NINEVEH

THE GREAT CITY

Symbol of Beauty and Power
edited by
L.P. Petit & D. Morandi Bonacossi

PALMA 13 PAPERS ON ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE

LEIDEN MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES
Source reference:
Petit, Lucas P. & Morandi Bonacossi, Daniele (eds) 2017: Nineveh, the Great
City. Symbol of Beauty and Power, Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum
of Antiquities 13, Leiden (Sidestone Press).
SIDESTONE PRESS

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© 2017 Rijksmuseum van Oudheden; the individual authors

PALMA: Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of

Antiquities (volume 13)

Published by Sidestone Press, Leiden

www.sidestone.com

Imprint: Sidestone Press

Lay-out & cover design: Sidestone Press

Photograph cover:
Detail of a relief showing King Ashurbanipal on a horse.
Nineveh, Iraq; N Palace, Room S; 645–635 BC; gypsum;
H 165.1 cm, W 116.8 cm; British Museum, London
(1856,0909.48/BM 124874). © he Trustees of the
British Museum.

ISBN 978-90-8890-496-7 (softcover)

ISBN 978-90-8890-497-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-90-8890-498-1 (PDF e-book)
Contents

Contributors 11
Nineveh, the Great City. Symbol of Beauty and Power 15
Lucas P. Petit and Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

Part I: Nineveh, Famous but Lost

1. Nineveh, Famous but Lost 27
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

2. Nineveh in the Cuneiform Sources 29

John MacGinnis

3. Nineveh in Biblical, Ancient Jewish and the Earliest Christian

Traditions 32
Jürgen K. Zangenberg

4. Nineveh in Classical Literature 39

Menko Vlaardingerbroek

5. Nineveh in Western Art 44

Jan de Hond

6. Early Travellers and Nineveh 50

Paolo Matthiae

Part II: Investigating Nineveh: a Great Adventure

7. Investigating Nineveh: a Great Adventure 57
Lucas P. Petit

8. The Topography of Nineveh 58

Jason Ur

9. French Research at Nineveh 63

Ariane Thomas

10. The British Museum Excavations at Nineveh 69

John Curtis

11. Austen Henry Layard 74

Frederick Mario Fales
12. The Curse of the Tigris River 78
Lucas P. Petit

13. Archaeology, Politics and Espionage 80

Frederick Mario Fales

14. Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie Mallowan in Nineveh 84

David Stronach

15. Gertrude Bell and the Monuments of Nineveh 87

Lisa Cooper

16. Iraqi Excavations at Nineveh 91

John MacGinnis

17. The Nergal Gate: a Calamitous History 94

Layla Salih

18. Italian Research in the Nineveh Region: Archaeological

Investigation and Cultural Heritage Protection
and Management 98
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

Part III: From Prehistory to the Arrival of the Neo-Assyrian Kings

19. From Prehistory to the Arrival of the Neo-Assyrian Kings 107
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

20. The Prehistoric Roots of Nineveh 109

Marco Iamoni

21. The Ninevite 5 Culture at Nineveh 113

Elena Rova

22. Nineveh in the Second Millennium BC:

the Birth of an Assyrian City 118
Aline Tenu

Part IV: Neo-Assyrian Nineveh: the Largest City in the World

23. Neo-Assyrian Nineveh: the Largest City in the World 125
Lucas P. Petit and Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

24. Neo-Assyrian Town Planning 127

Mirko Novák

25. Water for Assyria: Irrigation and Water Management in the Assyrian
Empire 132
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

26. The Rural Landscape of Nineveh 137

Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

27. The Neo-Assyrian Kings in Nineveh 142

Bradley J. Parker
28. The Palaces of Nineveh 147
David Kertai

29. The Production and Use of Reliefs 153

Paolo Matthiae

30. Sennacherib’s Quarries and the Stones of the

Southwest Palace Decoration 158
Pier Luigi Bianchetti

31. (De)colouring Ancient Nineveh using Portable XRF Equipment 160

Dennis Braekmans

32. Nineveh in the Assyrian Reliefs 167

Davide Nadali

33. Nineveh and Neo-Assyrian Trade: an Active Hub

with Far-Flung Contacts 170
Diederik J.W. Meijer

34. Nineveh and Foreign Politics 174

Giovanni-Battista Lanfranchi

35. Sennacherib 179

Carlo Lippolis

36. Sennacherib’s Nineveh and the Staging of Atmosphere 184

Stephen Lumsden

37. Sennacherib’s Palace Garden at Nineveh, a World Wonder 188

Stephanie Dalley

38. The Lachish Reliefs 192

David Ussishkin

39. Ashurbanipal and the Lion Hunt Reliefs 198

Pauline Albenda

40. Language and Writing in Nineveh 201

Jan Gerrit Dercksen

41. Intellectual Life in Nineveh 205

Eckart Frahm

42. The Library of Ashurbanipal 208

Jeanette C. Fincke

43. Aramaic Epigraphs in Nineveh 212

Frederick Mario Fales

44. Demons, Deities and Religion 213

Barbara N. Porter

45. Ištar of Nineveh 217

John MacGinnis

46. Apotropaic Figures in Nineveh 219

Carolyn Nakamura
47. Music in Nineveh 224
Theo J.H. Krispijn

48. The Last Days of Assyrian Nineveh: a View from the Halzi Gate 228
David Stronach

49. The Sack of Nineveh in 612 BC 243

Marc Van De Mieroop

Part V: Nineveh after the Destruction in 612 BC

50. Nineveh after the Destruction in 612 BC 251
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

51. Nineveh in the Achaemenid Period 253

John Curtis

52. Graeco-Parthian Nineveh 256

Rocco Palermo

53. Nineveh and the City of Mosul 260

Hikmat Basheer Al-Aswad

54. Monitoring Damage to Iraqi Archaeological and

Cultural Heritage: the Case of Nineveh 265
A. Bianchi, S. Berlioz, S. Campana,
E. Dalla Longa, D. Vicenzutto and M. Vidale

55. Deir Mar Behnam: the Destruction of Iraq’s

Christian Heritage 270
Bas Lafleur

56. Rekrei: Crowdsourcing Lost Heritage 275

Matthew Vincent and Chance Coughenour

57. Building a 3D Reproduction of the Southwest Palace

of Sennacherib 278
Boris Lenseigne and Naphur van Apeldoorn

Part VI: The Material Culture of Nineveh

58. The Material Culture of Nineveh 285
Lucas P. Petit

59. The Material Culture of Nineveh in France 287

Ariane Thomas

60. The Material Culture of Nineveh in Italian Collections 293

Daniele Morandi Bonacossi

61. Nineveh in the United Kingdom 298

Paul Collins

62. Nineveh in Berlin 303

Lutz Martin
63. The Material Culture of Nineveh in Belgium and
the Netherlands 309
Lucas P. Petit and Bruno Overlaet

64. The Material Culture of Nineveh in Collections in the

United States 313
Michael Seymour

65. Nineveh, Lady Charlotte Guest and The Metropolitan

Museum of Art 317
Yelena Rakic

66. The Iraq Museum in Baghdad 321

Carlo Lippolis

67. The Material Culture of Nineveh in Turkish Collections 324

Ayşe Tuba Ökse, with contributions from
Zeynep Kızıltan and Gülcay Yağcı

Abbreviations 331
References 333
Concordance of Museums and registration numbers 349
Index 353

Figure 24.1 The ziggurat of
Assur. Courtesy of UNESCO.
24. Neo-Assyrian Town Planning
Mirko Novák
Although Assyrian cities were amongst the irst Ancient Near Eastern sites to be excavated
by European scholars in the nineteenth century, our knowledge of Neo-Assyrian town
planning is still surprisingly limited. he reason for this is the focus on palaces and
temples during the early excavations and the long interruption of scientiic research in
Northern Iraq in recent decades, when modern techniques such as geophysical prospec-
tion would have provided new tools for advanced urbanistic research. Nevertheless, some
provincial Assyrian towns have been thoroughly investigated, which has helped us to
gain additional knowledge.
he heartland of the Neo-Assyrian Empire contained three types of cities, based on
their genesis: irst, old towns with a long and uninterrupted settlement history, which
gave them an appearance of successive growth; second, newly founded towns with a
properly planned outline relecting the idea of a ‘perfect’ settlement; and third, a com-
bination of the two: signiicantly transformed old towns. he irst type is represented by
Assur; the second by Khorsabad (ancient Dur-Šarrukin); and the third by Nineveh, a city
with a long history, which was signiicantly restructured and reshaped when it became
the new capital.
he city of Assur was the eponymous core of Assyria, its ancient capital and seat of
the national god Aššur; god, city, and country bore the same name and were of crucial
importance for Assyrian identity (igs. 24.1-2). Already lourishing in the late third mil-
part iv: neo-assyrian nineveh: the largest city in the world 127
 Figure 24.2 Plan of Assur.

lennium BC, the city was of some importance due to its role as trade centre in the
early second millennium. Unlike Babylonian cities, which were centred on the temples
and ziggurats of their tutelary gods, Assur’s main sanctuary, dedicated to the god Aššur,
was situated at the city’s northernmost periphery, on a peak of a steep mountain ridge
overlooking the river valley. In its immediate vicinity was the palace of the ruler, who
was at the same time high priest and representative of the god. he spatial vicinity of
temple and palace, perceivable from inside and outside the city, represented the ideolog-
ical connection between the city god and the king. his provided the pattern for all later
Assyrian capitals.
he limited extension of available urban space and the location at the southernmost
periphery of the dry-farming Assyrian heartland meant that Assur was neither big nor
economically powerful enough for the ambitious building programmes of the Neo-As-
syrian kings: the enormous administration and the wish for gigantic palaces as symbols of
royal power required more space. Hence, large residential cities became political capitals
beside Assur, which continued to be the religious centre. he separation of political
and religious capital was a characteristic feature of the Assyrian Empire (Novák 2014).
his process had already started in the late Middle Assyrian Period with the foundation

128 nineveh, the great city

Figure 24.3 The site of Nimrud, October 2009. Photograph by Mary Prophit.
of Kār-Tukultī-Ninurta, situated opposite Assur on the
eastern bank of the Tigris.
he irst Assyrian residential city built in the irst mil-
lennium was Nimrud (ancient Kalhu; ig. 24.3). In the
ninth century BC, the ruins of this once occupied but
now abandoned city were chosen by Ashurnasirpal II
(reigned 883-859 BC) as his new residence. Nimrud was
situated close to the conluence of the Tigris and Greater
Zab rivers, in between the two major cities of Assur and
Nineveh. he city was surrounded by extra-urban royal
gardens and a ‘zoo’, to which plants and animals from
conquered countries were brought. In the city itself were
settled deportees from all the countries that were under the
yoke of the Assyrian king, making the city an illustration
and symbol of the whole world. All of the public buildings
were situated on top of a fortiied and elevated citadel
on the edge of the city, with the temple of the tutelary
god Ninurta standing at the north-western corner. he
element of the citadel was previously unknown to Bab-
ylonian and Assyrian urban architecture, being inspired
by Northern Levantine patterns and at the same time the
result of the elites’ growing wish for security against their
subjects. Again, the temple and the palace formed a close
spatial connection, higher in elevation than the dwelling
part iv: neo-assyrian nineveh: the largest city in the world
quarters. Since the citadel was physically connected with
the lower city walls, the public buildings were visible from
the outside and could be perceived as towering over the
fortiication walls. During the reign of Shalmaneser III
(reigned 859/858-824 BC), a second citadel was added on
top of an artiicial terrace towards the south-eastern corner
of the city. his secondary citadel, ‘Fort Shalmaneser’, was
the seat of the military palace of the city.
his newly established pattern of a ‘typical’ Assyrian
urban layout was copied 150 years later by King Sargon II
(reigned 721-705 BC) when he founded the next residen-
tial city, Khorsabad, on virgin ground (ig. 24.4). Here,
an almost square layout was chosen for the city. Its main
elements were again the citadel with the royal palace and
the temples of the gods of the city, and a secondary citadel
with the military institutions.
he last Assyrian residential city was Nineveh
(ig. 23.1), an existing city that was rebuilt and signiicant-
ly enlarged by Sennacherib (reigned 705/704-681 BC).
Again, the environment was transformed into an arti-
icial landscape consisting of parks and gardens. Two
citadels dominated the skyline of the city: the larger one
(Kuyunjik) was the main citadel, whilst the smaller one
(Nebi Yunus) was the secondary one. On top of the main
129

citadel and close to its edges, the palaces of Sennacherib
and Ashurbanipal were erected, whilst temples occupied
the area in between them. Since the palace of Sennacherib
lay close to the western slope of the citadel, it overlooked
the riverside and the gardens, just as the palaces of his
predecessors had done.
As far as we know, smaller sites tended to follow the
pattern of these capitals. Of course, we should make a dis-
tinction between newly founded towns and those towns
with a long occupation history, as we should likewise dif-
ferentiate between notable seats of provincial administra-
tion and modest villages of only local importance.
Tell Halaf (ancient Guzana) (ig. 24.5; Novák 2013),
Til-Barsip (ig. 24.6) and Tell Sheikh Hamad (ancient
Dūr-Katlimmu) (Kühne 2013) are all provincial centres,
but they have very diferent histories. Irrespective of
this, they share some common features, such as fortiied
citadels on the periphery, situated close to a river passing
by the city. he governors’ palaces were all situated on
the citadel’s edge, in several cases on top of artiicial mud
brick terraces, thus imitating the situation in the capitals.
130 nineveh, the great city
Figure 24.4 Plan of Khorsabad.
he outer shape of the cities often followed geometric
outlines.
he alignment of the streets difered according to the
occupation history of the cities: the dwelling quarter in
Assur shows irregular alignments of streets, most of them
relatively narrow; in Nineveh, Sennacherib mentioned in
his building inscription broad and straight streets, and
private constructions were forbidden, under the threat
of punishment, from encroaching on the street. hus, a
rather regular street system seems to have existed here,
which is conirmed by the situation at Tell Sheikh Hamad,
where the geophysical prospection indicates a geometric
grid system.
Questions concerning segregation patterns – social,
ethnic, religious, and so forth – remain unanswered,
due to the scarcity of data. However, the proximity of
big, complex elite houses to small houses, as attested in
Assur and in Tell Sheikh Hamad, may be taken as an in-
dication of patron-client relationships, rather than social
segregation.
Figure 24.5 (top) Tell Halaf.
Photograph made by Günther
Mirsch. Courtesy of the Tell Halaf
Project.

Figure 24.6 (right) One of the

lion statues found at Til-Barsip.
Reproduced from Thureau-
Dangin 1930, 13.

part iv: neo-assyrian nineveh: the largest city in the world 131