Nineveh

Nineveh, or Ninus, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, one of the most ancient cities of the world, was situated on the left bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul. Its foundation was mythically attributed to Ninus, husband of Semiramis (q.v.). In the ninth century B.C. the city was an oblong of 55 miles circuit, surrounded by brick walls 160 feet high, on which three chariots could be driven abreast, and it must have contained about 600,000 inhabitants. It was captured and destroyed by the Mede Cyaxares with the help of the Babylonians B.C. 606. The British Museum contains a splendid collection of antiquities and inscriptions excavated from the ruins of Nineveh by Mr. Layard (q.v.).