Daily Archives: March 4, 2009

Nineveh in danger of urban sprawl

It is no longer news that the ancient sites of Iraq are in danger of destruction. This has been caused by war, looting, and now urban sprawl. There is an informative article about the threat facing Ninevah (spelled Nineveh in English Bible translations) in The Christian Science Monitor here.

We can be thankful that many of the artifacts of ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, et al. are now displayed in the great museums of the world. The reliefs from the palace of the Assyrian king Sennacherib are displayed in the British Museum.

The panel below is a portion showing the Assyrian slingers at Lachish at the end of the 8th century B.C. The Bible says,

Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. (2 Kings 19:36)

King Sennacherib had these reliefs carved on his palace walls in Nineveh. Click on the image for a larger one.

Assyrian slingers at Lachish. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Assyrian slingers at Lachish. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The greatness of Nineveh is mentioned in the book of the prophet Jonah.

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. (Jonah 3:1)

It would be nice if world conditions (economic, political, and religious) allowed renewed archaeological excavation of sites such as Nineveh.

HT: Joseph I. Lauer