Ancient site · City
Nineveh
Also known as Kuyunjik
An ancient city on the east bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul in northern Iraq. Under Sennacherib it became the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and for a few decades probably the largest city in the world, with huge palaces, gates and canals.
The library of Ashurbanipal, dug up here, held about 22,000 clay tablets. Nineveh was sacked in 612 BCE by Babylonians, Medes and others. Parts of the site were damaged during the war with ISIS.
- Dates
- c. 3000–612 BCE (Assyrian capital from c. 700 BCE)
- Still standing
- Yes
- Location
- 36.36° N, 43.15° E
How we know
Named in Assyrian royal inscriptions and the Bible; its palace libraries held tens of thousands of tablets.
Nearby sites
- Jarmo c. 7090–4950 BCE
- Tell Halaf c. 6100–5400 BCE (Halaf village); later the Aramaean city of Guzana
- Karahan Tepe c. 9750–9400 BCE (dates still being refined)
- Çayönü c. 8630–6800 BCE
- Göbekli Tepe c. 9500–8000 BCE
- Areni-1 cave c. 4300–3500 BCE