The kings of Assyria were well prepared for the defense of the city they had captured. A high wall made of stone stretched for many kilometers, surrounding the capital of the first empire in human history.

Much of what remains of the once great Assyrian city of Nineveh, for a long time hid under the hills of Kuyunjik and Tel Nebi Yunus in the territory of modern Iraq.

Nineveh, one of ancient cities Assyria, sung by poets as a symbol of the greatness of the Assyrian kings, stood on the eastern bank of the river, near its left tributary, the Upper (Great) Zab, where the city of Mosul stands today.

All that remains directly from Nineveh can be seen on two hills - Kuyundzhik and Tel Nebi Yunus (Prophet Jonah), although in fact the city occupied a huge area and the ancients called it nothing less than Great Nineveh.

As archaeologists have found, in the middle of the 5th millennium BC. a settlement had already been established on the site of these ruins.

Thus, Nineveh is one of the oldest cities in the world. The first mention of Nineveh is on cuneiform tablets dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. They also tell about the vassalage of Nineveh in the 15th-14th centuries. BC e. from Mitanni - the state of the Hurrians and Semites. Mitanni was a powerful state, on which Assyria, located to the east, initially depended.

Story

Early Nineveh occupied a place at the intersection of trade routes from India to the shores of Mediterranean Sea and played a significant role in the development of interstate relations in Western Asia. In an inscription on a stone dating back to 1930 BC, the Babylonian king Hammurabi mentioned the temple of Ishtar, the goddess of all Ancient Mesopotamia, standing in Nineveh, built around 2300 BC. e.

Over time, Mitanni lost its political importance, and in 1250 BC. was finally destroyed by the strengthened state of the Assyrians.

Assyria became one of the most powerful powers of Mesopotamia, extending in the west to Syria and Palestine. Having expanded the borders, the Assyrians annexed Nineveh to their state, but it did not immediately become the capital. While Ashur and Kalah retained the status of royal residences, Nineveh remained a provincial city.

Beginning with the reign of Shalmaneser I (reigned approximately 1274-1244 BC), Nineveh gained increasing influence. The city became the capital under the Assyrian kings Sennacherib (705-681 BC) and Ashurbanipal (669 - about 635 BC). It is to them that Nineveh owes its numerous buildings. For the sake of building palaces, Sennacherib ordered the demolition of entire neighborhoods with old buildings, expelling residents and making way for luxurious buildings.

Gradually, Nineveh became the center of arts, science and culture in Mesopotamia.

At the same time, biblical sources note a decline in morals in the city, caused by corruption by wealth and proximity to the royal court. Now the city appears in the Bible not as the center of Great Nineveh, but as “... a triumphant city, living carefree, saying in its heart: “I am, and there is no other beside me”” (Zeph. 2:15). It is clear, that punishment for carelessness is inevitable, and the Bible predicts the destruction of the city through the lips of the prophets both Jonah and Nahum: “The cavalry rushes, the sword flashes and the spears shine; there are many slain ...” (Nahum. 3:3).

In the 630s. BC e. Assyria began to fight with the Medes and Hittites in 612 BC. e. Nineveh was captured by the same Medes, the army of Cyaxares. They were helped by the flood of the Tigris: the water destroyed part of the city fortifications, whose walls were built of unbaked brick: “The river gates are opened, and the palace is destroyed...” (Nahum. 2:6). Then the fire destroyed everything that remained after the sack of Nineveh, the last capital of the Assyrian kingdom.

In plan, ancient Nineveh was a triangle with boundaries clearly defined by a city wall and straight streets. According to the will of King Sennacherib, anyone who dares to “self-build” and erect a building that extends beyond the straight line of the street must be immediately impaled on the roof of his house.

Over the next 2000 years, storms covered the city with sand, and scientists tirelessly argued: did the biblical Nineveh really exist?

Indeed, by our time there was little to remind us that a flourishing city stood here. 200 years after the capture of Nineveh by the Medes, the ancient Greek writer and historian Xenophon (about 430 - no earlier than 356 BC).

visited these places and in his work “Anabasis”, describing the local area, mentioned Nineveh, mistaking the ruins for the remains of Indian cities.

The first European to see the ruins of Nineveh was the German-Dutch traveler Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815), who stumbled upon the unnamed ruins during an expedition of 1761-1768. However, the honor of making the first description of the ruins belongs to the French consul in Mosul and archaeologist Paul-Emile Botta (1802-1870): in 1843, he began excavations at the site of the former Nineveh and discovered several palaces, including the palace of King Sargon II.

In 1847, the English archaeologist and adventurer Austin Henry Layard (1817-1894) continued excavations and in 1849 discovered the palace of King Sennacherib and the library of King Ashurbanipal from 22 thousand.

clay tablets. They are now in the collections of the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

After this, the excavations of Nineveh were no longer interrupted.

The most valuable find was a sculpted bronze head discovered in the temple of the goddess Ishtar - a supposed image of Naramsin, the grandson of King Sargon the Ancient, who called himself the “god of Akkad” (second half of the 3rd millennium BC).

Excavations led to the discovery of several archaeological layers. The lowest one - the fifth - represents the culture of early Sumer; multi-colored ceramics from the 5-4th millennium BC were found here. e.

The top one is the era of Nineveh as one of the capitals of Assyria at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. It is from this period that monumental palaces, carved reliefs and cuneiform writings belong.

Nineveh, like other Assyrian cities, was built on an artificial platform 20 m high, on which temples, palaces and a large garden were built. Excavations have uncovered five of the 15 gates of the city wall. A water supply system was laid in the eastern part of the city.

Having passed the gate and walked along the wide road to the palaces, the embassies that arrived to the king of Assyria saw statues of winged bulls and lions - guards of the palace gates.

The palaces of Nineveh differ not so much in their architecture - it is quite traditional for Assyria as a whole - but in the theme of the stone reliefs found in them.

In the palace of Sennacherib, the reliefs that line the palace chambers - 75 rooms and galleries - depict military campaigns, the triumph and exploits of the king, the capture of cities and fortresses, and the sophisticated torture of prisoners. The masters especially tried to convey the characteristic anthropological and ethnographic features of prisoners of war and tributaries - representatives of various nations.

Around the palace of Sennacherib there are parks, menageries, stables, warehouses. And also - a gate with winged bulls and lions of colossal size.

The reliefs in both palaces were designed in deliberately cold colors: black, yellow and dark purple.

A discovery of global significance was made in the palace of Ashurbanipal and the temple of the god Nabu - books on 30 thousand cuneiform clay tablets, called the “library of Ashurbanipal”. The most valuable are the Epic of Gilgamesh, containing the story of the flood, and the creation poem Enuma Elish.

The safety of the excavations is threatened fighting in Iraq and the determination of terrorists to destroy “pagan monuments”, many of which they have already completely destroyed...

general information

Location : northern Iraq.
Administrative affiliation : Ninewa governorate, Mosul.
First mention : 3rd millennium BC e.

Capital: from the 8th century BC e.

Destroyed: 612 BC e.
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian.
Ethnic composition : Arabs, Kurds (including Yazidis), Assyrians.
Religion: Islam (Sunnism, Shiism), Yazidism, Christianity, Judaism (until 2014).

Numbers

Square: 7.5 km 2 .
Palace walls: thickness - from 0.9 to 2 m.
City wall: length - about 12 km, height of stone base - 6 m, brick wall-superstructure (height - 10 m, thickness -15 m).
Kuyunjik Hill: height - 20 m, length - 800 m, width - 500 m.
Height above sea level : 225 m.
Population (ancient Nineveh) : about 170 thousand people. (grade).
Population of Mosul city : OK. 2 million (2012), up to 1 million people. (2015)
Remoteness: 44 km north of Baghdad.

Climate and weather

Subtropical, arid (precipitation may be absent in the summer months).
Average January temperature : +7°C.
Average temperature in July : +34°С.
Maximum temperature : +49.3°C.
Average annual precipitation : 360 mm.
Average annual relative humidity : 55% (from 30% in summer to 80% in winter).

Attractions

Complex of ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh (VIII-VII centuries BC)

Palaces of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal

Gates of Nergal, Mashki, Adada, Shamash and Halzi

Statues of winged bulls and lions

City wall

Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus hills
Archaeological Museum

Curious facts

Documents about early history Nineveh practically does not exist. The Old Testament in the Book of Genesis suggests that Assur, one of the sons of Shem, the son of the patriarch Noah, be considered the founder of Nineveh: “Assur came out of this land and built Nineveh...” (Gen. 10:11). Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, who owned Babylon, is also considered the hypothetical founder of Nineveh. Or the Babylonian king Nin - character ancient greek mythology. The latter is counted among the founders of the city, probably due to the consonance of the name with the name of Nineveh. Ancient writers also called the king Ninos, Ninus, Ninua or Nina. According to another hypothesis, the city received its name from the name of the patron goddess.

In relative proximity to Nineveh, the ruins of several more Assyrian cities were discovered: to the south - the ancient city of Nimrud, to the northeast - Karemles, to the north - Dur-Sharrukin with the remains of the palace of Sargon I. The four ancient cities are located at the top of the four corners of a parallelogram 50-60 long km and a width of 20-30 km. Presumably, this territory is what the ancients called Great Nineveh (“great city”, Gen. 10:11) - the region together with the named places. Then the words of the prophet Jonah from the Old Testament become clear:
.. Nineveh was a great city of God, three days' walk away. And Jonah began to walk around the city, as far as he could go in one day, and preached...” (Jonah 3:3-4). The Bible also includes the cities of Rehobothir (Rebit Ninua), Resen and Kalah in Greater Nineveh.

The Assyrian kings established several capitals for themselves, alternately choosing Nineveh and Kalah as their residence. The reasons for this turned out to be different - from military-political to purely personal, which we can only guess about.

The name of the hill on which Nineveh stood - Kuyundzhik - is translated from Arabic prosaically: “sheep hill”, or simply “sheep”.

What Nineveh was like can be judged from the works of ancient authors (Strabo, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus), based on unreliable stories of traveling traders. Strabo and Herodotus claim that the wall was built more than 90 km long, 25 m high with 1500 towers and so wide that three chariots could drive along it in a row. A ditch 50 m wide was dug around the wall. The main street, called the Processional Road, was 26 m wide (according to other sources - 50 m). Nineveh was supplied with water from 18 canals, which took water from sources 16 km from the city. Not all ancient data have yet been confirmed by excavations.

The population of the Assyrian capital was supposedly about 170 thousand people. According to the Bible (Jonah 4:11), more than 120 thousand small children lived in the city. Consequently, the population was approximately 600 thousand people.
■ The Iraqi governorate of Nineveh, which contains the ruins of Nineveh, is the site of the main settlement of Assyrians in the country.

The repository of clay tablets of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh is the world's first systematically collected library in which clay books are placed in a specific order. Creating the library of King Ashurbanipal, scribes throughout Mesopotamia made copies of books from public and private collections, or they themselves “collected” books: chronicles of the most important historical events, collections of laws, literary works and scientific texts. Some texts included up to forty, and sometimes even more than a hundred tablets.

Nineveh is the capital of Assyria in the 8th-7th centuries BC. e. - was located on the territory of modern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River.
According to legend, the name of Nineveh comes from the name of the first king of Assyria, Ninus, whom the ancient Greeks considered the son of the Titan Kronos, brother of Zeus. Nin was credited with inventing the art of warfare. His power extended over all of Asia. Nin's wife was the famous Queen Semiramis.
The first mention of it is in the inscriptions of Judea; the oldest inscription discovered here is that of King Dunga, written in Semitic. As an important trading point at the crossroads from south to north and from the Mediterranean to Persian Gulf, Nineveh was soon able to reach the heights of prosperity, and as a strategic point, protected from the west by the Tigris, from the east by the Zab and mountains and distant from the hostile Babylon, in ancient times it often served as the residence of Assyrian kings.
During its heyday, Nineveh stretched along the river for 4 km, and the main street was 26 m wide. The capital of Assyria was distinguished by a clear and strict layout, which was strictly forbidden to be violated.
The capital of Assyria - the city of Nineveh - was inhabited by 170 thousand people! Its circumference reached 150 km. Within the boundaries of the settlement there were not only royal palaces and temples, but also pastures and gardens. Tsarskaya Street, covered with asphalt, was decorated with elaborate statues.

Mentions of Nineveh in the Bible
For a long time, scientists had no other sources of mention of Nineveh other than the Bible, so the very existence of this city was questioned. According to legend, God ordered the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell its inhabitants that in 40 days the city would be destroyed, and they themselves would be exterminated for their sins. But Jonah did not want to go into the city, believing that the inhabitants would not believe him.
Compelled by God, he nevertheless arrived under the city walls, but decided to hide from God and the commission entrusted to him by the Creator. Jonah boarded a ship to sail away from the doomed city. But a storm arose at sea, and the sailors decided that God was angry with one of those who had boarded the ship. Jonah realized that it was he who had incurred the wrath of the Lord and asked to be thrown into the sea, where he was swallowed by a whale. The prophet spent three days in the stomach of a whale, after which he prayed to the Creator, asking to release him from captivity and promising to do everything that God commanded.
God heard Jonah, and when the whale Once again opened his mouth, the rushing waves picked up the prophet and threw him ashore. Seeing a city in the distance, Jonah asked what it was called, and heard in response that it was Nineveh. Jonah became afraid because he realized that he could not escape from what God had destined for him. And Jonah went to Nineveh and cried out to the inhabitants, saying that with their sins they had angered the Lord, for which the city would be destroyed. People listened to him in fear, as it is written in the book of the prophet Jonah: “And the Ninevites believed in the Creator: and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” Seeing their repentance, the Lord forgave the inhabitants of Nineveh and did not destroy the city.

Archaeological research of the ruins of Nineveh
Only in the 19th century did the results of archaeological excavations fully confirm the authenticity of the biblical story. This event dates back to approximately 785 BC. e. A few years after Jonah's preaching, an attempt was made at religious reform in Assyria, which was supposed to lead to the establishment of a monotheistic cult. Little information has been preserved about this reform; it is only known that it was never completed. But the very fact of an attempt to move from polytheism to faith in one God indicates the influence of monotheists, who were the Jews at that time.

Active archaeological research into the ruins of Nineveh was carried out in the 40s of the 19th century - 30s of the 20th century.
An expedition led by French explorer P.E. Both in 1840 worked in Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian city located 50 km north of Mosul (Iraq), and discovered the ruins of ancient walls. Scientists have established that these are the remains of the palace of one of the Assyrian kings, Sargon II (reigned 722-705 BC). A huge structure, consisting of a complex of buildings, was erected in 709 BC. e. after the victory won by Sargon over Babylonia. On the ruins of the royal palace, many statues of gods and ancient kings were discovered, as well as a sculptural image of King Sargon himself.
Thanks to excavations in Khorsabad, real evidence was obtained of the existence of a great power and King Sargon, which previously could only be learned from the Bible. This is what is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “In the year when Tartan came to Azoth, he was sent from Sargon, king of Assyria, and fought against Azoth, and took it.” Thanks to the data obtained, the researchers established that it was Sargon who destroyed the kingdom of Northern Israel and took the 10 tribes of Israel into captivity.
Another researcher who continued the excavations of Nineveh was O.G. Layard. 1845 - he began excavations on Nimrud Hill, where he found the ruins of huge palaces, statues of kings, gods and fantastic creatures, as well as reliefs carved in stone with scenes of war and Everyday life ancient Assyrians.

Excavations of the royal palace
1849 - Layard began excavations of Kuyundzhik Hill. A few days later, at a depth of 20 m, the ruins of the palace of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who reigned in 705-681, were found. BC e. This king is mentioned in the Bible in connection with his campaign against Judea, which ended extremely unsuccessfully for the king of Assyria. His troops fell ill with an unknown disease, from which many soldiers died every day, and were soon defeated by the Israelis.
Confirmation of the biblical story about Sennacherib's campaign against Judea is found in the chronicles of those times, which repeatedly indicate the huge number of soldiers who died during the outbreak of the epidemic. Perhaps it was tropical fever.

Excavations of the royal palace and numerous finds made it possible to recreate the image of King Sennacherib, whose very name struck fear into the inhabitants of neighboring states. The King of Assyria was an educated man: he understood many sciences and arts, and showed great interest in sports and technology. But Sennacherib often flew into a rage, losing control of himself and showing monstrous cruelty. So, in 689 BC. e., having captured Babylon, which dared to rebel, he almost completely exterminated the population of the rebellious city, destroyed the Esagila temple complex and the famous Tower of Babel, and then flooded what was left of the city.
Wanting to absolutely destroy the very memory of the rebellious city, the king ordered the earth taken from the place where Babylon was to be scattered to the wind.
But the despotic character of the king became the reason for his violent death at the hands of his own sons. From the chronicles it became known that the king, wanting to please his favorite Nakia, appointed him heir to the throne youngest son Esargaddon, ignoring the rights of the elders, who killed the king. And yet, the throne passed to their younger brother, and the parricides had to flee the country.
This is how the end of Sennacherib is said in the Bible: “And when he was worshiping in the house of Nischor his god, Adramelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with the sword, and they themselves fled to the land of Ararat. And Asardan his son reigned in their stead.” There is a similar entry in the Assyrian chronicle: “On the 20th of Tever (January) Sennacherib was killed by his rebel sons. On the 18th day of Sivan (June), his son Asardan reigned on the throne of his father.”

Nineveh capital of Assyria
It was during the reign of Sennacherib that Nineveh became the capital of Assyria. Before this, the royal residences were Ashur and Kalkha. In less than a hundred years, from an ordinary province it turned into a city of contrasts, in which luxury coexisted with extreme poverty. In Nineveh, as in many other ancient states, orgiastic cults of cruel gods flourished, to whom human sacrifices were made.
Even the fun of the Assyrian rulers often turned into a series of executions. There is a legend that the king of Assyria Sardanapal (Ashurbanipal) (669 - about 633 BC), who was bored with luxury, debauchery and bloodshed, promised to give half of his power to anyone who could invent new entertainment for him.
As archaeologists have established, the city consisted of two parts, which can conventionally be called Greater and Lesser Nineveh. Greater Nineveh was a territory in which settlements were located, surrounded by a system of fortress walls and ditches. Little Nineveh was like a fortress within a fortress, being surrounded by its own fortification system. This small Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian kingdom, since royal palaces were located on its territory.
Nineveh was besieged in 612 by the united forces of Babylonia and Media. Its inhabitants gave a worthy rebuff, but the forces were unequal. In addition, the attackers resorted to a trick: they destroyed the dam, causing the Tigris to overflow its banks and wash away part of the fortress walls. The once great capital was sacked by the conquerors, after which it was razed to the ground.
Only in mid-19th centuries, Nineveh again returned from oblivion thanks to the efforts of archaeologists. During excavations, many clay tablets with cuneiform texts were discovered - the library of Ashurbanipal, thanks to which it was possible to confirm the existence of a great power.
L. Antonova

Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian state in the 8th–7th centuries BC. e. – was located on the territory of modern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River.

The name of Nineveh, according to legend, comes from the name of the first king of Assyria, Ninus, whom the ancient Greeks considered the son of the Titan Kronos, brother of Zeus. Ninus was credited with inventing the art of warfare. His power extended over all of Asia. Nin's wife was the famous Queen Semiramis, with whose name one of the miracles is mistakenly associated Ancient world- Hanging Gardens in Babylon.

For a long time, scientists had no other sources of mention of Nineveh other than the Bible, so the very existence of this city was questioned. According to legend, God commanded the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell its inhabitants that in 40 days the city would be destroyed, and they themselves would be exterminated for their sins. But Jonah did not want to go into the city, believing that the inhabitants would not believe him. Compelled by God, he nevertheless arrived under the walls of the city, but decided to hide from God and the commission entrusted to him by the Creator. Jonah boarded a ship to sail away from the doomed city. But a storm broke out at sea, and the sailors decided that God was angry with one of those who had boarded the ship. Jonah realized that it was he who had incurred the wrath of the Creator and asked to be thrown into the sea, where he was swallowed by a whale. The prophet spent three days in the stomach of the animal, after which he prayed to God, asking to free him from captivity and promising to do everything that God commanded.

God heard Jonah, and when the whale once again opened its mouth, the rushing waves picked up the prophet and threw him ashore. Seeing a city in the distance, Jonah asked what it was called, and heard in response that it was Nineveh. Jonah became afraid because he realized that he could not escape from what God had destined for him. And Jonah went to Nineveh and cried out to the inhabitants, saying that with their sins they had angered the Creator, for which the city would be destroyed. People listened to him in fear, as it is written in the book of the prophet Jonah: “And the Ninevites believed God: and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” Seeing their repentance, God forgave the inhabitants of Nineveh and did not destroy the city.

Only in the 19th century did the results of archaeological excavations fully confirm the authenticity of the biblical story. This event dates back to approximately 785 BC. e. A few years after Jonah's preaching, an attempt was made at religious reform in Assyria, which was supposed to lead to the establishment of a monotheistic cult. Little information has been preserved about this reform; it is only known that it was never completed. But the very fact of an attempt to move from polytheism to faith in one God indicates the influence of monotheists, who were the Jews at that time.

Active archaeological research of the ruins of Nineveh was carried out in the 40s of the 19th century - 30s of the 20th century.

An expedition led by French explorer P. E. Both in 1840 worked in Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian city located 50 kilometers north of Mosul (Iraq), and discovered the ruins of ancient walls. Scientists have been able to establish that these are the remains of the palace of one of the Assyrian kings, Sargon II (reigned 722–705 BC). A huge structure, consisting of a complex of buildings, was erected in 709 BC. e. after the victory won by Sargon over Babylonia. On the ruins of the royal palace, many statues of gods and ancient kings were found, as well as a sculptural image of King Sargon himself.

Thanks to excavations in Khorsabad, evidence was obtained of the real existence of a great power and King Sargon, which previously could only be learned from the Bible. This is what is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “In the year when Tartan came to Azoth, he was sent from Sargon, king of Assyria, and fought against Azoth, and took it.” Thanks to the data obtained, scientists concluded that it was Sargon who destroyed the kingdom of Northern Israel and took the ten tribes of Israel into captivity.

Palace of Sargon II in Khorsabad (reconstruction)

Another researcher who continued the excavations of Nineveh was O. G. Layard. In 1845, he began excavations on the hill of Nimrud, where he discovered the ruins of huge palaces, statues of kings, gods and fantastic creatures, as well as reliefs carved in stone with scenes of war and the daily life of the ancient Assyrians.

Winged bulls with a human head from the palace of Sargon II (height 4.2 m). VIII century BC e.

In 1849, Layard began excavations of Kuyundzhik Hill. A few days later, at a depth of 20 meters, the ruins of the palace of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, who reigned in 705-681 BC, were discovered. e. This king is mentioned in the Bible in connection with his campaign against Judea, which ended extremely unsuccessfully for the king of Assyria. His troops fell ill with an unknown disease, from which many soldiers died every day, and were soon defeated by the Israelis.

Confirmation of the biblical story about Sennacherib's campaign against Judea is available in the chronicles of that time, which repeatedly indicate the huge number of soldiers who died during the outbreak of the epidemic. It was probably tropical fever.

Excavations of the royal palace and numerous finds made it possible to recreate the image of King Sennacherib, whose very name struck fear into the inhabitants of neighboring states. The King of Assyria was an educated man: he understood many sciences and arts, and showed great interest in sports and technology. However, Sennacherib often flew into a rage, losing control of himself and showing monstrous cruelty. So, in 689 BC. e., having captured Babylon, who dared to rebel, he almost completely exterminated the population of the rebellious city, destroyed the temple complex of Esagila and the famous Tower of Babel, and then flooded what was left of the city.

Wanting to completely destroy the very memory of the rebellious city, the king ordered the land taken from the place where Babylon was located to be scattered to the wind.

However, the despotic nature of the king caused his violent death at the hands of his own sons. From the chronicles it became known that the king, wanting to please his favorite Nakia, appointed his youngest son Asargaddon heir to the throne, ignoring the rights of his elders, who killed the king. And yet the throne passed to their younger brother, and the parricides had to flee the country.

King Ashurbanipal on a chariot. Limestone (height 80 cm). Fragment. VII century BC e.

This is how the end of Sennacherib is said in the Book of Books: “And when he was worshiping in the house of Nischor his god, Adramelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with a sword, and they themselves fled to the land of Ararat. And Asardan his son reigned in their stead.” There is a similar entry in the Assyrian chronicle: “On the 20th of Tever (January) Sennacherib was killed by his rebel sons. On the 18th day of Sivan (June), his son Asardan reigned on the throne of his father.”

It was during the reign of Sennacherib that Nineveh became the capital of Assyria. Before this, the royal residences were Ashur and Kalkha. In less than a hundred years, from an ordinary province it turned into a city of contrasts, in which luxury coexisted with extreme poverty. In Nineveh, as in many other ancient states, orgiastic cults of cruel gods flourished, to whom human sacrifices were made. Even the fun of the Assyrian rulers often turned into a series of executions. There is a legend that the king of Assyria Sardanapalus (Ashurbanipal) (669 - about 633 BC), who was bored with luxury, debauchery and bloodshed, promised to give half of his power to anyone who could invent new entertainment for him.

As archaeologists were able to establish, the city consisted of two parts, which can conventionally be called Greater and Lesser Nineveh. Greater Nineveh was a territory in which settlements were located, surrounded by a system of fortress walls and ditches. Little Nineveh was like a fortress within a fortress, being surrounded by its own fortification system. This small Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian kingdom, since royal palaces were located on its territory.

Nineveh was destroyed in 612 by the troops of Babylonia and Media. During excavations, they discovered a huge collection of clay tablets with cuneiform texts - the library of Ashurbanipal, thanks to which it was possible to confirm the existence of a great power.