Nineveh
Assyrian city on the Tigris, opposite modern Mosul, and Sennacherib’s capital. In the Bible Jonah is sent to it and Nahum announces its ruin. It fell to the Medes and Babylonians in 612 BC.
Nineveh stood on the east bank of the Tigris; its mounds now lie within the city of Mosul. Genesis counts it among the cities of Assyria founded in the days of Nimrod (Genesis 10:8–12). Sennacherib calls it his capital (Sennacherib, Annals (Taylor Prism) iii 37–49). Kings says he returned there after his campaign against Judah (2 Kings 19:36), and the Lachish Reliefs come from his palace in the city. The book of Jonah calls it “that great city” and tells of its repentance (Jonah 1:2) (Jonah 3:5–10); Nahum and Zephaniah announce its destruction (Nahum 3:1–7) (Zephaniah 2:13–15). The Babylonian chronicle records that Babylonian and Median armies besieged the city for three months in 612 BC, plundered it and left it a ruin (Babylonian Chronicle 3 year 14). Jesus named its people as an example of repentance (Matthew 12:41).
What happened here
- about 760 BC, traditional dateJonah Sent to Nineveh
The book of Jonah tells of a prophet of Israel who is sent to preach against Nineveh, flees by sea, is swallowed by a great fish and then sees the Assyrian city repent and be spared. Jesus later speaks of “the sign of Jonah”.