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Writer's pictureAndy McIlvain

Icons of the Bible: The City of Nineveh - Beautiful & Cruel

Updated: Jul 8, 2023


Icons of the Bible: The City of Nineveh - Beautiful & Cruel
Icons of the Bible: The City of Nineveh - Beautiful & Cruel

Icons of the Bible

“God is in the midst of the city. It shall not be moved. God will help it when morning dawns.” Psalm 46:5

God has always been at work in all things, all places and all people, from the very first cities and even in all the cities around the world right now. His purposes will not be thwarted. his grace is available to you in all circumstances to help you do and think things you could not do on your own.

You are part of the Body of Christ, you are the church, so be the church no matter where you are. Do good and let your thinking and doing be a witness to the world!! - Andy


August 10 612 BC: Nineveh, the Largest City in the World, Fell

On this day, 2,632 years ago, the ancient metropolis of Nineveh fell. “ ABC 3 ” is a historiographical text from ancient Babylonia which records August 10th 612 BC as the date of this dramatic occurrence. At that time, Nineveh was the largest city in the world and the capital of Assyria. This all came to an abrupt end when Nabopolassar, the Chaldean king of Babylonia and a central figure in the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, siezed Nineveh. This marked what historians know as one of the most shocking events in ancient history: The “First” Fall of Nineveh. The “second” Fall of Nineveh occurred in 2015 with more destruction by ISIS.

The Discovery of Nineveh: A Unparalleled Archaeological Find

Ancient Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization in the northern part of western Asia’s Fertile Crescent, corresponding to modern Iraq, Kuwait, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and areas along the Turkish–Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders. In 1839, Paul-Émile Botta of France excavated a series of mounds in the Iraqi desert that led to the incredible discovery of Nineveh, the vast ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia located on the outskirts of modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq.." from the article: August 10 612 BC: Nineveh, the Largest City in the World, Fell


map of Nineveh
Map of Ancient City of Nineveh

Assyria, Nineveh and Jonah Part 1

"Introduction

Nineveh was originally established by Nimrod in about 2,300 BC as mentioned in Genesis chapter 10. Nimrod was a descendent of Noah’s son Ham. Its status as the capital of the great Assyrian empire was given to it by one of its most successful kings, Sennacherib (705-681 BC) who enlarged and beautified it greatly.

The Cruelty of the Assyrians

Assyria was at the height of its power during the eighth century to the seventh century BC. The Assyrians were noted for their ruthless brutality and terrible atrocities they committed on their captives. Many of their victims were beheaded, and the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III boasted of erecting a pyramid of chopped-off heads in front of an enemy’s city. Other Assyrian kings stacked corpse like cord wood by the gates of defeated cities.[1]

Their conquered subjects were subjected to being impaled on sharp wooden poles while still alive, burnt, disembowelled and flayed (skinned) alive as shown in the top image. The middle image shows an Assyrian king blinding a captive king while holding his head still with a hook in his lips. The other kings are waiting for the same fate with bridles in their noses.

Another act of gross cruelty was the physical tearing out of the tongue of their hapless captives as depicted in the bottom relief. These reliefs have come to light through archaeological discoveries.

Assyria stands alone among all the nations of the ancient world in its extreme cruelty of the treatment of those who it captured.." from the article: Assyria, Nineveh and Jonah Part 1


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