On the left bank of the Tigris River at the confluence of the Khosr, the remains of the ancient city of Nineveh are today on the outskirts of the modern city of Mosul, which stands on the other side of the river.
A major archaeological site
The vast archaeological site of ancient Nineveh includes the hills or “tells” known as Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus. It is one of the oldest cities in Mesopotamia and has been occupied since prehistoric times, as evidenced by a village dating from the 6th millennium BC.
In the 1st millennium BC, Nineveh officially became the capital of the Assyrian Empire and remained so until its fall in 612 BC. Visited by Claudius James Rich in 1820 and briefly explored in 1842 by Paul-Émile Botta, this immense site was excavated mainly by Austen Henry Layard beginning in 1847, assisted by Hormuzd Rassam. Other British archaeologists also worked on the site from the 1870s until the early 20th century: George Smith, Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge, Leonard William King and Reginald Campbell Thompson.
From the 1950s onwards, an Iraqi team excavated at Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus. They worked under the direction of M. A. Mustafa from 1951 to 1958, Tariq Madhlum from 1967 to 1971, Manhal Jabur in 1980, and Abd al-Sattar in 1987. At the end of the 1980s, the University of Berkeley excavated the lower city under the direction of David Stronach. In recent years, work at Nineveh has been resumed by an Italian team directed by Nicolo Marchetti and a German team directed by Peter Miglus.
Great discoveries at the main site
The Bible describes the importance of Nineveh by stating that it would take three days to walk around it. Developed by Sennacherib (705–681 BC) and his successors, a 12-kilometre-long city wall and palaces have been found, including the "Palace without Rival" and the "Northern Palace."
The Mosul Cultural Museum exhibited a four-legged altar from Nineveh, dedicated to the Sibitti by Salmanazar III (853–824 BC). This altar is in the form of a rectangular block. Like the tripod altars of Khorsabad, its stone is engraved with crossbars and feet in the shape of lion’s paws, all of which likely reflect types of wooden furniture that may have been veneered with additional decorations. This altar probably belonged in the temple dedicated to the Sibitti, in Nineveh, where it was accidentally discovered among the rubble of the city without any more specific provenance.
On the edges of the site
The Mosul Cultural Museum also exhibited a column base found in the lower city of Nineveh, in an area that yielded a remarkable building characterised by a monumental porch of the “bit hilani” type. The column base is circular and decorated with a festoon representing stylised buds.
Finally, a stele was found by a farmer in 1999 in the southeast part of Nebi Yunus, at the top of which was the image of King Sennacherib facing left and praying before divine symbols. Above the king was an inscription in Assyrian cuneiform recalling his deeds, including his construction of a royal road. This road must have crossed Nineveh from the gate of Ashur in the south to the gate of Nergal in the northern part of the city wall. Unfortunately, this stele was almost completely destroyed during the occupation by Daesh.
