Nineveh, as it was known in the Bible (it was named Ninua by the Assyrians), is one of the oldest human settlements in the world. One of the two main mounds was used as long ago as the seventh millennium BCE. A legend, repeated in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, says that the hero Nimrod founded the city. By 4000 BCE Nineveh was a large town with trading links throughout Mesopotamia, and by 1800 BCE the city housed an important shrine to Ishtar, a principal goddess in Mesopotamian religion. The Assyrian king Sennacherib established Nineveh as his capital when he ascended the throne in 705 BCE.
Nineveh’s Defenses
Nineveh was the center of a powerful military kingdom, and its arsenal (weapon store) was one of the largest buildings in the city. The outer city wall and its moat ran for 7.5 miles (12 km). Sennacherib called it "the wall that terrifies the enemy." It was pierced by fifteen gates, most of which were named after Assyrian gods, such as Ashur and Sin. The outer stone wall was fifty feet (15 m) high, with crenellated battlements. There were towers every ninety-eight feet (30 m). The inner wall was higher. Yet despite all these fortifications, Nineveh fell to the armies of the Medes and the Persians in 612 BCE.
Irrigation and Aqueducts
The land around Nineveh was fertile, but as the city grew, the rising population needed more water. Sennacherib ordered his engineers to build dams and canals to ensure that the city had an ample water supply.
Streams in the hills thirty miles (48 km) to the north were channeled toward the city by the aqueduct at Jerwan, one of the oldest known. The water enabled parks and orchards to flourish within the city walls. In Sennacherib’s large garden grew plants sent from every part of his kingdom. One plant, called a "wool-bearing tree," was, scholars think, a cotton plant from India.
"Palace without a Rival"
In the seventh century BCE Nineveh was fabulously rich. Gifts poured in from the many peoples who feared Assyria. When the Assyrians conquered Egypt in 665 BCE, they carried some of its wealth back to Nineveh. Sennacherib’s palace, the largest ever built to that date, was decorated with giant painted stone sculptures. His grandson Ashurbanipal added a library that contained over 1,500 inscribed clay tablets. The description "palace without a rival" comes from an Assyrian tablet of the seventh century BCE, found near the walls of Nineveh.
Survival
When the Medes and the Persians sacked Nineveh in 612 BCE, they looted the royal palaces and the city’s shrines. Abandoned for many years, the city was reoccupied in the Hellenistic period around the year 250 BCE. Nineveh remained an important market town until about 500 CE, when it was eclipsed by nearby Mosul on the opposite bank of the Tigris.
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According to the Bible, Nimrod, "the builder of kingdoms," founded many cities, including Nineveh and Calah (present-day Nimrud). His name survives in many place names in modern Iraq. The ancient Hebrews believed he was the great-grandson of Noah.
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