The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Institute of Archeology and the Ancient Near East
__________________
A STUDY ON THE FALL OF NINEVEH
A Research Paper
Presented to
Prof. Wayne Horowitz
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the course
Bible and Babel: Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near East
__________________
by
Miguel Correa
30 September 2020
Background of Nineveh
Even though Nineveh was considered an important city of the Assyrian empire during the
second millennium B.C.E.1 it was really during the neo-Assyrian Era starting with King
Ashurnasirpal II onward that there was significant attention put in Nineveh, accomplished by
architectural development in the city, especially in the building of temples.2 More than a century
later, the Assyrian King Sennacherib, in his efforts to contrast his reign with the one of his father
Sargon, with whom he disagreed, went further than simply omitting Sargon’s name in his royal
inscriptions and transferred the capital from Khorsabad to Nineveh, the city he greatly expanded3
and loved so much that he called it “Nineveh, my lordly city.”4 In the Stela of Sennacherib he
refers to Nineveh as his royal city and goes on to record that “…the wall of outer wall of
Nineveh I built anew and raised them mountain high.”5
Sennacherib’s grandson Ashurbanipal continue the efforts to renovate the city and
maintain the Assyrian legacy for generations to come. For this he built a famous library that held
over 30,000 inscribed clay tables which contain massive information about the ancient world,
moreover, he put into work improvements all over the city, which further enhanced Nineveh’s
fame of magnificent culture.6 In addition, he conducted several campaigns against enemies and
A. Kirk Grayson, “Nineveh,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible
Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1119.
2
Max Mallowan, “Nineveh,” Encyclopædia Britannica (England: Encyclopædia
Britannica, inc, 2020)
3
Carlo Lippolis, “Sennacherib,” Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of Beauty and Power,
ed. Lucas Pieter Petit (Leiden, Sidestone Press:2017) 179-180
4
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 288.
5
Daniel David Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Volume II
Historical Records of Assyria from Sargon to the End (Chicago: The University of Chicago press
1927) 196
6
Joshua J. Mark, “Nineveh,” Ancient History Encyclopedia (2011)
1
revolts, including against the Medes7, who, many years later would later take their revenge in
Ashur.
These actions taken by the last Assyrian monarchs show the great interest they had on
Nineveh and how the city became an important pillar for the empire, so much so that the loss of
Nineveh, as we will see later, would be irretrievable.
The Rise of Nabopolassar
After the death of Ashurbanipal and Kandalanu, his viceroy of Babylon, the Assyrian
empire suffered a tremendous decline.8 In 627 B.C.E two Assyrian officials, Sin-šumlišir and
Sin-šar-iškun ascended to power for one year. By this time a Babylonian general Nabopolassar,
who would later become the founder of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty9 gathered an army and
fought the Assyrians for the Babylonian throne, to avenge its treatment under the Assyrian rule
and perhaps also as social change, a concept well known to both the Assyrians and
Babylonians.10 The battle resulted in the Babylonian liberation and is recorded in the Babylonian
chronicle ABC 2:
“[In the month of …, Nabopolassar] having sent [troops] to Babylon, [they entered the
city] by night, and for a whole day they joined battle in the city. [They inflicted a defeat
on Assyria. The garri[son] of Sin-šar-iškun fled into Assyria. The city was entrusted to
George Smith, “Reign of Assur-bani-pal, From the Conquest of Karbat to the Conquest
of Babylon,” Assyria: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2014) 152-153
8
Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale
reference library (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 139.
9
David Vanderhooft, “Babylon,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B.
Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 139.
10
Karen Radner, "3 Revolts in the Assyrian Empire: Succession Wars, Rebellions Against a
False King and Independence Movements," Revolt and Resistance in the Ancient Classical
World and the Near East, (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2016) 54
7
[…]. In the month of Elul, the twelfth day, the Assyrian army [went down <to Akkad>],
entered Sasanaku, set fire to the temple, [and plundered it]. In the month of Tešrît, the
gods of Kiš went to Babylon. [The …thday, the troo]ps of Assyria reached Nippur;
Nabopolassar beat a retreat before them. [The troops of Assy]ria and the unhabitants of
Nippur pursued him as far as Uruk, In Uruk they joined battle with Nabopolassar but
beat a retreat before Nabopolassar. In the monsth of Iyyar the Assyrian army went down
to Akkad. In the month of Tešrît, the twelfth day, the Assyrian army having marched on
Babylon, that very day the Babylonians left Babylon, joined battle with the Assyrian
army, inflicting a crushinf defeat on them and takinf prisoners. For one year, there was
no king in the country, In the month of Arahsamnu, the twenty-sisth day, Nabopolassar
ascended to the throne of Babylon.” 11
Nabopolassar made himself master of the region by expanding his power over most, if
not the whole of Babylon and its surroundings.12 This rapid extension of dominion proves that
Assyria became weaker and weaker by that time. Nevertheless, Nabopolassar knew that this was
only the beginning and that it was crucial to overrun the most important provinces of the
Assyrian empire, Nineveh and Ashur.13
In his tenth year of reign, Nabopolassar, who is also called “king of Akkad” gathered his army
and march up along the Euphrates to two Aramean districts, Suhu and Hindanu that willingly
submitted to the new overlord. A couple of months after, a report about the location of the
11
Jean-Jacques, Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2004) 217
12
Joan Oates, “The Fall of Assyria (635–609 B.C.)” The Cambridge Ancient History, ed
John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, 2nd ed., Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992) 175-77
13
Christopher Johnston, “The Fall of Nineveh,” Journal of the American Oriental Society,
Vol 22 (1901) 22-23
Assyrian army reached Nabopolasar14 he attacked and defeated them as well as their allies the
Mannaeans. His victory extended to the towns of Mane, Sahiru and, Balihu.
We are presented with a powerful Babylonian army, which nonetheless had to “turned back”
because the army of Egypt which at some point had been a subordinate of Assyria, had become
her ally and marched after the Babylonians as far as Qablinu. Nevertheless, they did not overtake
the Babylonian king who escaped to Babylon.
Even though the Babylonians had to retreat in the face of this events, the chronicle
implies that the year ended with a successful campaign where the army of Akkad (Nabopolassar)
invaded the territory east of the Tigris river to the city of Madanu of the district of Araphu where
Nabopolassar routed an Assyrian army.15
In the eleventh year of Nabopolassar’s reign (615 B.C.E) his army began a siege of Ashur the
religious capital,16 but could not take it. The by that time king of Assyria (Sin-shar-rshkun)
relieved Ashur and fought the Babylonians along the backs of the Trigis until they took refuge in
the fortress of Takritain to which the Assyrians laid siege. The pursuers raised the siege at the
end of ten days and retired after suffering greatly at the hands of the besieged and returned to
Assyrian land. The reason appears to be the fact to be Medes were beginning their descent upon
Assyrian territory east of the Tigris.17
14
Ira M. Price. "The Nabopolassar Chronicle," Journal of the American Oriental Society 44
(1924) 124
15
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 303
16
Friedhelm Pedde, “The Assyrian Heartland,” A Companion to the Archeology of the
Ancient Near East 1, Daniel Potts (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) 855
17
Mordechai Cohan, The Raging Torrent: Historical inscriptions from Assyria and
Babylonia relating to Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Carta, 2018) 226-227
Babylonian Account of the Fall of Nineveh
In Nabopolassar’s twelfth year (614 B.C.E) the Medes appeared fighting against
Nineveh, a battle which resulted in the victory of only a small town near Nineveh. After this,
they marched down the Tigris, assaulted Ashur and captured it18 before the Babylonians who
arrived too late, could do it. Nonetheless, Kings Kyaxares of the Medes and Nabopolassar
concluded a treaty of goodwill between them,19 and to accomplish this, Nabopolassar arranged
that Amytis, Kyaxare’s daughter should marry his son Nebuchadnezzar II.20
Nabopolassar’s fourteenth year in power (612 B.C.E) was one of the most important, the
events are described in fifteen lines of text and they record the Fall of Nineveh:
The king of Akkad cal[led up] his army and [Cyaxar]es, the king of the Manda-hordes
(Umman-manda) marched towards die king of Akkad, [in] … they met each other. The
king of Akkad … and [Cyaxar]es … [the … ]s he ferried across and they marched
(upstream) on the embankment of the Tigris and … [pitched camp] against Nineveh.…
From the month Simanu till the month Abu, three ba[ttles were fought, then] they made a
great attack against the city. In the month Abu, [the … th day, the city was seized and a
great defeat] he inflicted [upon the] entire [population]. On that day, Sinsharishkun, king
of Assy[ria fled to] …, many prisoners of the city, beyond counting, they carried away.
The city [they turned] into ruin-hills and hea[ps (of debris). The king] and the army of
Assyria escaped (however) before the king (of Akkad) and [the army] of the king of
Akkad.… In the month Ululu, the 20th day, Cyaxares and his army returned to his
country. Afterwards, the king of A[kkad] … marched as far as Nisibis. Booty and ga-lu-tu
of … and (of) the country Rusapu they brought to the king of Akkad, to Nineveh…21
Eckart Frahm, “The Neo-Assyrian Period” A Companion to the Archeology of the
Ancient Near East 1, ed. Eckart Frahn Potts (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017) 192
19
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 304
20
Ragozin, Zenajda. Assyria from the Rise of the Empire to the Fall of Nineveh: (continued
from “The Story of Chaldea”) (London: T.F. Unwin, 1914) 428
21
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 304-305
18
We read that in May/June of the year 612 B.C.E Nabopolassar and the Medes started to lay siege
to Nineveh. The siege lasted three months and in the month of Abu (July) they broke through
Nineveh’s defense and Nineveh, which was one of the most important cities during the first
millennium22 turned into ruins and never regained its former status.23
Nabopolassar made sure to revenge Babylon for all the years of Assyrian hostile,
especially in the years of Sennacherib. He repeated Sennacherib’s claims into his own writings
from the time the Assyrians king sacked Babylon, he also requested ashes from Nineveh to
deposit near the sacred precinct in Babylon, an action that Sennacherib had done when he
destroyed Babylon.24 Nabopolassar had promised to do the same evil to Nineveh and he
succeeded.25
By this time, Sinsarruiskum, the Assyrian king is said to have committed suicide or died in
battle. In September the Medes returned home while Nabopolassar used Nineveh as a base for
further military actions against the remains of the Assyrian empire26
Biblical Account regarding Nineveh’s Fall
Nineveh, a pillar of the Assyrian Empire was a bitter enemy of Israel and most biblical
references to Nineveh relate to its role as the capital of the Assyrian Empire and to predictions of
22
Lucas Petit, Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of Beauty and Power, (Leiden, Sidestone
Press:2017) 15
23
Simo Parpola, “Assyrians after Assyria,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol.
XIII No. 2, (1999)
24
Daniel D. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1924) 138
25
Marc Van De Mieroop, “The Sack of Nineveh in 612 B.C,” Nineveh, the Great City:
Symbol of Beauty and Power, ed, Lucas Petit (Leiden, SIdestone Press:2017) 246
26
Michael Kerrigan, “Battle of Nineveh,” Encyclopædia Britannica (England:
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017)
its fall.27 Prophet Nahum speaks against Nineveh and prophecies of how the city would meet its
fatal end in Nahum 1:8 - 3:17.
“But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness
will pursue His enemies. What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter
end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. For while tangled like thorns, and
while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried. From you
comes forth one Who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. Thus says the Lord:
“Though they are safe, and likewise many, Yet in this manner they will be cut down when
he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more; For now I will
break off his yoke from you, And burst your bonds apart.” The Lord has given a
command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house
of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave,
For you are vile.” . . . The shield of his mighty men are made red, the valiant men are in
scarlet. . . . They make haste to her walls. And the defense is prepared. The gates of the
rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved. . . . Take spoil of silver! Spoil of Gold!
There is no end of treasure . . . she is empty desolate and laid waste! . . . You also will
be drunk . . . You will seek refuge from the enemy. All your strongholds are like fig trees
with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater . . . Draw water
for the siege, fortify your strongholds. Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make
strong the brick kiln! There the fire will devour you . . . Your commanders are like
swarming locusts, And your generals are like grasshoppers . . . When the sun arises they
flee away. And the place where they flee is not known.” 28
The first part of this prophecy deals with the fact that the Lord was going to judge the city
under eight circumstances. First, it would take place when they are “drunken like drunkards”.
Second, Nineveh’s warriors would be bathed in blood. Third, they would try seek refuge inside
Geoff Emberling, “Nineveh,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B.
Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 966.
28
Note that some bible verses were omitted in this paper with the purpose of saving space.
27
the clay walls of Nineveh and be put under siege. Fourth, God will bring an overflowing flood
from the rivers to bring down Nineveh. Fifth, fire would devour the city. Sixth, the Assyrian
generals will flee the city to another place. Seventh, the city would be looted of its silver and
gold, and lastly, eighth, the city would be laid waste.
Greek Historian Diodorus Siculus preserves a tradition which explains the fall of the city,
one that according to him lasted for three years rather than three months,29 and it was the result
of an unusually high flood of the “Euphrates” which “both inundated a portion of the city and
broke down the walls for a distance of twenty stades.”30 This description comes close to the one
in Nahum 2:6 where the prophet says that “the gates of the rivers were opened and the palace is
dissolved” and in 1:8 “But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place.”
This similarity has led scholars to accept this account as genuine or at least the part where the
biblical account sheds light on.31 Nonetheless, it is very difficult to find a factual explanation for
this claim, some suggest that this account makes more sense if read as inspired by a piece of
Babylonian rhetoric in imitation of the Assyrian accounts of the Babylonian sack32 in which
Sennacherib diverted the water of Arahtu canal to complete the destruction of the city of
Babylon in 689 B.C.E.33 Nonetheless, Scurlock argues that, while Siculus’ account should be
used with caution, there are places where he preserved some traces that may well be accurate
Aron Pinker, “Nahum and the Greek Tradition on Nineveh’s Fall,” Journal of Hebrew
Scriptures, Vol 6 (1923) 6
30
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus, Book II, Ch 27.1-2
31
Donald Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldean Kings, (London: Trustees of the British
Museum, 1956) 17
32
Marc Van De Mieroop, “The Sack of Nineveh in 612 B.C,” Nineveh, the Great City:
Symbol of Beauty and Power, ed, Lucas Petit (Leiden, SIdestone Press:2017) 246
33
Daniel D. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1924) 84
29
historical information.34 Furthermore, Greek historian Xenophon two hundred years after
Nineveh's fall seems to have passed through the Assyrian land and saw the sites of two great
Assyrian cities, he found ruins and could not retrieve much about them from the nearby villagers.
The territory where these cities lay was now Median, and the Greeks assumed that their former
inhabitants had been the Medes.35
Outcome of the Fall
The fall of Nineveh was no small event, reports of the destruction reached as far as
Greece, where Phocylides’ poetry fragments mention Nineveh and compare it to foolishness: “A
small and orderly city on a height is superior to foolish Nineveh”36
While Nabopolassar had conquered the two capitals of the Assyrian empire and now had the
control in Babylon and in metropolitan Assyria as far as Nisibis,37 he acknowledged that this was
not the end of the war. Ashuruballit II, the Assyrian prince fled ignominiously westward to Harran
and “in the month] … Ashuruballit … sat down in Harran upon the throne to become king of
Assyria”38 as well as establishing an exiled Assyrian government there.39
Jo Ann Scurlock, "The Euphrates Flood and the Ashes of Nineveh,” Historia: Zeitschrift
Für Alte Geschichte, Vol 39, No. 3 (1990) 384
35
Paul Haupt, “Xenophon’s Account of the Fall of Nineveh,” Journal of the American
Oriental Society, Vol 28 (1907) 99-104
36
Phocylides, Greek Elegiac Poetry: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries B.C (Loed
Classical Library), ed. and translated by Douglas E. Gerber (US: Harvard University Press,
1999) 393
37
Joan Oates, “The Fall of Assyria (635–609 B.C.)” The Cambridge Ancient History, ed
John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, 2nd ed., Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992) 182
38
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 305
39
Mordechai Cohan, The Raging Torrent: Historical inscriptions from Assyria and
Babylonia relating to Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Carta, 2018) 32
34
In the sixteenth year of Nabopolassar’s reign (610 B.C.E) the Babylonian and Medes army
drove Ashuruballit II away from Harran,40 they “marched against Harran, against [Ashuruball]it
who had sat down on the throne in Assyria. Fear of the enemy befell Ashuruballit and the soldiers
of the country Gul[(Egypt) … who] had come [to his aid] and they le[ft] the town and … crossed
[the river Euphrates.41
The next year after Ashuruballit II was forced to leave Harran, he once again gathered an army
with the Egyptian King Necho and advanced north to Harran and defeated a garrison of
Nabopolassar.42 The biblical scripture says that King Josiah of Judah tried to stop the invaders (2
kings 23:29) but Necho defeated him.
The Babylonian Chronicle records that Nabopolassar came to the aid and rescue of his troops in
Haran, but the outcome of this battle is lost in the broken spaces of the table. (See footnote 38.)
Nabopolassar returned to his land, and even though it is not clear if he won the battle or lost it, the
first notion is more likely because of the fact that from there on Ashuruballit II and Assyria
disappear from the historical sources.43 Regarding Nineveh, there is little evidence to date of the
city’s occupation in the years immediately following its destruction,44 an event that sealed thefate
of the Assyrian Empire and that is where the story of Assyria appears to end in history books.45
Eckart Frahm, “The Neo-Assyrian Period,” A Companion to the Archeology of the
Ancient Near East, Vol I, ed. Eckart Frahn Potts (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017) 192
41
James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament., 3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 305
42
Karen Radner, Last Emperor or Crown Prince Forever? Assurballit of Assyria accordind
to Archival Sources” State Archives of Assyria Studies, ed. Shigeo Yamade, Vol XXVIII,
(Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2018) 135-136
43
Ira M. Price. "The Nabopolassar Chronicle," Journal of the American Oriental
Society 44 (1924) 127
44
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, “Nineveh After the Destruction of 612,” Nineveh, the Great
City: Symbol of Beauty and Power, (Leiden, Sidestone Press:2017) 251
45
Simo Parpola, “Assyrians after Assyria,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol.
XIII No. 2, (1999)
40
Conclusion
The history regarding Nineveh’s last years is preserved in a few ancient inscriptions, of
which one of them and probably the most important is the Babylonian Chronicle. It records a
series of events that took place at that time shedding light not only on Assyrian-Babylonian
historiography and chronology but also that of its neighbors. The fate of Nineveh had been
sealed by Assyrian decay and the thirst for revenge of Babylonian king Nabopolassar after
several hostile years. The love that the last Assyrian monarchs had towards the Euphrates city
made her a pillar that stood out in the vast empire, while at the same time condemned her to be
the center point of the Babylonian raid. Subsequently, the fall of the once called “great city” by
Jonah, the prophet meant the obliteration of one of the greatest empire to ever exist, or at least
from the ones we hold sufficient historical records.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohan, Mordechai. The Raging Torrent: Historical inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia
relating to Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Carta, 2018)
Elwell, Walter A. and Wesley Comfort, Philip. Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale reference
library (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 139.
Emberling, Geoff. “Nineveh,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck,
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 966.
Frahm, Eckart. “The Neo-Assyrian Period” A Companion to the Archeology of the Ancient
Near East 1, ed. Eckart Frahn Potts (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)
Glassner, Jean-Jacques. Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature,
2004) 217
Grayson, A. Kirk. “Nineveh,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
(New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1119.
Haupt, Paul. “Xenophon’s Account of the Fall of Nineveh,” Journal of the American Oriental
Society, Vol 28 (1907) 99-104
Johnston, Christopher. “The Fall of Nineveh,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol 22
(1901) 22-23
Kerrigan, Michael. “Battle of Nineveh,” Encyclopædia Britannica (England: Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2017)
Lippolis, Carlo. “Sennacherib.” Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of Beauty and Power, ed.
Lucas Pieter Petit (Leiden, Sidestone Press:2017) 179-180
Luckenbill, Daniel D. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, Volume II Historical Records
of Assyria from Sargon to the End (Chicago: The University of Chicago press 1927) 196
Luckenbill, Daniel D. The Annals of Sennacherib (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1924) 138
Mallowan, Max. “Nineveh,” Encyclopædia Britannica (England: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc,
2020)
Mark, Joshua J. “Nineveh,” Ancient History Encyclopedia (2011)
Morandi, Daniele. “Nineveh After the Destruction of 612,” Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of
Beauty and Power, (Leiden, Sidestone Press:2017) 251
Oates, Joan. “The Fall of Assyria (635–609 B.C.)” The Cambridge Ancient History, ed John
Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, 2nd ed., Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992)
Parpola, Simo. “Assyrians after Assyria,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No.
2, (1999)
Pedde, Friedhelm. “The Assyrian Heartland,” A Companion to the Archeology of the Ancient
Near East 1, Daniel Potts (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) 855
Petit, Lucas. Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of Beauty and Power (Leiden, Sidestone
Press:2017)
Phocylides, Greek Elegiac Poetry: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries B.C (Loed Classical
Library), ed. and translated by Douglas E. Gerber (US: Harvard University Press, 1999) 393
Pinker, Aron. “Nahum and the Greek Tradition on Nineveh’s Fall,” Journal of Hebrew
Scriptures, Vol 6 (1923) 6
Price, Ira M. "The Nabopolassar Chronicle," Journal of the American Oriental Society 44 (1924)
124
Pritchard, James Bennett, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament.,
3rd ed. with Supplement. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969)
Radner, Karen. "3 Revolts in the Assyrian Empire: Succession Wars, Rebellions Against a False
King and Independence Movements," Revolt and Resistance in the Ancient Classical World and
the Near East, (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2016) 54
Radner, Karen Last Emperor or Crown Prince Forever? Assurballit of Assyria accordind to
Archival Sources,” State Archives of Assyria Studies, ed. Shigeo Yamade, Vol XXVIII,
(Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2018)
Siculus, Diodorus. The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus, Book II, Ch 27.1-2
Scurlock, Jo Ann. "The Euphrates Flood and the Ashes of Nineveh,” Historia: Zeitschrift Für
Alte Geschichte, Vol 39, No. 3 (1990) 384
Smith, George. “Reign of Assur-bani-pal, From the Conquest of Karbat to the Conquest of
Babylon.” In Assyria: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2014) 152-153
Van De Mieroop, Marc. “The Sack of Nineveh in 612 B.C,” Nineveh, the Great City: Symbol of
Beauty and Power, ed, Lucas Petit (Leiden, Sidestone Press:2017)
Vanderhooft, David. “Babylon,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck,
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 139.
Wiseman, Donald. Chronicles of Chaldean Kings (London: Trustees of the British Museum,
1956) 17
Zenaide, Ragozin. Assyria from the Rise of the Empire to the Fall of Nineveh: (continued from
“The Story of Chaldea”) (London: T.F. Unwin, 1914) 428