The people to whom apostle JONAH was sent were the inhabitants of Nineveh. It was an ancient Assyrian city on the east bank of the TIGRIS, opposite to the modern City of Mosul in Iraq.

      NINEVEH began as a NEOLITHIC settlement more than 5000 years ago. Its earliest settlers with primitive stone tools and crude pottery were culturally related to the contemporary people of northern Mosopotamia whose racial identity is uncertain. It was king Sennacherib (705ِ681 B.C.) who expanded the city and made it the capital, and it is from his records that we have our best picture of the city. King Sennachrib doubled the size of the city and beautified it. He built some 8 miles of walls around the town, 45ft. thick and 75 feet high, made chiefly of limestone and protected with many towers. A water moat extended more than 100 ft in front of the wall. An outer double wall with the moat in between offered further protections. Fifteen gates, each with its own name led into the city. An elaborate canal and aqueduct brought fresh water from the hills.

      A large part of the city was occupied by official building, temples, and great governmental armour. Another feature of the city was a park with strange flora and fauna, gathered from distant parts of the world by the ruler. ASHURBANIPAL, the last great ruler of Assyria (668ِ630 B.C.) built himself a palace in NINEVEH. The fall of Nineveh and of the Assyria Empire occured in the summer of 612 B.C. through the united efforts of the Medes and Babylonians under the leadership of their respective kings; CYAXARES and NABOPOLASSAR.

      Modern archeological investigation of the site consisting of two mounds, called KUYUNJIC and NABI UNUS began in the middle of 19th century with Layard's and Rassam's work. In 1854, Rassam uncovered the remains of an immense library, estimated at 22000 uniform tablets. The varied contents of these tablets from the library of ASHURBANIPAL, now in British Museum, give a brilliant introduction to the complex culture and history of ancient Babylonia and Assyria.

BY:ِ ENCYCLOPEDIA INTERNATIONAL

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