The ancient city was a strongly fortified town. an irregular trapezium in shape. The walls have been traced and found to have been about a mile and one-quarter in length on the north, something less than three miles on the east, about half a mile on the south, and two and one-half miles along the Tigris mu the west. A remarkable gate was discovered by Layard near the venire of the northern wall: on the city side thew were Co lossal man-headed bulls and winged human fig ures. The river Khosar flowed through the city from west to east, dividing it into t WO nearly equal parts. The superficial area was about 181)11 acres, According to a statement of the Book of Jonah (iv. II). the population when the city was at the height of its glory has been estimated at 600,000. This is probably too great. Com mander ,Tones calculated in that the popula tion of the city and suburbs cannot have ex melted 3:1.000, while the city itself may have been the home of about 175,000 souls. The state ment that "Nineveh was an exeeeding great city of three days' journey" (Jonah iii. :1) does not seem greatly exaggerated, if the suburbs be taken into account.
The first certain mention of Nineveh is in the code of Ilammurabi—latter half of the twenty third century n.c. (See IlAmmurtmlY.) The name occurs in certain Babylonian inscriptions which are at least 500 years older, but it is not certain that the reference is to the Assyrian cap ital. The earliest scat of the Assyrian rulers was at Asshur (Kileh Shergat, on the west bank of the Tigris, about 50 miles below Mosul). The seat of government was first transferred to Calah (Nimrud, q.v.). Shalmancser 1. (e,1300 p.c.), who calls himself the builder of the latter city, is known to have restored a temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, which is also mentioned in an inscrip tion of Shamshiadad (c.1800 u.c.) and in the code of Hammurabi. From the tine of Assbur belkala (c.1090 we.) to the reign of Assur nazirpal (B.c. 885-860) Nineveh was the capital. The latter King returned to Calah, but in the days of Sennacherib (n.c. 705-681) Nineveh re gained its • position. )gennacherib's predecessor, Sargon II. (n.c. 722-705), seems to have given the preference to Khorsabad. Under Sennacherib and his succes,ors Nineveh attained to its great est prosperity and fame. It fell before the com bined efforts of Medes and Babylonians, the Me dian King, Cyaxares (u.c. 625-586), entering into an alliance with the Babylonian King, Nabopolas Sar 625-605), for the destruction of the syrian Empire. The last days of Nineveh are ob scure. That the city held out for a considerable time by virtue of its strong fortifications is prob able. The year of its fall is uncertain ; a probable date is B.C. 607. According to tradition its King, Sinsharishkun, ended his life in the thanleS which consumed his capital. The destruction of the city was complete. Xenophon with the Ten Thousand Greeks passed by its site about two centuries later, and does not even mention its name. It is
probable. however, that the 'great uninhabited cities' which lie calls Mespila and Larissa (Anal). iii. 4, 7-12) were Koyunjik and Nebi Yunus, respectively.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. All that was known about Bibliography. All that was known about Nineveh before the beginning of excavations may be found in Tuch, Commentationes Orographiew de Nino Urbe (Leipzig. 1845), and Narens von Niebuhr. Ocschiehte Assurs (Ind Babas (Berlin, 1857). The authoritative accounts of the ex cavations are: Layard, Ninereh and Its Remains (London, ISIS) ; i11., The Monuments of NituTeh, series i., 100 plates. series ii., 71 plates (ib., 1849-53) id., Discorerics in the Ritiiis of Ninerch and Babylon (lb., 1853) ; Smith, Assyrian Dis eorerics (lb., 1875: 311 ed., New York, 1876) ; Eassam, and the Land of Nimrod (Cin cinnati, 1897). For the topography, consult Rich, Karratire of a Residence in Kow.distan and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh (London, 1836) ; Jones, of Nineveh. with Maps," in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xv. (London, 1855). For the inscriptions consult Layard, Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character front Assyrian Monuments (London, 1851); Ilawlinsou and Pinches, The Cuneiform Inscrip tions of 'Western Asia (lb., 1861-91) : Bezold. Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kony unfik Collection of the British Museum (ih.. 1889 99). The following works are also reconummded: Bich, Collected Memoirs (London. 1839) ; Loftus. Tril relS and fiCSrarCheS in Chalihril and Sashimi lib.. 1857) : Layard, Early Adrentnres in Persia, and Baby1016a (ib„1SS7 ; 211 ed., abridged, 1804) ; the British Alliseum tluidc to the Assyr ian Antiquities (new ed., ib., 1900); vol. i., parts 1-3 of the photographs of the :intiquities in the British .11.1seum published by Stephen Thompson (ib.. 1872) ; Maspero, The Struggle of the Na tions (ib., 1896) and 7'he Passing of the Empires (ib., 1900), both profusely illustrated ; and Jeremias, "Der Untergang Ninevelis and die Weissagungsschrift des Nahum von Elkosch," in Britrdye zur Assyrioloyie, vol. iii. ( Leipzig. 1898). a. description of the defenses and fortifi cations with maps :11111 illustrations; Kaulen As.syrien and Gitkitilonien (5th ed., Freiburg, 1899 ) ; Goodspeed, .1 History of the Babylonians and Assyrians (New York, 1903) ; Schrader. Die kcilinscliriften das (tile 7'estament ((3ies;F:en, 1883; Eng. trans., London, 1897) ; Pinches, The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of 71 skyria and Babylonia ( London, 1902 ) ; Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century (Phila delphia, 191(3): and the works mentioned in the article ASSYRIA. Sec also ASSYRIAN ART: CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS, amt the biographical notices of the different excavators.