NINEVEH. The ancient capital of the Assyrian empire lay on the right bank of the Tigris opposite the modern city of Mosul.
It consists of two great mounds, Kouyunjik and that on which to day is the reputed tomb of the prophet Jonah (Nebi Yunus). The river has now shifted a short distance to the west so that the mounds are isolated from the present bed, although in ancient times the city abutted on the river. The city is situated on the north west corner of a plain about 25 by 15 miles in extent, formed by the Tigris and its tributaries, the Khosr on which Nineveh was built, which bounds the plain on the northwest, the Gomal, which forms the northeastern boundary, and the Upper Zab on the southeast. The western and south flank is protected by the Tigris itself. The whole plain slopes gently to the Tigris and provides a strong position, being protected by the foothills and the Gomal on the northeastern side, and on the south and west by the Tigris and the Upper Zab. The Khosr, although impassable enough when flooded forms at other times no barrier to attack. The posi tion of Nineveh therefore astride this stream at its confluence with the Tigris is of great strategic importance. The Khosr was used to supply water to fill the protective works of the city and elabo rate measures of river conservancy were taken to protect the plain against its most destructive inundations. Although the country is a fertile and prosperous wheat growing land, a fact which no doubt accounts for the many ancient cities so close to one another, owing to the slope of the plain the city itself is badly supplied with water and Sennacherib was compelled to build water conduits to conduct water from the hills into the Khosr and its canal system. The city then, although formerly, as is its modern descendant Mosul, the centre of a rich district, was suited particu larly to military efficiency.
The city itself was surrounded by immense walls, which enclosed an irregularly shaped space, about three miles long and about a mile broad at the north where the walls were double, narrowing to about three quarters of a mile at the southern end. The walls were pierced by fifteen gates. As in so many walled cities the actual dwellings did not occupy the whole of the space within the walls, there were parks watered by the elaborate aqueducts which brought water from the Khosr and other open spaces. The two great mounds formed two great fortified strongholds, and were joined together by a wall, part of which formed the west wall of the city. The mound of Kouyunjik, which is at present being explored by Campbell Thompson on behalf of the British Museum, contains an important series of buildings. On the north lay the
palace of Ashur-banipal. South of this lay the Temple of Nabu.
On this spot a great rectangular building was found, 1 oo x 8o feet which probably included part of the temple buildings and of the courtyard. Directly south of this again is to-day a broad pit which may possibly represent the site of the temple of Ishtar which is known to have existed on the mound. To the east is a building of Sennacherib, whose purpose does not seem to have been identified. Finally at the southwestern extremity of the mound is the palace of Sennacherib. This palace is of great architectural magnificence and is especially remarkable for the bas-reliefs which have so far been discovered. On the other mound Sennacherib built a military depot ; his son Esar-Haddon built himself a palace on this mound, which has not at present been fully explored.
Although the greatness of Nineveh covers a comparatively short period there are indications that the city was Sumerian in origin, and early pottery and obsidian flakes have been found on the site. It has been suggested that possibly the Sumerians occupied this whole area before migrating south. The true history of Nine veh however begins at a comparatively late date. Hammurabi restored a temple of Ishtar, probably in Nineveh and Shalmaneser I., nearly a thousand years later, about 130o B.C. restored the temple again, but although Sennacherib states that some of his ancestors were buried there the city was small and unimportant. He built the great building and walls which have already been described and made a great triumphal way. His son Esar-Haddon rebuilt the temple of Ashur but started to rebuild Babylon, and did not carry out Sennacherib's purpose of making Nineveh the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Ashur-banipal however en riched the city with some of its greatest treasures, including a great library of clay tablets. Finally in 612 B.C. the men of Nine veh were defeated by the Medes and the city was looted and destroyed.
It seems probable that Mespila, referred to by Xenophon in the Anabasis refers to this site, and if so the spot was deserted at this time, but the name of Nineveh was applied to the site even in the middle ages, so an ancient tradition must have existed as to the location of the town. The site however did not become of any importance again till the time of the Arab conquest, when it lay on the opposite bank of the Tigris. (For later history see Mosul—) The site has been attacked by numerous excavators from Layard onwards. In 1903-5 it was excavated by L. W. King and R. Campbell Thompson.