarru-uṣur, attacked and killed their father in one of Nineveh 's temples. However, Arda-Mulissu's dreams of claiming

11025-501: The guidance of the sun-god Shamash (which was obtained through interpreting what was perceived as signs from the gods) for advice in political and military matters, such as whom to appoint to a certain position or if a planned military campaign would be successful. Queries concerning the possibility of betrayal are known only from Esarhaddon's reign. Most scholars have classified Esarhaddon as paranoid, some going as far as suggesting that he developed paranoid personality disorder after

11172-492: The heir to Assyria and another as the heir to Babylon was a new idea, for in the past decades the Assyrian king had simultaneously been the King of Babylon. The choice to name a younger son as crown prince of Assyria, which was clearly Esarhaddon's primary title, and an older son as crown prince of Babylon might be explained by the mothers of the two sons. While Ashurbanipal's mother was likely Assyrian in origin, Shamash-shum-ukin

11319-421: 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. 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 such as Stephanie Dalley at Oxford believe that

11466-399: The king's chief exorcist Adad-shumu-usur, the man who was chiefly responsible for Esarhaddon's well-being. One such letter reads: As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "I am feeling very sad; how did we act that I have become so depressed for this little one of mine?" Had it been curable you would have given away half your kingdom to have it cured! But what can we do? O king, my lord, it

11613-457: The large amount of debris left since Sennacherib's destruction of the city, resettlement of the many Babylonians who by this point were either enslaved or scattered across the empire, the reconstruction of most of the buildings, the restoration of the great temple complex dedicated to Bel , known as the Esagila , and the enormous ziggurat complex called Etemenanki as well as the restoration of

11760-687: The last man and I laid a heavy penalty upon them, I destroyed their seed. As a result of his tumultuous rise to the throne, Esarhaddon was distrustful of his servants, vassals and family members. He frequently sought the advice of oracles and priests on whether any of his relatives or officials wished to harm him. Although highly distrustful of his male relatives, Esarhaddon seems to not have been paranoid in regards to his female relatives. During his reign his wife Ešarra-ḫammat , his mother Naqiʾa and his daughter Šērūʾa-ēṭirat all wielded considerably more influence and political power than women during earlier parts of Assyrian history. Esarhaddon's paranoia

11907-468: The major cities in the western parts of his empire. Here, a prophecy was revealed to the king, which predicted that Esarhaddon's conquest of Egypt would be a successful one. According to a letter sent to Ashurbanipal after Esarhaddon's death, the prophecy was the following: When Esarhaddon marched to Egypt, a temple of cedar wood was erected at Harran. There, the god Sin was enthroned on a wooden column, two crowns on his head, and standing in front of him

12054-464: The midst of the sea [missing portion] Like a fish I caught him up out of the sea and cut off his head. His wife, his sons, the people of his palace, property and goods, precious stones, garments of colored wool and linen, maple and boxwood, all kinds of treasures of his palace, in great abundance, I carried off. His widespreading peoples – there was no numbering them, cattle, sheep and asses, in great number, I transported to Assyria. After dealing with

12201-589: The mosque of the Prophet Jonah and a palace of Esarhaddon / Ashurbanipal below it are located. South of the street Al-'Asady (made by Daesh destroying swaths of the city walls) the area is called Jounub Ninawah or Shara Pepsi. Nineveh was an important junction for commercial routes crossing the Tigris on the great roadway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean , thus uniting

12348-582: The mound of Tell 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

12495-460: The murder of his father. Other scholars have refrained from using this label, instead simply characterizing him as "mistrustful" and noting that paranoia is "by definition delusional and irrational" while Esarhaddon is likely to have had many real opponents and enemies. Esarhaddon wished to ensure the support of the inhabitants of Babylonia , the southern part of his empire. To this end, the king sponsored building and restoration projects throughout

12642-466: The name is unclear but may have referred to a patron goddess . The city was said to be devoted to "the goddess Inanna of Nineveh" and Nina was one of the Sumerian and Assyrian names for that goddess. The Assyrian cuneiform for Ninâ ( 𒀏 ) 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

12789-527: The nations and city-states from the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia , Georgia and Azerbaijan ) in the north to Egypt , Arabia and Nubia in the south, and central Iran / Persia in the east to Cyprus and the Hellenic and Phoenician Mediterranean coasts of Anatolia and the Levant in the west. However, after the death of King Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the once mighty empire

12936-442: The new Elamite king, Urtak , in a bad position. To repair relations with Assyria and avoid further conflict, Urtak abandoned the invasion and returned some statues of gods which the Elamites had stolen. The two monarchs entered into an alliance and exchanged children to be raised at each other's courts. Near the end of Esarhaddon's seventh year on the throne, in the winter of 673, the king invaded Egypt . This invasion, which only

13083-508: The new heir had originally been the second eldest son, Arda-Mulissu , but in 684, Esarhaddon, a younger son, was appointed instead. Angered by this decision, Arda-Mulissu and another brother, Nabû-šarru-uṣur , murdered their father in 681 and planned to seize the Neo-Assyrian throne. The murder, and Arda-Mulissu's aspirations of becoming king himself, made Esarhaddon's rise to the throne difficult and he first had to defeat his brothers in

13230-503: The new king. Two of the principal threats to Assyria were the Kingdom of Urartu under King Rusa II in the north, a sworn enemy of Assyria which still sheltered his brothers, and the Cimmerians , an iranic nomadic tribe which was harassing his western borders. Esarhaddon allied with the nomadic Scythians , famous for their cavalry, in order to dissuade the Cimmerians from attacking but it doesn't appear to have helped. In 679 BC,

13377-411: The next year, with the Assyrians mustering their army and driving the Babylonians back to Takritain . Nabopolassar stationed his army in the fortress of Takritain, and the two armies fought there the next year. The Assyrians were beaten and retreated to Assyria. The Babylonians then allied with the Medes and Scythians. The Median army took Tarbisu , near Nineveh, and encamped nearby; they then attacked

13524-413: The north and the complete lack of such projects in the south. Vassals who had hoped to use the unstable political climate in Assyria to free themselves, perhaps believing that the new king hadn't yet consolidated his position well enough to stop them, and foreign powers eager to expand their territory soon realized that (despite Esarhaddon's distrust) the governors and soldiers of Assyria fully supported

13671-514: The northern kingdom of Urartu a vassal state of the Assyrian Empire in Anatolia . The frequent mentions of Arda-Mulissu and Esarhaddon's other brothers in his inscriptions indicates that he was surprised and bothered by their actions. Esarhaddon's own inscription chronicling his entry into Nineveh and his purge of those in support of the conspiracy reads as follows:9 I entered into Nineveh, my royal city, joyfully, and took my seat upon

13818-444: The palace was strengthened with its gateways being modified into impregnable fortifications which could seal the entire building off completely from the city. If these entrances were sealed, the only way into the palace would be through a steep and narrow path protected by several strong doors. A similar palace, also located on a separate mound far from the city center, was built at Nineveh . All Assyrian kings are known to have sought

13965-703: 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 lamassu door figures weighing up to 30,000 kilograms (30 t); these were winged Mesopotamian lions or bulls , with human heads. 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

14112-403: The patron deity of the city, had been carried off deep into Assyrian territory. The restoration of the city, announced by Esarhaddon in 680, became one of his most important projects. Throughout Esarhaddon's reign, reports from the officials the king appointed to oversee the reconstruction speak of the great scope of the building project. The ambitious restoration of the city involved removing

14259-414: The period between 4500 and 4000 BC it grew to 40 hectares in size. The greater Nineveh area is notable in the diffusion of metal technology across the near east as the first location outside of Anatolia to smelt copper. Tell Arpachiyah has the oldest copper smelting remains, and Tepe Gawa has the oldest metal work. The copper came from the mines at Ergani . Nineveh became a trade colony of Uruk during

14406-501: The possible exception of Sammuramat in the 8th century BC. Despite a relatively short and difficult reign, and being plagued by paranoia, depression and constant illness, Esarhaddon remains recognized as one of the greatest and most successful Assyrian kings . He quickly defeated his brothers in 681, completed ambitious and large-scale building projects in both Assyria and Babylonia , successfully campaigned in Media , Persia , Elam ,

14553-448: The presence of their divine greatness [am I, Esarhaddon]. When in the reign of an earlier king there were ill omens, the city offended its gods and was destroyed at their command. It was me, Esarhaddon, whom they chose to restore everything to its rightful place, to calm their anger, to assuage their wrath. You, Marduk, entrusted the protection of the land of Assur to me. The Gods of Babylon meanwhile told me to rebuild their shrines and renew

14700-548: The problems in Sidon and Cilicia , Esarhaddon turned his attention to Urartu . At first, he struck at the Mannaeans , a people allied with Urartu, but by 673 he was openly at war with the kingdom of Urartu itself. As part of this war, Esarhaddon attacked and conquered the kingdom of Shupria , a vassal kingdom to Urartu whose capital Ubumu was located on the shores of Lake Van . The king's casus belli for this invasion

14847-519: The proper religious observances of their palace, Esagila. I called up all my workmen and conscripted all the people of Babylonia. I set them to work, digging up the ground and carrying the earth away in baskets. Esarhaddon successfully rebuilt the city gates, battlements, drains, courtyards, shrines and various other buildings and structures. Great care was taken during rebuilding of the Esagila , depositing precious stones, scented oils and perfumes into its foundations. Precious metals were chosen to cover

14994-467: The prophet Nahum is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic denunciations against Nineveh. Its ruin and utter desolation are foretold. Its end was strange, sudden, and tragic. According to the Bible, it was God's doing, his judgment on Assyria's pride. In fulfillment of prophecy, God made "an utter end of the place". It became a "desolation". The prophet Zephaniah also predicts its destruction along with

15141-546: 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." 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. While at Tell Kuyunjiq he had little success, the locals whom he employed in these excavations, to their great surprise, came upon

15288-427: The region and that he meant to rule Babylon with the same care and generosity as a native Babylonian king. The city of Babylon , which gave its name to Babylonia , had been the political center of southern Mesopotamia for more than a thousand years. In an effort to quell Babylonian aspirations of independence, the city had been razed by Esarhaddon's father in 689 BC, and the statue of Bel (also known as Marduk ),

15435-884: The ruins of Nineveh, and are now located in museums around the world. The English placename Nineveh comes from the Latin Nīnevē and the Koine Greek Nineuḗ ( Νινευή ) under influence of the Biblical Hebrew Nīnəweh ( נִינְוֶה ), from the Akkadian Ninua ( var. Ninâ ) or Ninuwā . The city was also known as Ninuwa in Mari ; Ninawa in Aramaic ; Ninwe (ܢܸܢܘܵܐ) in Syriac ; and Ninawa ( نینوا ) in Arabic . The original meaning of

15582-428: The ruins of a building at the 20 km far-away mound of Khorsabad , which, on further exploration, turned out to be the royal palace of Sargon II , in which large numbers of reliefs were found and recorded, though they had been damaged by fire and were mostly too fragile to remove. In 1847 the young British diplomat Austen Henry Layard explored the ruins. Layard did not use modern archaeological methods; his stated goal

15729-545: 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. After Mosul’s liberation from the control of the Islamic State (IS), Peter A. Miglus , University of Heidelberg, established a rescue project in 2018, exploring and documenting the intrusive IS tunnels in the Assyrian Military Palace that

15876-464: 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 taken part in King's expeditions. Some works were carried out outside Kuyunjiq, for instance on

16023-482: The site, presumably by a ramp . There are also 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) of stone Assyrian palace reliefs , 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,

16170-486: The site. The work was continued from 1967 through 1971 by Tariq Madhloom. Some additional excavation occurred by Manhal Jabur from the early 1970s to 1987. For the most part, these digs focused on Tell Nebi Yunus. The 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

16317-403: The situation was tense, so he sent Esarhaddon into exile in the western provinces for his own protection. Esarhaddon was unhappy with his exile and blamed his brothers for it, describing it with the following words: Malicious gossip, slander and falsehood they [i.e. Esarhaddon's brothers] wove around me in a godless way, lies and insincerity. They plotted evil behind my back. Against the will of

16464-458: The south and his efforts to link himself to the Babylonian royal tradition, some scholars have described him as the "Babylonian king of Assyria", but such a view might misrepresent the actual efforts of the king. Esarhaddon was king of both Assyria and Babylonia and his military and political base remained in the north, much like his predecessors. While his southern building projects were impressive, ambitious and unprecedented, he completed projects in

16611-489: The south to a far greater extent than any of his predecessors had. Babylonia had only become an inner part of the Assyrian Empire relatively recently, having been ruled by native kings as vassals of the Assyrians until its conquest and annexation by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in the previous century. Through his building program, Esarhaddon likely hoped to show the benefits of continuing Assyrian rule over

16758-467: The southern parts of his empire instead. Treaties drawn up by Esarhaddon are somewhat unclear as to the relationship he intended his two sons to have. It is clear that Ashurbanipal was the primary heir to the empire and that Shamash-shum-ukin was to swear him an oath of allegiance, but other parts also specify that Ashurbanipal was not to interfere in Shamash-shum-ukin's affairs which indicates

16905-574: The standards of the time, and thus had accumulated many hitherto impotent enemies. It had been weakened by a three-front struggle to maintain power in Egypt, wage a costly but victorious war against the Elamites , and put down rebellions among their southern Mesopotamian Babylonian kinsmen, even though the core of the empire had been largely at peace. The Assyrian monarchs wrote constantly of internal danger and fear of palace intrigue and rebellion. Upon

17052-406: The statues of various southern gods that had been captured in wars and held in Assyria. During the time since Sennacherib 's destruction of the city, the statue of Bel had, along with statues of several other traditional Babylonian deities, been kept at the town of Issete in the northeastern parts of Assyria. Although the statue of Bel remained in Assyria, statues of other gods were returned to

17199-892: The streets of the city." A full and characteristic set shows the campaign leading up to the siege of Lachish in 701; it is the "finest" from the reign of Sennacherib , and now in the British Museum. 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." At this time, Nineveh comprised about 7 square kilometres (1,730 acres) of land, and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals brought water from

17346-403: The succession of Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin, Esarhaddon himself also concluded succession treaties with at least six independent rulers in the east and with several of his own governors outside the Assyrian heartland in 672. Perhaps the main motivating factor to create these treaties was the possibility that his brothers, particularly Arda-Mulissu , were still alive and sought to claim

17493-558: The surrounding cities of Rehoboth, Calah and Resen 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") and mercy for

17640-461: The temple of Ešarra in Assur , one of the chief temples of northern Mesopotamia . Similar projects were conducted for temples in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh and in the city of Arbela . Though the temple-building projects conducted in the south were matched with temple-building projects in the north, Esarhaddon's prioritizing of Assyria over Babylonia is apparent from the various administrative and military building projects undertaken in

17787-449: The throne of my father in safety. The south wind blew, the breath of Ea , the wind whose blowing is favorable for exercising kingship. There awaited me favorable signs in heaven and on earth, a message of the soothsayers, tidings from the gods and goddesses. Continually [missing portion] and gave my heart courage. The soldiers, the rebels who had fomented the plot to seize the rulership of Assyria for my brothers, their ranks I examined to

17934-594: The throne room wing of the Southwest Palace. Excavations in the North Palace commenced in 2022. Since 2023, work is also conducted at the Nergal Gate, which had been bulldozed by IS. In the lower town, geophysical surveys were carried out north of Kuyunjiq in 2021 and 2023 in preparation of future research on residential areas. Battle of Nineveh (612 BC) The Battle of Nineveh , also called

18081-401: The throne would be crushed. The murder of Sennacherib had caused some friction between Arda-Mulissu and his supporters which delayed a potential coronation and in the meantime, Esarhaddon had raised an army. With this army at his back he met an army raised by his brothers at Hanigalbat , a region in the western parts of the empire, where most of the soldiers deserted his brothers to join him and

18228-700: The time of Alexander the Great . The city was actively resettled under the Seleucid Empire . There is evidence of more changes in Sennacherib's palace under the Parthian Empire . The Parthians also established a municipal mint at Nineveh coining in bronze. According to Tacitus , in AD 50 Meherdates , a claimant to the Parthian throne with Roman support, took Nineveh. By Late Antiquity , Nineveh

18375-608: The time, which was problematic. The same treaty also shows that Esarhaddon was worried that there might be several factions who might oppose his successor's rise to the throne after his death, listing potential opposing forces as his successor's brothers, uncles and cousins and even "descendants of former royalty" and "one of the chiefs or governors of Assyria". This indicates that at least some of Esarhaddon's brothers were still alive at this point and that they or their children could possibly represent threats to his own children. The mention of "descendants of former royalty" might allude to

18522-554: The translation, built Nineveh. The context of Nineveh was as one of many centers within the regional development of Upper Mesopotamia . This area is defined as the plains which can support rain-fed agriculture. It exists as a narrow band from the Syrian coast to the Zagros mountains . It is bordered by deserts to the south and mountains to the north. The cultural practices, technology, and economy in this region were shared and they followed

18669-449: The two inner walls of the city. The project was not only important because it illustrated goodwill towards the Babylonian people, but also because it allowed Esarhaddon to assume one of the essential characteristics the Babylonians invested in kingship. While the king of Assyria was generally supposed to be a military figure, the king of Babylon was ideally a builder and restorer, particularly of temples. Careful to not associate himself with

18816-516: Was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly influential city ( c.  700 BC ), as he laid out new streets and squares and built within it the South West Palace, or "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 had at least 80 rooms, many of which were lined with sculpture. A large number of cuneiform tablets were found in

18963-603: Was "to obtain the largest possible number of well preserved objects of art at the least possible outlay of time and money". In the Kuyunjiq 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 others were dispersed elsewhere as two large pieces which were given to Lady Charlotte Guest and eventually found their way to

19110-450: Was also reflected by where he chose to live. One of his main residences was a palace in the city of Nimrud originally constructed as an armory by his predecessor Shalmaneser III (r. 859–824 BC) almost two hundred years earlier. Rather than occupying a central and visible spot within the cultic and administrative center of the city, this palace was located in its outskirts on a separate mound which made it well-protected. Between 676 and 672,

19257-442: Was becoming increasingly volatile, with Assyria proper erupting into a series of internal civil wars. This led many of the subject states, many of which had their own political dynasties, to become restive, whereas neighboring states and groups, such as the Medes , Babylonians , and Chaldean became increasingly hostile under the Assyrian hegemony. The Assyrians had, by the accounts of their own records, been brutal rulers even by

19404-400: Was captured and executed a year later, the same year that Esarhaddon decisively defeated the Cimmerians. Another rebellious vassal king, Sanduarri of "Kundu and Sissu" (likely locations in Cilicia ), was also defeated and executed. In order to celebrate his victory, Esarhaddon had the heads of the two vassal kings hung around the necks of their nobles, who were paraded around Nineveh . Sidon

19551-668: Was conflated with Šauška from the Hurro-Urartian pantheon. This temple was called 'House of Exorcists' ( Cuneiform : 𒂷𒈦𒈦 GA 2 .MAŠ.MAŠ; Sumerian : e 2 mašmaš). The context of the etymology surrounding the name is the Exorcist called a Mashmash in Sumerian, was a freelance magician who operated independent of the official priesthood, and was in part a medical professional via the act of expelling demons. The regional influence of Nineveh became particularly pronounced during

19698-514: Was constantly suffering from some illness and would often spend days in his sleeping quarters without food, drink and human contact. The death of Esharra-hammat, his beloved wife, in February 672 BC is unlikely to have improved his condition. Surviving court documents overwhelmingly point to Esarhaddon often being sad. The deaths of his wife and their recently born infant child made Esarhaddon depressed. This can clearly be seen in letters written by

19845-442: 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. The mound of Kuyunjiq 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

19992-477: Was known, to some, continuously through the Middle Ages. Benjamin of Tudela visited it in 1170; Petachiah of Regensburg soon after. Carsten Niebuhr recorded its location during the 1761–1767 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

20139-688: Was not called Mosul until after the Arab conquests . It may have been called Hesnā ʿEbrāyē (Jews' Fort). In 627, the city was the site of the Battle of Nineveh between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sasanians. In 641, it was conquered by the Arabs , who built a mosque on the west bank and turned it into an administrative centre. Under the Umayyad dynasty , Mosul eclipsed Nineveh, which

20286-844: Was preceded by the Late Uruk period . Ninevite 5 pottery is roughly contemporary to the Early Transcaucasian culture ware, and the Jemdet Nasr period ware. Iraqi 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 Iraq. Later, it was also found in the nearby Hamrin Basin , and in Luristan . It

20433-427: Was razed. 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 themselves. It

20580-428: Was reduced to a Christian suburb with limited new construction. By the 13th century, Nineveh was mostly ruins and was subsequently absorbed into Mosul. A church was converted into a Muslim shrine to the prophet Jonah , which continued to attract pilgrims until its destruction by ISIL in 2014 . The modern city of Mosul is occasionally referred to as Nineveh, such as during the operation to retake Mosul in 2016-17. In

20727-477: Was reduced to an Assyrian province and two cities which had been under the Sidonian king's control were gifted to another vassal king, Baal of Tyre . Esarhaddon discusses his victory over Sidon in a contemporary inscription: Abdi-milkutti, king of Sidon, who did not fear my majesty, did not heed the word of my lips, who trusted in the fearful sea and cast off my yoke – Sidon, his garrison city, which lies in

20874-425: Was replaced as heir by Esarhaddon in 684. The reason for Arda-Mulissu's sudden dismissal from the prominent position is unknown, but it is clear that he was very disappointed. Esarhaddon described the reaction of his brothers to his appointment as heir in a later inscription: Of my older brothers, the younger brother was I. But by decree of [the gods] Ashur and Shamash , Bel and Nabu , my father exalted me, amid

21021-587: Was restricted to the east bank of the Tigris and the west bank was uninhabited. Under the Sasanian Empire , Nineveh was not an administrative centre. By the 2nd century AD there were Christians present and by 554 it was a bishopric of the Church of the East . King Khosrow II (591–628) built a fortress on the west bank, and two Christian monasteries were constructed around 570 and 595. This growing settlement

21168-462: Was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian Empire and was the home of King Sennacherib , King of Assyria, during the Biblical reign of King Hezekiah ( חִזְקִיָּהוּ ) 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 ). The book of

21315-446: Was the god Nuska . Esarhaddon entered and placed the crowns onto his head, and the following was proclaimed: 'You shall go forth and conquer the world!' And he went and conquered Egypt. Three months after having received this prophecy, Esarhaddon's forces were victorious in their first battle with the Egyptians. Despite the prophecy and initial success, Esarhaddon was not convinced of his own safety. Just eleven days after he had defeated

21462-471: Was the king of Shupria's refusal to hand over political refugees from Assyria (possibly some of the conspirators behind Sennacherib 's death) and though the Shuprian king had agreed to give up the refugees after a long series of letters, Esarhaddon considered it took him too long to relent. The Assyrians seized and plundered the city after the defenders had attempted to burn down the Assyrian siege weapons and

21609-512: Was the son of a woman from Babylon (though this is uncertain, Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin may have shared the same mother which would probably have had problematic consequences if Shamash-shum-ukin was to ascend to the Assyrian throne). Since Ashurbanipal was the next oldest son, he then was the superior candidate to the throne. Esarhaddon probably surmised that the Babylonians would be content with someone of Babylonian heritage as their king and as such set Shamash-shum-ukin to inherit Babylon and

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