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Nineveh (Kuyunjik)

The city of Nimrod's kingdom and Ashurbanipal's library

Beginnings & the Patriarchs · city / site, tablet, relief · Accepted by scholars · found 1847

Reconstructed ancient gate with winged bull statues
Photo: JoAnn S. Makinano, U.S. Air Force · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons — The reconstructed Nergal Gate of Nineveh, Mosul (before its 2016 destruction).

Found 1847 — Austen Henry Layard (1847, 1849–51) and Hormuzd Rassam (1852–54); site first probed by Claudius Rich (1820) and Paul-Émile Botta (1842)

Where Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus, Mosul, Iraq (Iraq)

Dates from c. 6000–612 BCE · Occupied from c. 6000 BCE; capital of Assyria c. 700–612 BCE · Founded in Genesis 10; later Yonah, Nachum, and the Assyrian kings

Now at In situ (walls and gates, damaged in 2014–17); reliefs and tablets in the British Museum, London; Iraq Museum, Baghdad

How Nineveh (Kuyunjik) was found

Layard tunneled into the mound of Kuyunjik opposite Mosul and found Sennacherib's 'Palace without Rival' and its reliefs; he and Rassam recovered the library of Ashurbanipal—tens of thousands of tablets including the flood and creation stories.

What it is

Two mounds inside a 12-kilometer wall with fifteen gates. Kuyunjik holds palaces of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal; deep soundings by Max Mallowan (1931–32) reached prehistoric levels showing the city goes back to the 6th millennium BCE.

Why it matters for the Bible

Genesis 10:11 lists Nineveh among the cities founded in Assyria in the age of Nimrod. Mallowan's deep pit confirmed Nineveh is one of the oldest cities of northern Mesopotamia, and Old Babylonian texts already know it as a cult center of Ishtar. The library found here also gave us the Gilgamesh flood tablet and Enuma Elish, the closest parallels to Genesis 1–9.

The Hebrew word: nee-ne-VEH

נִינְוֵה

נִינְוֵה is pronounced nee-ne-VEH and means Nineveh, 'the great city' (Strong's H5210).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Founding of the cities of Assyria · Yonah preaches to Nineveh · Fall of Nineveh (612 BCE)

Nineveh (Kuyunjik) in Scripture

Genesis 10:11-12 Nineveh built in Assyria in the primeval age; excavation confirms its great antiquity. (First mention of Nineveh.)

Jonah 3:3 'An exceedingly great city'; the 12-km wall circuit shows its size.

Nahum 3:7 Nineveh's ruin foretold; the site lay buried until Layard.

Questions people ask

What is Nineveh (Kuyunjik)?
Two mounds inside a 12-kilometer wall with fifteen gates. Kuyunjik holds palaces of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal; deep soundings by Max Mallowan (1931–32) reached prehistoric levels showing the city goes back to the 6th millennium BCE.

When was Nineveh (Kuyunjik) discovered?
It was found in 1847 by Austen Henry Layard (1847, 1849–51) and Hormuzd Rassam (1852–54); site first probed by Claudius Rich (1820) and Paul-Émile Botta (1842), at Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus, Mosul, Iraq.

Where is Nineveh (Kuyunjik) today?
In situ (walls and gates, damaged in 2014–17); reliefs and tablets in the British Museum, London; Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

Which Bible verses does Nineveh (Kuyunjik) relate to?
Genesis 10:11-12, Jonah 3:3, Nahum 3:7.

Related discoveries

Sources

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