What is Nineveh?
In the heart of Mosul city on the east bank of the ancient Tigris lies not just a city but rather a crucial chapter in the book of humanity: Nineveh.
The former capital of the legendary Neo-Assyrian Empire. A city so old with ruins dating all the way back to 5000BC. Historically an urban center that once remained the biggest in the entire ancient world for 50 years.
A location where you once would have heard many languages while shopping in its bustling markets. A place of culture that still echoes with traces in our modern times today.
The Rise of The Great Capital
Despite Assur being the first capital of Assyria, Nineveh was always curated by monarchs to be a constructed and developed city throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. From the Middle Assyrian age (c. 1365 -1000 BCE) into the Neo-Assyrian, the cosmopolis developed marvelously in architectural expansion.
The peak of Nineveh
In 700 BC , and under the reign of the great Assyrian king Sennacherib (705-681 BCE) Nineveh became a global metropolis . This ruler looked to start anew what it meant to rule his empire, separating himself from his family lineage by making Nineveh the new capital of Assyria. This is the Nineveh you visit when seeing the remarkable ruins of Sennacherib's palace. To the side of the palace lies Sennacherib's garden. Historians, such as Stephanie Dalley, theorize this same garden to be the original place for the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
When compared with the first capital of Assyria , Assur, which reached 70 hectares in size, or the second, Nimrud, which reached 100-120 hectares, Nineveh at its peak reached a whopping 750 hectares in size. The city had massive walls, 15 gates, canals, parks, aqueducts, and palaces.
You can speak of Nineveh without talking about the library of Ashurbanipal. This literate and intellectual emperor had compiled a total of 30,000 written tablets that documented everything from things like merchant trade , to mathematical equations , and ancient legends and historical accounts. It is in this very place where scholars discovered an extraordinary wealth of information about all of Mesopotamia.
A Witness to History
Known as the political, economic, and cultural hub of northern historical Iraq since its dawn, Nineveh serves as a witness to Assyria's highest peaks as well as its tragic end after it was attacked by its own former vassals, the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians in 605 BC.
If you've ever wondered how it would feel to explore the remnants of one of history's most important stories, join us at Bil Weekend to uncover so much more about the treasures of these ruins in an authentic experience that will live with you forever..