page_title: Nineveh
section_title: Name
hierarchical_section_title: Nineveh / Name
caption_attribution_description: Artist's impression of Assyrian palaces, from a sketch by James Fergusson &#160;(1808&#8211;1886)&#160;&#160;&#160;DescriptionBritish architectural historian and architectDate of birth/death 22 January 1808&#160; 9 January 1886&#160;Location of birth/death Ayr LondonAuthority control : Q1225014 VIAF:&#8201;2541089 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0001 2117 9888 ULAN:&#8201;500222628 LCCN:&#8201;n50026890 NLA:&#8201;35081313 WorldCat creator QS:P170,Q1225014
context_page_description: Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River and was the capital and largest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, as well as the largest city in the world for several decades. Today, it is a common name for the half of Mosul that lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and the country’s Nineveh Governorate takes its name from it.
  It was the largest city in the world for approximately fifty years until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples, the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. The city was never again a political or administrative centre, but by Late Antiquity it was the seat of a Christian bishop. It declined relative to Mosul during the Middle Ages and was mostly abandoned by the 13th century AD.
  Its ruins lie across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate.
context_section_description: The English placename Nineveh comes from Latin Ninive and Septuagint Greek Nineuḗ (Νινευή) under influence of the Biblical Hebrew Nīnewēh (נִינְוֶה), from the Akkadian Ninua (var. Ninâ) or Old Babylonian Ninuwā. The original meaning of the name is unclear but may have referred to a patron goddess. The cuneiform for Ninâ (𒀏) is a fish within a house (cf. Aramaic nuna, "fish"). This may have simply intended "Place of Fish" or may have indicated a goddess associated with fish or the Tigris, possibly originally of Hurrian origin. The city was later said to be devoted to "the goddess Ishtar of Nineveh" and Nina was one of the Sumerian and Assyrian names of that goddess.
  The city was also known as Ninuwa in Mari; Ninawa in Aramaic; ܢܸܢܘܵܐ in Syriac; and Nainavā (نینوا) in Persian.
  Nabī Yūnus is the Arabic for "Prophet Jonah". Kuyunjiq was, according to Layard, a Turkish name, and it was known as Armousheeah by the Arabs, and is thought to have some connection with the Kara Koyunlu dynasty. These toponyms refer to the areas to the North and South of the Khosr stream, respectively: Kuyunjiq is the name for the whole northern sector enclosed by the city walls and is dominated by the large (35 ha) mound of Tell Kuyunjiq, while Nabī (or more commonly Nebi) Yunus is the southern sector around of the mosque of Prophet Yunus/Jonah, which is located on Tell Nebi Yunus.
caption: Artist’s impression of Assyrian palaces from The Monuments of Nineveh by Sir Austen Henry Layard, 1853
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