Editing Nineveh (section)

== History ==

=== Early history ===
[[File:Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler, discovered in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting either Sargon or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden).jpg|thumb|Bronze head of an [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] ruler, discovered in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting [[Sargon of Akkad]]'s son [[Manishtushu]], {{Circa|2270 BC}}, Iraq Museum. [[Rijksmuseum van Oudheden]]<ref>M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh", ''Iraq'' Vol. 3, No. 1 (1936), 104&ndash;110. {{JSTOR|4241589}}</ref>]]
Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. Texts from the [[Hellenistic]] period later offered an [[eponym]]ous [[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 (god)|Ashur]], depending on 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 [[Geography of Syria|Syrian coast]] to the [[Zagros Mountains|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 a similar trajectory out of the neolithic.

====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&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====
In 5000 BC, Nineveh transitioned from a [[Halaf culture|Halaf]] village to an [[Ubaid period|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]], [[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]].

Nineveh IV became a trade colony of [[Uruk]] during the [[Uruk period|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.

===Early Bronze Age===
By 3000&nbsp;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 [[Inanna|Ishtar]], in the form of Ishtar of Nineveh. Ishtar of Nineveh was conflated with [[Šauška]] from the Hurro-Urartian pantheon. This temple was called 'House of Exorcists' ([[Cuneiform]]: 𒂷𒈦𒈦 GA<sub>2</sub>.MAŠ.MAŠ; [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: e<sub>2</sub> mašmaš).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=W. |title=Ištar of Nineveh |journal=Iraq |date=2004 |volume=66 |issue=Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale |page=38 |doi=10.1017/S0021088900001595 |s2cid=163889444 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gurney |first1=O.R. |title=Keilschrifttexte nach Kopien von T. G. Pinches. Aus dem Nachlass veröffentlicht und bearbeitet |journal=Archiv für Orientforschung |date=1936 |volume=11 |pages=358–359 |jstor=41634968 }}</ref> 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.

==== 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 ''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.

<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>

====Post-Ninevite 5 period====
A transitional period (c. 2500-2350 BC) that equals the Early Dynastic IIIB in the south.

====Akkadian period====
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 (geology)|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&nbsp;BC by the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian]] king [[Manishtushu]] (c. 2270-2255 BC).

===Middle Bronze===
After the fall of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III]] empire around 2000 BC, Nineveh was absorbed into the rising power of [[Assyria]].

==== Old Assyrian period ====
The historic Nineveh is mentioned in the [[Old Assyrian period|Old Assyrian Empire]] during the reign of [[Shamshi-Adad I]] (1809–1775) in about 1800 BC as a centre of [[worship]] of [[Ishtar]], whose cult was responsible for the city's early importance.

===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 of [[Mitanni]]. The [[Assyria]]n city of 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]].

==== <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; 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 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.<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|civil wars]] between rival claimants for the throne, and in 616 BC Assyria was attacked by its own former vassals, the [[Chaldea]]ns, [[Babylonia|Babylonians]], [[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 ''[[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 ''[[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>

===Later history===
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. The Hebrew [[Book of Jonah]], which was most likely written between 793 and 758 BC, is an account of the city's repentance and God's mercy which prevented destruction.<ref name=SD/>

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/>

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>

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 [[Islamic sites of Mosul|a 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>N. Marchetti, R. M. Mohammed, C. Putzolu, J. E. Reade, M. Valeri (2023). ''The Ottoman Bridge of Mosul: survey and history of an endangered heritage'' (MAIOP 2023:1) Ante Quem and Department of History and Cultures - University of Bologna, Bologna [doi: 10.12877/maiop202301], downloadable at www.orientlab.net/pubs.</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>{{cite news |title=العبادي يطلق على عمليات تحرير نينوى تسمية "قادمون يا نينوى" أمن |url=http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/182977/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B7%D9%84%D9%82-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%88%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A/ar |publisher=[[Al Sumaria]] |date=17 October 2016 |language=ar |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019170941/http://www.alsumaria.tv/news/182977/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B7%D9%84%D9%82-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%88%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%85%D9%8A/ar |archive-date=19 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="atlantic1020">{{cite news |last1=Winter |first1=Charlie |title=How ISIS Is Spinning the Mosul Battle |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/isis-mosul-propaganda-iraq-kurds-peshmerga/504854/ |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=20 October 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020230854/http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/isis-mosul-propaganda-iraq-kurds-peshmerga/504854/ |archive-date=20 October 2016}}</ref>