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{{Short description|Ancient Assyrian city}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Ninevites|the South African criminal and resistance movement|Umkosi Wezintaba}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Nineveh
| native_name = {{lang|syc|ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ}}
| image = Nineveh - Mashki Gate.jpg
| caption = The reconstructed Mashki Gate of Nineveh ([[Destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State|since destroyed]] by the [[Islamic State]])
| map_type = Iraq#Near East
| relief = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|36|21|34|N|43|09|10|E|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Mosul]], [[Nineveh Governorate]], Iraq
| region = [[Mesopotamia]]
| type = Settlement
| area = {{convert|7.5|km2|abbr=on}}
| built =  {{circa}} 3000&nbsp;BC
| abandoned = 612&nbsp;BC
| epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" -->
| event = [[Battle of Nineveh (612&nbsp;BC)]]
| excavations = 1845-1852, 1873-1874, 1885-1891, 1904-1905, 1929-1932, 1951-1958, 1967-1971, 1987-1990, 2019-2023
| archaeologists = Austen Henry Layard, Hormuzd Rassam, Leonard William King, Reginald Campbell Thompson, Mohammed Ali Mustafa, David Stronach
}}
{{Contains special characters|cuneiform}}

'''Nineveh'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|ɪ|n|ᵻ|v|ə}} {{respell|NIN|iv|ə}}; {{langx|akk|𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀}}, ''<small><sup>URU</sup>NI.NU.A</small>, Ninua''; {{langx|he|label=[[Biblical Hebrew]]|נִינְוֵה}}, ''Nīnəwē''; {{langx|ar|نِينَوَىٰ}}, ''Nīnawā''; {{langx|syc|label=[[Syriac language|Syriac]]|ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ}}, ''Nīnwē''}} was an ancient Near Eastern city of [[Upper Mesopotamia]], located in the modern-day city of [[Mosul]] in northern [[Iraq]]. It is located on the eastern bank of the [[Tigris]] River and was the capital and largest city of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]. Today, it is a common name for the half of Mosul that lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and the country's [[Nineveh Governorate]] takes its name from it.

It was the [[List of largest cities throughout history|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 [[Battle of Nineveh (612&nbsp;BC)|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 an Assyrian Christian bishop of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. It declined relative to Mosul during the [[Middle Ages]] and was mostly abandoned by the 14th century AD after the massacres and dispersal of Assyrian Christians by [[Timur]].

Its ruins lie across the river from the historical city center of Mosul. The two main [[Tell (archaeology)|tells]], or mound-ruins, within the walls are Tell Kuyunjiq and [[Al-Nabi Yunus Mosque|Tell Nabī Yūnus]], site of a shrine to [[Jonah]]. According to the [[Hebrew Bible]] and the [[Jonah in Islam|Quran]], Jonah was a prophet who preached to Nineveh.<ref>{{citation|last=Kripke|first=Saul A.|date=1980|orig-year=1972|title=Naming and Necessity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vvAlOBfq0kC&q=Jonah+was+not+a+real+person&pg=PA67|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=0-674-59846-6|page=67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Jenson | first=Philip Peter | title=Obadiah, Jonah, Micah: A Theological Commentary | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | series=The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-567-44289-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLKoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 | access-date=2023-02-10 | page=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Chisholm | first=Robert B. Jr. | title=Handbook on the Prophets | publisher=Baker Publishing Group | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-58558-365-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LN1FEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT382 | access-date=2023-02-10 | page=unpaginated |quote=Despite the modern scholarly consensus that the book is fictional}}</ref> Large numbers of [[Assyrian sculpture]]s and other artifacts have been excavated from the ruins of Nineveh, and are now located in museums around the world.
{{anchor|Etymology}}

The location of Nineveh was known, to some, continuously through the Middle Ages. [[Benjamin of Tudela]] visited it in 1170; [[Petachiah of Regensburg]] soon after.<ref name="Liverani2013" >{{citation| author-link = Mario Liverani | last = Liverani | first = Mario | trans-title = Imagining Babylon: The Modern Story of an Ancient City| translator-first = Alisa | translator-last = Campbell| publisher = De Gruyter | year =2016 | isbn = 978-1-61451-602-6| title= Immaginare Babele| orig-year = 2013 }}</ref>

==Name==
[[File:Artist’s impression of Assyrian palaces from The Monuments of Nineveh by Sir Austen Henry Layard, 1853.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Artist's impression of Assyrian palaces from ''The Monuments of Nineveh'' by Sir [[Austen Henry Layard]], 1853]]
The English placename ''Nineveh'' comes from the [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|Nīnevē}}''<!--not Nineve, per OED--> and the [[Koine Greek]] ''Nineuḗ'' ({{lang|grc|Νινευή}}) under influence of the [[Biblical Hebrew]] ''Nīnəweh'' ({{lang|he|נִינְוֶה}}),<ref name=oed>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd ed. "Ninevite, ''n.'' and ''adj.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.</ref> from the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''{{lang|akk|Ninua}}'' ({{abbr|var.|variant}} ''Ninâ'')<ref name=jenc>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica|chapter=Nineveh|publisher=Gale Group|year=2008|chapter-url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14857.html}}</ref> or ''{{lang|akk|Ninuwā}}''.<ref name=oed/> The city was also known as ''Ninuwa'' in [[Mari, Syria|Mari]];<ref name=jenc/> ''Ninawa'' in [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]];<ref name=jenc/> Ninwe (ܢܸܢܘܵܐ) in [[Syriac language|Syriac]];{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} and ''Ninawa'' ({{lang|fa|نینوا}}) in [[Arabic]].

{{confusing|paragraph|date=July 2024}}''Nabī Yūnus'' is the [[Arabic]] for "Prophet [[Jonah]]". ''Kuyunjiq'' was, according to [[Austen Henry Layard|Layard]], a Turkish name (Layard used the form ''kouyunjik'', diminutive of ''koyun'' "sheep" in Turkish); known as ''Armousheeah'' by the Arabs,<ref name=Layard1849>Layard, 1849, p.xxi, "...called Kuyunjiq by the Turks, and Armousheeah by the Arabs"</ref> it is thought to have some connection with the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] dynasty.<ref>{{citation|title=E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam|contribution=Koyundjik|page=1083|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CP7fYghBFQC&pg=PA1083}}.</ref>

== Geography ==
[[File:View of the village of Nunia or Ninive, Niebuhr 1778.jpg|thumb|View of the village of "Nunia" or "Ninive", published by [[Carsten Niebuhr]] in 1778]]
[[File:Views of the archaeological site of Nineveh in modern-day Mosul, currently occupied by squatters 06 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Village in Nineveh in 2019]]
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 River]]s within an area of {{convert|750|ha}}<ref name="mieroop">{{cite book|last=Mieroop|first=Marc van de|title=The Ancient Mesopotamian City|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=9780191588457|page=95|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_YKlbIp9pYMC&pg=PA95}}</ref> circumscribed by a {{convert|12|km|mi|1|adj=on}} fortification wall. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins, roughly a third of these overlaid by the Nebi Yunus suburbs of the city of eastern [[Mosul]].<ref>Geoffrey Turner, "Tell Nebi Yūnus: The ekal māšarti of Nineveh", ''Iraq'', vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 68–85, 1970</ref>

The site of ancient Nineveh is bisected by the [[Khosr River|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 are the mosque of the Prophet Jonah, and a palace of [[Esarhaddon]]/[[Ashurbanipal]] below it. South of the street Al-'Asady (made by [[Islamic State|Daesh]] by destroying swaths of the city walls) the area is called ''Junub Ninawah'' or Shara Pepsi.

== History ==
===Neolithic===
Nineveh itself was founded as early as 6000&nbsp;BC during the late [[Neolithic]] period. [[Vertical electrical sounding|Deep sounding]] at Nineveh uncovered soil layers that have been dated to early in the era of the [[Hassuna culture|Hassuna]] [[archaeological culture]].<ref>[https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-044.html Kuyunjiq / Tell Nebi Yunis (ancient: Nineveh)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105010507/https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-044.html |date=2020-11-05 }} colostate.edu</ref> The development and culture of Nineveh paralleled [[Tepe Gawra]] and [[Tell Arpachiyah]] a few kilometers to the northeast. Nineveh was a typical farming village in the [[Halaf culture|Halaf Period]].

===Chalcolithic===
====Ubaid period====
In 5000 BC, Nineveh transitioned from a [[Halaf culture|Halaf]] village to an [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] village. During the Late Chalcolithic period Nineveh was one of the few Ubaid villages in Upper Mesopotamia which became a proto-city. Others include [[Ugarit]], [[Tell Brak|Brak]], [[Hamoukar]], [[Erbil|Arbela]], [[Aleppo|Alep]], and regionally [[Susa]], [[Eridu]], [[Nippur]]. During 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 Gawra has the oldest metal work. The copper came from the mines at [[Ergani]].

====Uruk period====
[[File:British Museum Middle east 14022019 Beveled rim bowl Nineveh Late Uruk Period 3672.jpg|thumb|Beveled rim bowl. Clay, from Nineveh, Late Uruk Period, 3300-3100 BC. British Museum]]
Nineveh IV became a trade colony of [[Uruk]] during the [[Uruk Expansion]] because of its location as the highest navigable point on the Tigris. It was contemporary with, and had a similar function to, [[Habuba Kabira]] on the Euphrates. Finds included [[beveled rim bowl]]s.<ref>Gut, R.V., "Das Prahistorische Ninive: zur Relativen Chronologie der Fruhen Perioden Nordmesopotamiens", Mainz, 1995</ref><ref>Gut, R.V., "The signiicance of the Uruk sequence at Nineveh", in J.N. Postgate, (ed.), Artefacts of Complexity. Tracking the Uruk in the Near East, Cambridge, Iraq Archaeological Reports 5, Oxford, pp. 17-48, 2002</ref>

===Early Bronze Age===
==== Ninevite 5 period ====
The regional influence of Nineveh became particularly pronounced during the archaeological period known as ''Ninevite 5'', or ''Ninevite V'' (3000/2900–2600/2500 BC). This period is defined primarily by the characteristic pottery that is found widely throughout Upper Mesopotamia.<ref name="A Dictionary of Archaeology">Ian Shaw, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&pg=PA427 ''A Dictionary of Archaeology'']. John Wiley & Sons, 2002 {{ISBN|0631235833}} p. 427</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.tellarbid.uw.edu.pl/research Polish-Syrian Expedition to Tell Arbid] 2015</ref>

[[File:Polychrome painted jar, geometric designs and animals, the so-called "Scarlet Ware". From Iraq, Tell Abu Qasim (Arabic تل ابو قاسم), Hamrin Basin, Diyala Valley. 2800-2000 BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg|thumb|Polychrome painted jar, geometric designs and animals, the so-called "Scarlet Ware". From Tell Abu Qasim at Hamrin Basin, Iraq. 2800–2600 BCE. Iraq Museum]]
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 period]] ware.<ref name="A Dictionary of Archaeology"/> Iraqi [[Diyala River#Scarlet Ware|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 [[Lake Hamrin|Hamrin Basin]], and in [[Luristan]]. It is also contemporary with the [[Proto-Elamite]] period in Susa.

Ninevite 5 can be subdivided into the Early Ninevite 5 (3000-2750 BC) characterized by painted pottery and Late Ninevite 5 (2750-2500 BC) with incised pottery. In southern Mesopotamia, the former is contemporary with ED I-II, while the latter mirrors ED II-IIIA.<ref>Charvát, Petr, "The Backs of Some Sealings from Nineveh 5", Iraq, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 391–97, 2005</ref>

<gallery caption="Styles related to Nineveh 5">
File:Painted Jar - Ninevite 5.jpg|Painted jar – Ninevite 5
File:Painted bowl - Uruk-Nineveh 5 transition.jpg|Painted bowl – Uruk-Nineveh 5 transition
File:Jamdat Nasr Period pottery - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06949.JPG|Jemdet Nasr ware
File:Vaso cerámico del periodo protoelamita - MARQ 01.jpg|Proto-Elamite ware 3100&nbsp;BC
File:Saxsı küp, Təpəyatağı.JPG|Pottery jar, Tepeyatagi, Khudat district, Kura-Araxtes culture
</gallery>

====Akkadian period====
In the late 3rd millennium BC Nineveh was part of the [[Akkadian Empire]]. While the site was occupied in that period, there was minimal official Akkadian presence there—unlike at [[Assur]] which had a much more notable presence. An Akkadian period bronze statue head found at Nineveh was later determined to be a 7th century addition.<ref>M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh", Iraq Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 104-110, 1936</ref><ref>Westenholz, Joan Goodnick, "The Old Akkadian Presence in Nineveh: Fact or Fiction", Iraq, vol. 66, pp. 7–18, 2004</ref>

===Middle Bronze===
In the early 2nd millennium BC Nineveh became part of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia during the reign of [[Shamshi-Adad I]] (c. 1809–1775 BC), Amorite ruler of [[Ekallatum]].<ref>[https://hal.science/hal-04379401v1/file/Ziegler-Otto-2023_BBVO-30_Ekallatum.pdf] Ziegler, Nele, and Adelheid Otto, "Ekallatum, Samsi-Addu’s capital city, localised", Entre les fleuves–III. On the Way in Upper Mesopotamia: Travels, Routes and Environment as Basis for the Reconstruction of Historical Geography 30, pp. 221-252, 2023</ref><ref>Van de Mieroop, Marc, "A history of the ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC", John Wiley & Sons, 2024</ref> It became a center of [[worship]] of [[Ishtar]].<ref>Reade, Julian, "The Ishtar Temple at Nineveh", Iraq, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 347–90, 2005</ref><ref>Porter, Barbara Nevling, "Ishtar of Nineveh and Her Collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the Reign of Assurbanipal", Iraq, vol. 66, pp. 41–44, 2004</ref><ref>Ziegler, Nele, "The Conquest of the Holy City of Nineveh and the Kingdom of Nurrugum by Samsî-Addu", Iraq, vol. 66, pp. 19–26, 2004</ref>

===Late Bronze===
==== Mitanni period ====
[[File:Artist’s impression of a hall in an Assyrian palace from The Monuments of Nineveh by Sir Austen Henry Layard, 1853.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Artist's impression of a hall in an Assyrian palace from ''The Monuments of Nineveh'' by Sir [[Austen Henry Layard]], 1853]]
The goddess's statue was sent to Pharaoh [[Amenhotep III]] of [[Egypt]] in the 14th century BC, by orders of the king [[Tushratta]] of [[Mitanni]]. Nineveh became one of Mitanni's vassals for half a century until the early 14th century BC.

==== Middle Assyrian period ====
The Assyrian king [[Ashur-uballit I]] reclaimed it in 1365&nbsp;BC while overthrowing the Mitanni Empire and creating the [[Middle Assyrian Empire]] (1365–1050 BC).<ref>Genesis 10:11 attributes the founding of Nineveh to an [[Ashur (Bible)|Asshur]]: "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh".</ref>

There is a large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built extensively in Nineveh during the late 3rd and 2nd millennia 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).

===Iron Age===
==== Neo-Assyrian period ====
During the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], particularly from the time of [[Ashurnasirpal II]] (ruled 883–859&nbsp;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 [[Sin (mythology)|Sîn]], [[Ashur (god)|Ashur]], [[Nergal]], [[Shamash]], [[Ninurta]], [[Ishtar]], [[Tammuz (deity)|Tammuz]], [[Nisroch]] and [[Nabu]].

The Hebrew [[Book of Jonah]], which was most likely written between 793 and 758 BC, is an account of the city's repentance and Jehovah's mercy which prevented destruction.

==== <span id="Sennacherib's_Nineveh"></span>Sennacherib's development of Nineveh ====
[[File:Relief from Nineveh Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.jpg|thumb|Refined low-relief section of a bull-hunt frieze from Nineveh, [[alabaster]], {{Circa|695 BC}} ([[Pergamon Museum]], Berlin)]]
[[File:Nineveh north palace king hunting lion.jpg|thumb|Relief of [[Ashurbanipal]] hunting a [[Mesopotamian lion]],<ref name="Ashrafian2011"/> from the Northern Palace in Nineveh, as seen at the [[British Museum]]]]
It was [[Sennacherib]] who made Nineveh a truly influential city ({{circa|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 {{convert|503|x|242|m|ft|0}}. It had 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 {{convert|22|m|ft|0}} tall. In total, the foundation is made of roughly {{convert|2680000|m3|yd3|0}} of brick (approximately 160&nbsp;million bricks). The walls on top, made out of mud brick, were an additional {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} tall.

Some of the principal doorways were flanked by colossal stone ''[[lamassu]]'' door figures weighing up to {{convert|30000|kg|t|0}}; these were winged [[Asiatic lion|Mesopotamian lions]]<ref name="Ashrafian2011">{{Cite journal |last=Ashrafian |first=H. |year=2011 |title=An extinct Mesopotamian lion subspecies |journal=Veterinary Heritage |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=47–49}}</ref> or [[bull]]s, with human heads. These were transported {{convert|50|km|mi|0}} from quarries at Balatai, and they had to be lifted up {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} once they arrived at the site, presumably by a [[Inclined plane|ramp]]. There are also {{convert|3000|m|ft|0}} 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, the final carving was done. Most of the statues weigh between {{convert|9000|and|27000|kg|lb|0}}.<ref>"The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World" edited by Chris Scarre 1999 (Thames and Hudson)</ref>

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 the streets of the city." A full and characteristic [[Lachish relief|set shows the campaign leading up to the siege of Lachish]] in 701 BC; it is the "finest" from the reign of [[Sennacherib]], and now in the British Museum.<ref>Reade, Julian, ''Assyrian Sculpture'', pp. 56 (quoted), 65–71, 1998 (2nd ed.), The British Museum Press, {{ISBN|9780714121413}}</ref> He later wrote about a battle in [[Lachish]]: "And [[Hezekiah]] of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke&nbsp;... 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."<ref>Time Life Lost Civilizations series: ''Mesopotamia: The Mighty Kings'' (1995)</ref>

At this time, Nineveh comprised about {{convert|7|km2|acre|0}} of land, 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 {{convert|65|km|mi|0}} distant.<ref>Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd, [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip24.pdf "Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan"], Oriental Institute Publication 24, [[University of Chicago Press]], 1935</ref> 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 University|Oxford]] believe that the garden Sennacherib built next to his palace, with its associated irrigation works, was 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.<ref name="Dalley2013">{{cite book |last1=Dalley |first1=Stephanie|author-link1=Stephanie Dalley |date=2013 |title=The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: an elusive World Wonder traced |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966226-5}}</ref>

==== After Ashurbanipal ====
[[File:2018 Ashurbanipal - Nineveh.jpg|thumb|upright=1.78|The walls of Nineveh at the time of Ashurbanipal. 645–640 BC. [[British Museum]] BM 124938.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wall panel; relief British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1856-0909-35 |website=The British Museum |language=en}}</ref>]]
The greatness of Nineveh was short-lived. In around 627&nbsp;BC, after the death of its last great king [[Ashurbanipal]], the Neo-Assyrian Empire began to unravel through a series of bitter [[civil war]]s between rival claimants for the throne, and in 616 BC Assyria was attacked by its own former vassals, the [[Chaldea]]ns, [[Babylonia]]ns, [[Medes]], and [[Scythians]]. In about 616&nbsp;BC [[Nimrud|Kalhu]] was sacked, the allied forces eventually reached Nineveh, besieging and sacking the city in 612&nbsp;BC, following bitter house-to-house fighting, after which it 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&nbsp;BC, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its colonies between themselves.

It is not clear whether Nineveh came under the rule of the Medes or the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] in 612. The [[Babylonian Chronicles]] concerning the Fall of Nineveh<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/abc-3-fall-of-nineveh-chronicle/ The Babylonian Chronicles concerning the Fall of Nineveh].</ref> record 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 ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Retreat of the Ten Thousand]]'' of [[Xenophon]] (d.&nbsp;354&nbsp;BC).<ref name=SD>Stephanie Dalley (1993), "Nineveh after 612 BC", ''Altorientalische Forschungen'' '''20'''(1): 134–147.</ref> There are no later cuneiform tablets in Akkadian from Nineveh. Although devastated in 612&nbsp;BC, the city was not completely abandoned.<ref name="SD" /> Yet, to the Greek historians [[Ctesias]] and [[Herodotus]] (c.&nbsp;400&nbsp;BC), Nineveh was a thing of the past; and when Xenophon passed the place in the 4th century BC he described it as abandoned.<ref>Menko Vlaardingerbroek (2004), "The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography", ''Iraq'', vol. 66, Nineveh. Papers of the 49th [[Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale]], Part One, pp. 233–241.</ref>

===Persian period===
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 the Great]] restored the temple of Ishtar at Nineveh and probably encouraged resettlement. A number of cuneiform [[Elamite language|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.

Archaeologically, there is evidence of repairs at the temple of Nabu after 612&nbsp;BC 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 [[Heracles|Herakles Epitrapezios]] dated to the 2nd century AD has also been found.<ref name=SD/>

===Classical period===
The city was actively resettled under the [[Seleucid Empire]].<ref name=PAW>Peter Webb, "Nineveh and Mosul", in O. Nicholason (ed.), ''[[The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity]]'' (Oxford University Press, 2018), vol. 2, p. 1078.</ref> 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.<ref name=SD/> According to [[Tacitus]], in AD 50 [[Meherdates]], a claimant to the Parthian throne with Roman support, took Nineveh.<ref name=JER>J. E. Reade (1998), "Greco-Parthian Nineveh", ''Iraq'' '''60''': 65–83.</ref>

===Late Antiquity===
By [[Late Antiquity]], Nineveh 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 [[Adiabene (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)|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 was not called [[Mosul]] until after the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]]. It may have been called Hesnā ʿEbrāyē (Jews' Fort).<ref name=PAW/>

In 627, the city was the site of the [[Battle of Nineveh (627)|Battle of Nineveh]] between the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] and the Sasanians. In 641, it was [[Muslim conquest of Persia|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 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 [[Al-Nabi Yunus Mosque|Muslim shrine]] to the prophet [[Jonah]], which continued to attract pilgrims until [[Fall of Mosul|its destruction by ISIL in 2014]].<ref name=PAW/> In late Ottoman times, the ashlar masonry of the North Palace of Ashurbanipal was quarried to make for the pilons of the Old Bridge over the Tigris.<ref>[https://cris.unibo.it/bitstream/11585/967650/3/Putzolu_et-al_2024_Ottoman_bridge_of_Mosul.pdf] Marchetti, Nicolò, et al, "The Ottoman Bridge of Mosul: survey and history of an endangered heritage", Ante Quem Srl and Department of History and Cultures-University of Bologna, 2023 {{ISBN|978-88-7849-192-2}}</ref> The modern city of Mosul is occasionally referred to as Nineveh, such as during the operation to [[Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)|retake Mosul]] in 2016–17.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/isis-mosul-propaganda-iraq-kurds-peshmerga/504854/] Charlie Winter, "How ISIS Is Spinning the Mosul Battle", The Atlantic, 20 October 2016</ref>

== Biblical Nineveh ==
In the [[Hebrew Bible]], Nineveh is first mentioned in Genesis 10:11: "[[Ashur (Bible)|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. The discovery of the fifteen [[Book of Jubilees|Jubilees]] texts found amongst the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] has since shown that, according to the [[Jews|Jewish]] sects of Qumran, Genesis 10:11 affirms the apportionment of Nineveh to Ashur.<ref>VanderKam, "Jubilees, Book of", in L. H. Schiffman and J. C. VanderKam (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls'', Oxford University Press (2000), Vol. I, p. 435.</ref>
[[File:Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - The Prophet Jonah before the Walls of Nineveh, c. 1655 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Prophet Jonah before the Walls of Nineveh'', drawing by [[Rembrandt]], {{circa|1655}}]]
According to {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|37:37–38|NKJV}} Nineveh was also the place where Sennacherib died at the hands of his two sons, who then fled to Ararat. The book of the minor prophet [[Nahum]] is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic denunciations against Nineveh. Its ruin and utter desolation are foretold in {{Bibleverse||Nahum|1:14|NKJV}} and {{Bibleverse||Nahum|3:19|NKJV}}. In {{Bibleverse||Nahum|2:6–11|NKJV}} its end was fortold to be strange, sudden, and tragic. According to {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|10:5–19|NKJV}} 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". In {{Bibleverse||Zephaniah|2:13–15|NKJV}} the minor prophet [[Zephaniah]] also 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]] ({{Bibleverse||Jonah|3:3|NKJV}} and {{Bibleverse||Jonah|4:11|NKJV}}), 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". {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:11–12|KJV}} lists four cities "Nineveh, [[Rehoboth (Bible)|Rehoboth]], [[Nimrud|Calah]], and [[Resen (Bible)|Resen]]", ambiguously stating that either Resen or Calah is "the great city". The ruins of Kuyunjiq, [[Nimrud]], [[Karamlesh]] and [[Dur-Sharrukin|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 the surrounding cities of Rehoboth, Calah and Resen<ref>{{Cite book|title=The NIV Study Bible|date=1995|publisher=Zondervan|editor1-last=Barker |editor1-first=Kenneth L. |editor2-last=Burdick |editor2-first=Donald W.|isbn=0-310-92568-1|edition=10th anniversary|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|pages=1361|oclc=33344874}}</ref> 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, according to {{Bibleverse||Jonah|4:11|NKJV}}), are ignorant of the difference between right and wrong ("who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand" and mercy for 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 {{Bibleverse||Matthew|12:41|NKJV}} and {{Bibleverse||Luke|11:32|NKJV}} and Muslim [[Quran]]. To this day, [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] and [[Oriental Orthodoxy|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.

== Archaeology ==
[[Carsten Niebuhr]] recorded its location during the 1761–1767 [[Danish Arabia expedition (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 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."<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/minorprophetswit00puse#page/123/mode/1up/] Pusey, Edward Bouverie, "The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary, Explanatory and Practical, and Introductions to the Several Books", Volume II, 1888</ref> In 1820 the site was explored and described by archaeologist [[Claudius Rich]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/39020024820253-narrativeofares/mode/1up] Claudius James Rich, "Narrative of a residence in Koordistan, and on the site of ancient Nineveh : with journal of a voyage down the Tigris to Bagdad and an account of a visit to Shirauz and Persepolis - Volume 2", London, 1836</ref> 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 the ruins of a building at the 20&nbsp;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.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/buriedcityofeast00layauoft/page/n11/mode/1up] Buckingham, James Silk, "The buried city of the east, Nineveh : a narrative of the discoveries of Mr. Layard and M. Botta at Nimroud and Khorsabad ; with descriptions of the exhumed sculptures, and particulars of the early history of the ancient Ninevite kingdom", London, 1851</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/mbottasletterso00mohlgoog/page/n8/mode/1up] Paul Emile Botta, Julius Mohl, "M. Botta's Letters on the Discoveries at Nineveh", Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/ninevehitspalace00bono/mode/1up] Bonomi, Joseph, "Nineveh and its palaces. The discoveries of Botta and Layard, applied to the elucidation of Holy Writ", London : H.G. Bohn, 1857</ref>

[[File:Nineve.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.4|Bronze lion from Nineveh]]
In 1847 the young British diplomat [[Austen Henry Layard]] explored the ruins.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/ninevehanditsre02layagoog/mode/1up] A. H. Layard, "Nineveh and Its Remains", John Murray, 1849</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/discoveriesinru00layagoog/mode/1up] A. H. Layard, "Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the desert: being the result of a second expedition undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum", John Murray, 1853</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/the-monuments-of-nineveh.-from-drawings-made-on-the-spot/mode/1up] A. H. Layard, "The Monuments of Nineveh; From Drawings Made on the Spot", John Murray, 1849</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/second-series-of-the-monuments-of-nineveh/mode/1up] A. H. Layard, "A second series of the monuments of Nineveh", John Murray, 1853</ref> Layard did not use modern archaeological methods; his stated goal was "to obtain the largest possible number of well preserved objects of art at the least possible outlay of time and money".<ref name="Liverani2013" /> In the Kuyunjiq mound, Layard rediscovered in 1849 the lost palace of Sennacherib with its 71 rooms and colossal [[bas-relief]]s.<ref>Russell, John Malcolm, "Layard’s Descriptions of Rooms in the Southwest Palace at Nineveh", Iraq, vol. 57, pp. 71–85, 1995</ref> He also unearthed the palace and famous [[library of Ashurbanipal]] with 22,000 cuneiform clay tablets.<ref>Turner, G., "The British Museum’s Excavations at Nineveh, 1846–1855", Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2020 {{ISBN|978-90-04-43536-0}}</ref> Most of Layard's material was sent to the [[British Museum]], but some was dispersed elsewhere: two large pieces were given to [[Lady Charlotte Guest]] and these eventually found their way to the [[Metropolitan Museum]].<ref>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}}</ref>

The work of exploration was carried on by [[Hormuzd Rassam]], [[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]] 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.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/assyriandiscover00smit/mode/1up] 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</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/asshurlandofnimr00rass/page/n4/mode/1up] Hormuzd Rassam and Robert William Rogers, "Asshur and the Land of Nimrod", Curts & Jennings, 1897</ref>

The mound of Tell Kuyunjiq was excavated again by the archaeologists of the [[British Museum]], led by [[Leonard William King]], between 1902 and 1904. Their efforts concentrated on the site of the Temple of [[Nabu]] 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.<ref>[https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=amar] Thompson, Reginald Campbell, and Richard Wyatt Hutchinson, "A century of exploration at Nineveh", Luzac, & Company, 1929</ref>

The excavations started again in 1927, under the direction of [[Reginald Campbell Thompson|Campbell Thompson]], who had taken part in King's expeditions.<ref>R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, "The excavations on the temple of Nabu at Nineveh", Archaeologia, vol. 79, pp. 103–148, 1929</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>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</ref><ref>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</ref> Some works were carried out outside Kuyunjiq, for instance on 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.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/prismsofesarhadd00thomuoft/mode/1up] Reginald Campbell Thompson, "The prisms of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal found at Nineveh, 1927-8", Lomdon, 1931</ref>

After the [[Second World War]], several excavations were carried out by [[Iraqis|Iraqi]] archaeologists. From 1951 to 1958, Mohammed Ali Mustafa worked the site.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/sumer_1954_10_2/mode/1up] Mohammed Ali Mustafa, "The Assyrian palace at Nebi Unis", Sumer, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 110–111, 1954</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/sumer_1954_10_2/mode/1up] Muhammad Ali Mustafa, "The discovery of a statue of Hermes at Nineveh", Sumer 10 (2), Arabic section, pp. 280-283, 1954</ref> The work was continued from 1967 through 1971 by Tariq Madhloom.<ref>Tariq Madhloom, "Excavations at Nineveh: A preliminary report", ''Sumer'', vol. 23, pp. 76–79, 1967</ref><ref>Tariq Madhloom, "Excavations at Nineveh: The 1967–68 Campaign", ''Sumer'', vol 24, pp. 45–51, 1968</ref><ref>Tariq Madhloom, "Excavations at Nineveh: The 1968–69 Campaign", ''Sumer'', vol. 25, pp. 43–49, 1969</ref> 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 the several gates and the existent mudbrick walls, as well as the system that supplied water to the city in times of siege.<ref>Scott, M. Louise, and John MacGinnis, "Notes on Nineveh", Iraq, vol. 52, pp. 63–73, 1990</ref> The excavation reports are in progress.<ref>Wilkinson, Eleanor Barbanes, and Stephen Lumsden, "Pottery from the University of California, Berkeley Excavations in the Area of the Maški Gate (MG22), Nineveh, 1989-1990", Archaeopress, 2022 {{ISBN|9781803272153}}</ref><ref>Stronach, David, and Stephen Lumsden, "UC Berkeley's excavations at Nineveh", The Biblical Archaeologist 55.4, pp. 227-233, 1992</ref>

After Mosul’s liberation from the control of the [[Islamic State]] (IS), {{ill|Peter A. Miglus|de}}, University of Heidelberg, established a rescue project in 2018, exploring and documenting the intrusive IS tunnels in the Assyrian Military Palace that is located below the destroyed Mosque of the prophet [[Jonah]] on Tell Nebi Yunus. Archaeological excavations have been conducted since 2019.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maul |first1=S. M. |last2=Miglus |first2=P. A. |last3=Aguilar Kons |first3=J. |last4=al-Magasees |first4=A. |last5=Fetner |first5=R. |last6=Heiler |first6=J. |last7=Stępniowski |first7=F. M. |last8=Tamm |first8=A. |display-authors=2 |year=2020 |title=Die Erforschung des ekal māšarti auf Tell Nebi Yunus in Ninive 2018–2019 |trans-title=Research into the ekal māšarti on Tell Nebi Yunus in Nineveh 2018–2019 |journal=Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie |publication-date=2021 |volume=13 |pages=128–213 |isbn=978-3-7861-2860-1 |issn=1868-9078}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maul |first1=S. M. |last2=Miglus |first2=P. A. |last3=al-Magasees |first3=A. Q. |last4=Aguilar Kons |first4=J. |last5=Fetner |first5=R. |last6=Heiler |first6=J. |last7=Stępniowski |first7=F. M. |last8=Tamm |first8=T. |display-authors=3 |year=2022 |title=في موقع تل النبي يونس - نينوى الأثرية ٢٠١٨-٢٠١٩ (ekal māšarti) تنقيبات البعثة الألمانية في القصر العسكري |trans-title=Excavations of the German mission in the Military Palace (ekal māšarti) on Tell Nebi Yunus – Archaeological site of Nineveh 2018–2019 |journal=Sumer |volume=68 |pages=11–80}}</ref> Subsequently, an extensive research project, first under the direction of [[Stefan Maul|Stefan M. Maul]] and now of Aaron Schmidt, 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 the throne room wing of the Southwest Palace. Excavations in the North Palace commenced in 2022. Since 2023, work has also been conducted at the Nergal Gate, which was 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.<ref>Maul, S., Miglus, P. and Schmitt, A., "Excavations of the Royal Palaces on Tell Nebi Yunus and Tell Kuyunjik at Nineveh, Seasons 2021–2023", Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie, 16(1), 2025 doi:10.34780/26h2-2x6e</ref>

An Iraqi–Italian Archaeological Expedition by the [[University of Bologna|Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna]] and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage ([https://www.sbah.gov.iq SBAH]), led by Nicolò Marchetti, began (with five campaigns having taken place between 2019 and 2023) a project aiming at the excavation, conservation and public presentation of the lower town of Nineveh. Work was carried out in nineteen excavation areas, from the Adad Gate – now completely repaired (after removing hundreds of tons of debris from ISIL's 2016 destructions), explored and protected with a new roof – deep into the Nebi Yunus town. In a few areas a thick later stratigraphy was encountered, but the late 7th century BC stratum was reached everywhere (actually in two areas in the pre-Sennacherib lower town the excavations already exposed older strata, up to the 11th century BC until now, aiming in the future at exploring the first settlement therein).<ref>N. Marchetti, G. Marchesi (2022). “Nineveh: The Resumption of Archaeological Exploration in the Centre of the Empire”, in D. Morandi Bonacossi, F. Simi, L. Turri (eds), ''From the Core of the Empire. New Archaeological Discoveries of the University of Udine in Ancient Assyria'', Udine, pp. 170-189.</ref> In October 2023 an archaeological park was inaugurated at the site.

Since 2024, an expedition led by Tim Harrison of the [[Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures|ISAC]] at the University of Chicago has taken over from the University of Bologna the investigation of the eastern lower town at Nineveh.

=== Archaeological remains ===
[[File:Humvee down after isis attack.jpg|thumb|Humvee down after ISIL attack]]
The site is marked by two large mounds, Tell Kuyunjiq and Tell ''Nabī Yūnus'' "Prophet [[Jonah]]", and the remains of the city walls (about {{convert|12|km|mi|0}} in circumference), enclosing a vast lower town extensively encroached by modern buildings. The Neo-Assyrian levels of Kuyunjiq 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]] destroyed the shrine as part of a [[Destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State|campaign to destroy]] religious sanctuaries it deemed "un-Islamic",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/iraq-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 |title=Officials: ISIS blows up Jonah's tomb in Iraq |work=CNN |date=2014-07-24 |access-date=2014-07-24}}</ref> but also to loot that site through tunneling.

The ruin mound of Tell Kuyunjiq rises about {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} above the surrounding plain of the ancient city. It is quite broad, measuring about {{convert|800|x|500|m|ft|0}}. Its upper layers have been extensively excavated, and several Neo-Assyrian palaces and temples have been found there. A deep sounding by [[Max Mallowan]] revealed evidence of habitation as early as the 6th millennium BC. Today, there is little evidence of these old excavations other than weathered pits and earth piles. In 1990, the only Assyrian remains visible were those of the entry court and the first few chambers of the Palace of Sennacherib. Since that time, the palace chambers have received significant damage by looters and by the removal of the protective roof. Portions of relief sculptures that were in the palace chambers in 1990 were seen on the antiquities market by 1996. Photographs of the chambers made in 2003 show that many of the fine relief sculptures there have been reduced to piles of rubble and a conservation effort ensued. In 2016 Sennacherib's throne room was bulldozed by Daesh and the sculpted fragments were left exposed until 2022.

[[File:Nineveh Nebi Yunus Excavation Bull-Man Head.JPG|thumb|right|[[Lamassu|Winged Bull]] excavated at Tell Nebi Yunus by Iraqi archaeologists]]

Tell Nebi Yunus is located about {{convert|1|km|mi|1}} south of Kuyunjiq and is the secondary ruin mound at Nineveh. On the basis of texts of Sennacherib, the site has traditionally been identified as the "armory" of Nineveh, and a gate and pavements excavated by Iraqis in 1954 have been considered to be part of the "armory" complex. Excavations in 1990 revealed a monumental entryway consisting of a number of large inscribed [[Megalithic architectural elements#Orthostat|orthostats]] and "bull-man" sculptures, some apparently unfinished. Following the [[Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)|liberation of Mosul]], the tunnels under Tell Nebi Yunus were explored in 2018, in which a 3000-year-old palace was discovered, including a pair of reliefs, each showing a row of women, along with reliefs of ''[[lamassu]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/isis_tunnels|title=Explore the IS Tunnels|website=BBC News|date=22 November 2018}}</ref>[[File:Nineveh map city walls & gates.JPG|thumb|Simplified plan of ancient Nineveh showing city wall and location of gateways]]
[[File:Nineveh Adad gate exterior entrance far2.JPG|thumb|Photograph of the restored [[Adad]] Gate, taken prior to the gate's destruction by [[Islamic State|IS]] in April 2016<ref name=Romey2016 />]]
[[File:Nineveh walls east Shamash Gate from rampart.JPG|thumb|Eastern city wall and [[Shamash]] Gate]]

The ruins of Nineveh are surrounded by the remains of a massive stone and mudbrick wall dating from about 700&nbsp;BC. About 12&nbsp;km in length, the wall system consisted of an ashlar stone retaining wall about {{convert|6|m|ft|0}} high surmounted by a mudbrick wall about {{convert|10|m|ft|0}} high and {{convert|15|m|ft|0}} thick. The stone retaining wall had projecting stone towers spaced about every {{convert|18|m|ft|0}}. The stone wall and towers were topped by three-step [[merlon]]s.

Six of the gateways have been explored to some extent by archaeologists (besides the possible [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] Gate at the north-west end of the site):
* Mashki Gate ''Masqi Gate'' (Arabic: بوابة مسقي Derived from the passive participle of سَقَى saqā, "to give (sb) a drink, to water, to irrigate")<ref name="main" /> was perhaps used to take livestock to water from the Tigris which currently flows about {{convert|1.5|km|mi|1}} 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. It was bulldozed along with the Nergal and Adad Gates during [[Islamic State|IS]] occupation.<ref name=Romey2016>{{citation|last=Romey|first=Kristin|date=19 April 2016|title=Exclusive Photos Show Destruction of Nineveh Gates by ISIS|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/160419-Islamic-State-ISIS-ISIL-Nineveh-gates-Iraq-Mosul-destroyed|magazine=National Geographic|publisher=The National Geographical Society}}</ref> During the restoration project, seven damaged alabaster carvings from the time of Sennacherib were found at the gate in 2022.<ref>{{cite web |author=Hadani Ditmars |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/10/25/archaeologists-restoring-monument-damaged-by-islamic-state-discover-ancient-stone-carvings-unseen-for-millennia |title=Archaeologists restoring monument damaged by Islamic State discover ancient stone carvings unseen for millennia |website=The Art Newspaper |date=25 October 2022 }}</ref>
* Nergal Gate: 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]]'').{{rp|30}} The reconstruction is conjectural, as the gate was excavated by Layard in the mid-19th century and reconstructed in the mid-20th century. The lamassu on this gate were defaced with a jackhammer by [[Islamic State|IS]] forces and the gate was utterly destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rappler.com/world/middle-east/isis-nirmrud-iraq|publisher=Rappler|title=ISIS 'bulldozed' ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, Iraq says|date=March 5, 2015|access-date=July 7, 2020|archive-date=July 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724194400/https://rappler.com/world/middle-east/isis-nirmrud-iraq|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Adad Gate: Named for the god [[Adad]]. A roofing above it was begun in the late 1960s by Iraqis but was not completed. The result was a mixture of concrete and eroding mudbrick, which nonetheless does give 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 was well exposed, as was the entrance of the vaulted stairway to the upper levels. The actions of Nineveh's last defenders could be seen in the hastily built mudbrick construction which narrowed the passageway from {{convert|4|to|2|m|ft|0}}. Around April 13, 2016, [[Islamic State|IS]] demolished both the gate and the adjacent wall by flattening them with a bulldozer.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/08/29/iraqi-digital-investigation-team-confirms-isis-destruction-gate-nineveh/ |publisher=Bellingcat | title=Iraqi Digital Investigation Team Confirms ISIS Destruction of Gate in Nineveh|date=August 29, 2016|access-date=August 30, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Romey2016/> It has been reexcavated (including a 7 m deep stair-well), conservated and presented to the public by the Iraqi-Italian expedition between 2019 and 2023.
* Shamash Gate: Named for the sun god [[Shamash]], it opens to the road to [[Erbil]]. 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 {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} from the line of main wall for a width of about {{convert|70|m|ft|0}}. 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. It is now being excavated by the University of Chicago expedition.
* Halzi Gate: Near the south end of the eastern city wall. Exploratory excavations were undertaken here by the [[University of California, Berkeley]] expedition of 1989–1990 and again in 2022 and 2023 by the Iraqi-Italian Expedition. 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 {{convert|2|m|ft|0}} as at the Adad Gate. Human remains from the final battle of Nineveh were found in the passageway.<ref>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</ref> Located in the eastern wall, it is the southernmost and largest of all the remaining gates of ancient Nineveh.<ref name="main">{{cite web |title=Gates of Nineveh|url=https://madainproject.com/gates_of_nineveh |website=Madain Project |access-date=10 May 2019}}</ref>
* A new gate has been discovered in 2021 to the north of the Shamash Gate and south of the Khosr river (in the area labeled as N by the Iraqi-Italian expedition), next to a spectacular water tunnel running for 42 m under the 31m-thick city wall (area G, excavated in 2020 and 2021).

== Threats to the site ==
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.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_iraqlootingreport2.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040215202713/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_iraqlootingreport2.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=February 15, 2004
|title= Cultural Assessment of Iraq: The State of Sites and Museums in Northern Iraq – Nineveh
|publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] News
|date=May 2003}}</ref> Future preservation is further compromised by the site's proximity to expanding suburbs.

The ailing [[Mosul Dam]] is a persistent threat to Nineveh as well as the city of Mosul. This is in no small 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 [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIL]] in 2014 resulting in fleeing workers and stolen equipment. If the dam fails, the entire site could be under as much as 45 feet (14&nbsp;m) of water.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Borger|first1=Julian|title=Mosul dam engineers warn it could fail at any time, killing 1m people|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/02/mosul-dam-engineers-warn-it-could-fail-at-any-time-killing-1m-people|website=The Guardian|date=2 March 2016|publisher=guardian.co.uk|access-date=22 March 2016}}</ref>

A major threat to Nineveh has been deliberate human actions by ISIL or Daesh, which occupied the area between 2014 and 2017. In early 2015, they first announced their intention to destroy the walls of Nineveh if the Iraqis tried to liberate the city,  and they also threatened the destruction of archaeological heritage and artifacts.<ref name="Stefano2022">[https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/F029E61E21EEAF19BB4648F634F57EB2/S0003598X2200014Xa.pdf/div-class-title-remote-sensing-and-ground-survey-of-archaeological-damage-and-destruction-at-nineveh-during-the-isis-occupation-div.pdf] Campana, Stefano, et al., "Remote sensing and ground survey of archaeological damage and destruction at Nineveh during the ISIS occupation", Antiquity 96.386, pp. 436-454, 2022</ref> On February 26, 2015, video footage shows [[Islamic State|IS]] smashing statues and artifacts at the [[Mosul Museum]].<ref name="Stefano2022" /> They are believed to have plundered others to sell overseas. The items were mostly from the Assyrian exhibit, which Daesh declared [[Islam and blasphemy|blasphemous]] and [[Idolatry#Islam|idolatrous]]. There were 300 items remaining in the museum out of a total of 1,900, with the other 1,600 being taken to the [[National Museum of Iraq]] in [[Baghdad]] for security reasons prior to the 2014 [[Fall of Mosul]].{{according to whom|date=June 2016}} Some of the artifacts sold and/or destroyed were from Nineveh.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/26/isil-seen-in-new-video-destroying-7th-century-artifacts.html|title=ISIL video shows destruction of 7th century artifacts|website=america.aljazeera.com}}</ref> Just a few days after the destruction of the museum pieces, Daesh terrorists demolished parts of three other major UNESCO world heritage sites, [[Khorsabad]], [[Nimrud]] and [[Hatra]]. In 2016, Daesh effectively destroyed the Adad Gate (along with the adjoining northern city walls, now cleared by the Iraqi-Italian expedition thanks to the support of the Kaplan Fund), as well as the Mashki Gate (along with the eastern fortifications. The Mashki Gate is in the process of being restored).<ref name="heritagedaily">{{cite web |last1=Milligan |first1=Mark |title=Archaeologists uncover 2,700-year-old intricate rock carvings in ancient Nineveh |url=https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/11/archaeologists-uncover-2700-year-old-intricate-rock-carvings-in-ancient-nineveh/145124 |website=Heritage Daily |date=3 November 2022 |access-date=18 January 2024}}</ref> Daesh also called for intensive new housing in the Kuyunjiq part and opened a large road across the southern part of the site (currently known as Al Asady Road).

After the cultural destruction and between 2014-2019, international efforts by archeologists began recording, evaluating and monitoring the damage and destruction inflicted on sensitive archaeological contexts in Nineveh, using satellite-based [[remote sensing]].<ref name="Stefano2022"/> The results found that a few high-profile acts of deliberate vandalism were accompanied by much more extensive damage caused by construction and rubbish dumping extending across substantial parts of the site.<ref name="Stefano2022" />

Thanks to the activities of the Iraqi-Italian expedition, an archaeological park has been opened at Kuyunjiq since 2023: tourists enter from the Adad gate, subsequently visiting the small Neo-Assyrian palace where the cuneiform library was discovered in 2021, and may then relax in the VW Foundation-funded [https://site.unibo.it/kalam/en/activities/task-3 KALAM mudbrick information center] nearby. The site is still endangered, however, with dumping of debris, illegal settlements and economic activities (such as illegal generators for electricity, pipe companies etc.) as the main threats.

== Rogation of the Ninevites (Nineveh's Wish) ==
Members of the [[Ancient Church of the East]], [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], [[Syriac Catholic Church]], [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], [[Assyrian Church of the East]] and [[Saint Thomas Christians]] of the [[Syro-Malabar Church]] observe a fast called ''Ba'uta d-Ninwe'' (ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ) which means ''Nineveh's Prayer''. [[Copts]] and [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox]] also maintain this fast.<ref>Warda, W, [http://christiansofiraq.com/BaootaFeb86.html Christians of Iraq: Ba-oota d' Ninevayee or the Fast of the Ninevites], re-accessed 11 September 2016</ref>

== In popular culture ==
English Romantic poet [[Edwin Atherstone]] wrote an epic titled ''[[The Fall of Nineveh]]''.<ref>Herbert F. Tucker, Epic. Britain's Heroic Muse 1790–1910, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, pp. 256-261.</ref> The work tells of an uprising against king [[Sardanapalus]] by all the nations that were dominated by the Assyrian Empire. He is a great criminal who had one hundred prisoners of war executed. After a long struggle, the town is conquered by Median and Babylonian troops, led by prince [[Arbaces]] and priest Belesis. The king then sets his own palace on fire and dies inside together with all his concubines.
[[File:Fall of nineveh.jpg|thumb|240px|John Martin, ''The Fall of Nineveh'']]
Atherstone's friend, artist [[John Martin (painter)|John Martin]], created a painting of the same name inspired by the poem. English poet [[John Masefield]]'s well-known, fanciful 1903 poem ''[[Salt-Water Poems and Ballads#"Cargoes"|Cargoes]]'' mentions Nineveh in its first line. Nineveh is also mentioned in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s 1897 poem ''[[Recessional (poem)|Recessional]]''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46780/recessional | title=Recessional by Rudyard Kipling | date=14 December 2022 }}</ref> and [[Arthur O'Shaughnessy]]'s 1873 poem ''[[Ode (poem)|Ode]]''.

== See also ==
* [[Cities of the ancient Near East]]
* [[Destruction of cultural heritage by the Islamic State]]
* [[Historical urban community sizes]]
* [[Isaac of Nineveh]]
* [[List of megalithic sites]]
* [[Nanshe]]
* [[Qurnah disaster]]
* [[Short chronology timeline]]
* [[Tel Keppe]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
::{{EBD|wstitle=Nineveh}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation| first = John Malcolm | last = Russell |title = Sennacherib's "Palace without Rival" at Nineveh | publisher = University Of Chicago Press| year = 1992 | isbn = 0-226-73175-8}}
* {{citation| first = Richard David| last = Barnett |title = Sculptures from the north palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668-627&nbsp;B.C.) | publisher = British Museum Publications Ltd| year = 1976 | isbn = 0-7141-1046-9}}
* {{citation| first = Carl| last = Bezold | title = Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum}}
** {{citation| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NFI8AAAAMAAJ | title = Volume I | year = 1889 }}
** {{citation| url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101074440304;view=1up;seq=9 | title = Volume II | year = 1891 | publisher = Printed by order of the Trustees }}
** {{citation| url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924026972384 | title = Volume III| year = 1893 }}
** {{citation| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_fUE8AAAAMAAJ | title = Volume IV| year = 1896 }}
** {{citation| url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101072701640;view=1up;seq=7 | title = Volume V| year = 1899 | publisher = Printed by order of the Trustees}}
* {{citation| title= Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum| publisher = British Museum }}
** {{citation| first = W. L. | last = King | url = https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcunei00brituoft | title = Supplement I| year = 1914}}
** {{citation| first = W. G. | last = Lambert|title = Supplement II | year =1968}}
** {{citation| first = W. G.| last = Lambert|title = Supplement III| year = 1992 | publisher = Trustees of the British Museum| isbn = 0-7141-1131-7}}
* {{citation| first1 = M. Louise| last1 = Scott | first2 = John | last2 = MacGinnis | title = Notes on Nineveh, Iraq | volume = 52 | pages = 63–73| year =1990 }}
* {{citation| editor-first = C. | editor-last = Trümpler | title = Agatha Christie and Archaeology |publisher = The British Museum Press| year = 2001 | isbn = 978-0714111483}} - Nineveh 5, Vessel Pottery 2900&nbsp;BC
* {{citation| first = Gwendolyn | last = Leick | title = The A to Z of Mesopotamia|publisher = Scarecrow Press | year = 2010}} - Early worship of Ishtar, Early / Prehistoric Nineveh
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary|Nineveh}}
{{Commons category|Nineveh}}
{{EB1911 poster|Nineveh}}
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/farchakh/sitephotos.htm#niniveh_a Joanne Farchakh-Bajjaly photos] of Nineveh taken in May 2003 showing damage from looters
* [http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/nineveh/ John Malcolm Russell, "Stolen stones: the modern sack of Nineveh"] in ''Archaeology''; looting of sculptures in the 1990s
* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/assyria-nineveh] Nineveh at the British Museum's website. Includes photographs of items from their collection.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130930191753/http://okapi.berkeley.edu/nineveh/index.html University of California Digital Nineveh Archives] A teaching and research tool presenting a comprehensive picture of Nineveh within the history of archaeology in the Near East, including a searchable data repository for meaningful analysis of currently unlinked sets of data from different areas of the site and different episodes in the 160-year history of excavations
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110613020427/http://archive.cyark.org/nineveh-region-info CyArk Digital Nineveh Archives], publicly accessible, free depository of the data from the previously linked UC Berkeley Nineveh Archives project, fully linked and georeferenced in a [[UC Berkeley]]/[[CyArk]] research partnership to develop the archive for open web use. Includes creative commons-licensed media items.
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/28803198@N06/sets/ Photos of Nineveh, 1989–1990]
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nineveh| ]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 13th century]]
[[Category:Ancient Assyrian cities]]
[[Category:Destroyed populated places]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Iraq]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible cities]]
[[Category:History of Nineveh Governorate]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Iraq]]
[[Category:Ancient Mesopotamia]]
[[Category:Tells (archaeology)]]
[[Category:Hassuna culture]]
[[Category:Nimrod]]
[[Category:Book of Jubilees]]
[[Category:City-states]]
[[Category:Book of Jonah]]