| Battle of Nineveh | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMedo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire | |||||||
 Painting titledThe Fall of Nineveh byJohn Martin | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Neo-Babylonian Empire Median Kingdom | Neo-Assyrian Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nabopolassar Cyaxares | Sinsharishkun † | ||||||
  Location within Iraq | |||||||
TheBattle of Nineveh, also called thefall of Nineveh is conventionally dated between 613 and 611 BC, with 612 BC being the most supported date. After Assyrian defeat at thebattle of Assur, an allied army which combined the forces ofMedes and theBabylonians besiegedNineveh (modern-dayMosul) and sacked 750hectares (1850acres) of what was, at that time, one of the greatest cities in the world. The fall of Nineveh led to the destruction of theNeo-Assyrian Empire as the dominant state in theAncient Near East over the following three years.[2] Archeological records show that the capital of the once mighty Assyrian Empire was extensively de-urbanized and depopulated in the decades and centuries following the battle. A garbled account of the fall of the city later led to the story of the legendary kingSardanapalus.
Babylon became the imperial center ofMesopotamia for the first time in over a thousand years, leading to theNeo-Babylonian Empire, claiming imperial continuity as a new dynasty.
TheNeo-Assyrian Empire emerged in the 10th century BC and peaked in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, succeeding theMiddle Assyrian Empire (1366–1074 BC) as the largest empire the world had yet seen. By the reign ofAshurbanipal, it controlled or held in vassalage most of the nations and city-states from theCaucasus Mountains (modernArmenia,Georgia andAzerbaijan) in the north toEgypt,Arabia andNubia in the south, and centralIran/Persia in the east toCyprus and theHellenic andPhoenicianMediterranean coasts ofAnatolia and theLevant in the west.
However, after the death of KingAshurbanipal in 631 BC, the once mighty empire was becoming increasingly volatile, withAssyria proper erupting into a series of internal civil wars. This led many of the subject states, many of which had their own political dynasties, to become restive, whereas neighboring states and groups, such as theMedes,Babylonians, andChaldean became increasingly hostile under the Assyrian hegemony.
The Assyrians had, by the accounts of their own records, been brutal rulers even by the standards of the time, and thus had accumulated many hitherto impotent enemies. It had been weakened by a three-front struggle to maintain power in Egypt, wage a costly but victorious war against theElamites, and put down rebellions among their southern MesopotamianBabylonian kinsmen, even though the core of the empire had been largely at peace. TheAssyrian monarchs wrote constantly of internal danger and fear of palace intrigue and rebellion.
Upon the death of Ashurbanipal, a series of bitter and bloody wars of succession occurred, weakening the empire – from 625 BC onward, the empire's domination over theMiddle East,Asia Minor,Caucasus andEastern Mediterranean gradually began to fade.
An alliance was formed between external states, such as the Chaldeans, who took advantage of the upheavals in Assyria to take control of much ofBabylonia with the aid of the Babylonians themselves. This precipitated theNeo-Babylonian Empire, whose goal was to overthrow the Neo-Assyrian Empire, seize the capitalNineveh, and transfer the seat of Mesopotamian power toBabylon.
Nineveh was not only a political capital, but home to one of thegreat libraries ofAkkadian tablets and a recipient of tribute from across the near east, making it a valuable location to sack. The Assyrian chronicles end abruptly in 639 BC after the destruction ofSusa, the capital ofElam, and the subjugation of a rebellious Babylon ruled by Ashurbanipal's own brotherShamash-shum-ukin. Business records are missing after 631 BC.
TheMedes were ruled by KingCyaxares. Although initially defeated by the Assyrians, he rebuilt his army and attacked Nineveh in conjunction with other warring factions.
The primary sources are written afterwards, by a victorious Neo-Babylonian from the reign ofNabopolassar (The primary chronicle is numbered 21901, which was translated byC. J. Gadd in 1923, and can be found in theBritish Museum), by the Babylonian tradition set down byHerodotus much later, by a Hebrew tradition attributed toNahum, and by references in Egyptian chronicles, all of which were hostile to Assyria. There are also legends that have grown up in the centuries afterwards, among peoples who descend from one of the involved nationalities, including the stillMesopotamianEastern Aramaic speaking andChristianAssyrians of northernIraq, southeastTurkey, northwestIran and northeastSyria.
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One of the recountings of the actual battle is taken from the excerpts ofPersica, written byCtesias, preserved inDiodorus Siculus andPhotius, whose account may have been mixed with accounts of other battles.[4]
According to a Babylonian clay tablet discovered in the 19th century named theFall of Nineveh Chronicle, there was a bitter 12-year struggle betweenBabylon andAssyria, as well as civil wars in Assyria itself. They describe that in the tenth year ofNabopolassar (616 BC) the Babylonians defeated the Assyrian army and marched up the river, sackingMane,Sahiri andBaliḫu.
The conflict was renewed the next year, with the Assyrians mustering their army and driving the Babylonians back toTakritain. Nabopolassar stationed his army in the fortress of Takritain, and the two armies fought there the next year. The Assyrians were beaten and retreated to Assyria.
The Babylonians then allied with the Medes and Scythians. The Median army tookTarbisu, near Nineveh, and encamped nearby; they thenattacked the city ofAssur, with the Babylonian text recounting how in 614 BC their Median ally destroyed Assur's temples and sacked the city, but their army did not reach the city until after the plundering had been done.[5]
In 612 BC, the Babylonians mustered their army again and joined with Median kingCyaxares encamping against Nineveh. They laid siege to the city for three months and, in August, finally broke through the defenses and began plundering and burning the city. The major factor in the city’s downfall was the Medes.[6] The Assyrian KingSin-shar-ishkun was killed in the siege. His brotherAshur-uballit II was made King of Assyria. He refused to submit, however, and successfully fought his way out of Nineveh, founding a final capital atHarran.
According to tradition laid out in Diodorus, the Tigris river flooded the city. While his account is often suspect, this aspect has been given attention. The allied armies entered the area of the outer wall and fought to enter the palace. Temples were looted and the palace was burned, though this did not destroy the city, and may have aided the preservation of clay texts.
There would be several more campaigns against Assyria by the Neo-Babylonians and their allies, including one against an allied Egyptian-Assyrian army. Thus, while the battle of Nineveh was a turning point in the war, Ashur-uballit II would fight on for several more years. His ultimate fate is not known or recorded — he may have been killed at thefall of Harran in 609 BC (which ended the Assyrian Empire) or atCarchemish in 605 BC (where Egypt and remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire were defeated); or he may have simply disappeared into obscurity.