SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY

The Ancient Near East

HIS 4113 – 200

Instructor: Dr. Gary McElhany

Research Paper – Nineveh and Assyria at the Time of Jonah

STUDENT DATA:

Name: Bethany Burkard

Phone: 513-328-4652

Semester: Fall 2023

Date: December 5th, 2023

 The Geography of Assyria and Nineveh

Assyria derives its name from its city of origin, Assur. Assur is located in

modern-day Iraq on the west bank of the Tigris River, in northern Mesopotamia.

To the north, working up the Tigris River, were two other important Assyrian

cities, Kalhu and Nineveh. Kalhu was constructed and then converted to the new

Assyrian capital during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC),1 while Assur

remained the religious center of the Empire.2 Kalhu was built strategically, being

located near the convergence of the Tigris and Greater Zab Rivers and sandwiched

between the two most powerful Assyrian cities.3

Nineveh was also geographically well situated, being near the convergence

of the Tigris and Khosr Rivers.4 The city was surrounded by fertile plains that

receive abundant rainfall, and alongside it ran an important trade route going from

the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.5 Around 1000 BC, Nineveh was about

1850 acres, or 3 square miles.6 It was surrounded by a long wall with multiple

gates made of stone and mud brick.7 Outside the wall and surrounding the city
1
William H. Stiebing Jr. and Susan N. Helft, Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture, (New York: Routledge,
2018), 290.
2
L. P. Petit and D. Morandi Bonacossi, ed., Nineveh, the Great City, (Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2011), 128.
3
Petit, ed. City, 129.
4
Petit, ed. City, 170.
5
Petit, ed. City, 15.
6
Elaine A. Phillips, Obadiah, Jonah, & Micah, AOTC (London: Apollos, 2022), 94.
7
Petit, ed. City, 16.
were small farmsteads and villages. Many of these villagers probably worked in

the two nearby quarries, both situated alongside the Tigris River. Miners would

bring back gypsum-alabaster, which would be transformed into the palace and

temple’s bas-reliefs and carved statues.8

Political Landscape During the Time of Jonah

2 Kings 14:25 describes Jonah as a prophet from Gath-Hepher in Galilee, a

province of Israel. His prophetic ministry overlapped with the reign of the Israelite

king Jeroboam II, who ruled from 786-746 BC. We can assume that the book of

Jonah does not take place after 744, as there is no mention of Tiglath-pileser III’s

(744-727 BC) aggressive campaigns towards Israel, and Jonah appears to have no

trouble entering the Assyrian heartland or the city of Nineveh. A reasonable date

for Jonah would be anywhere in the first half of the 8th century BC, particularly

from 786-746.

This happened to be a unique period for Assyria. The years 950 to 744 BC

are considered the first half of the Neo-Assyrian Empire; a desire for resources and

manpower, rather than territory, drove the Assyrians to invade those around them,9

and they did so ruthlessly. Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) and his successor

Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC) invaded Syria, Palestine, and eastern Anatolia,

8
Petit, ed. City, 137, 141.
9
Peter Dubovsky, “Tiglath-pileser III’s Campaigns in 734-732 B.C.: Historical Background of Isa 7; 2 Kgs 15-16
and 2 Chr 27-28,” Biblica 87 (2006), 153.
repeatedly massacring whole cities. In the process they created several vassals, one

of whom being King Jehu of Israel.10

11

Selected Kings of the Assyrian Empire

Shamshi-Adad I 1809 - 1776 BC
Ashur-Uballit 1353 - 1313 BC
Adad-Nirari I 1295 - 1264 BC
Shalmaneser I 1263 - 1234 BC
Tukulti-Ninurta I 1233 - 1197 BC
Tiglath-pileser I 1115 - 1077 BC
Ashurnasirpal I 1049 - 1031 BC
Ashur-dan II 934 - 912 BC
Ashurnasirpal II 883 - 859 BC
Shalmaneser III 858 - 824 BC
Shamshi-Adad V 823 - 811 BC
Adad-Nirari III 810 - 783 BC
Shalmaneser IV 783 - 773 BC
Ashur-dan III 771 - 754 BC
Tiglath-pileser III 744 - 727 BC

Around the end of Shalmaneser III’s rule, Assyria’s reign of terror began to

wane. The king’s eldest son began a rebellion that took over some leading

Assyrian cities, including Assur and Nineveh. Shalmaneser’s younger son,

Shamshi-Adad V (823-811), put down the rebellion, but in the process, he

worsened Assyria’s relations with Babylon. In this new struggle with Babylon, he

10
Phillips, Jonah, AOTC, 57.
11
This chart was created by me; I got the dates for the king’s reigns from Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 153, 278,
290, 291, 293, and 325.
ended up virtually losing control of several Assyrian provinces, which began to be

run by their appointed governors almost entirely independently.12

Despite recurrent struggles with disease, revolts, and the perpetual power

struggle with Babylon, King Adad-Nirari III (810-783) managed to conduct several

successful campaigns against Damascus, Israel, and the rebelling Syrian states,

where he recovered some of Shamshi-Adad’s lost territory.13 In 783, Adad-Nirari

died and was succeeded by the virtually unknown Shalmaneser IV. After a ten-year

reign, he was succeeded by Ashur-Dan III, who, during his reign, dealt with more

disease, more revolts, and, worst of all for a superstitious people, an ominous solar

eclipse that occurred in 763.14 Like his predecessors, he maintained precarious

control over his provinces, which were largely left in the hands of their

increasingly powerful governors.15

It is within this context that the book of Jonah occurs. Assyria in the early 8th

century was at an unusual low point. The empire was experiencing famine, disease,

and rebellions, keeping it perpetually unstable. The formidable Assyrian kings

were unable to take power back from smaller provincial governors.16 In light of the

weakened Assyrian threat, Israel had a brief period of prosperity and expanded its
12
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 293.
13
Phillips, Jonah, AOTC, 58.
14
Phillips, Jonah, AOTC, 57.
15
Phillips, Jonah, AOTC, 57.
16
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 324. Phillips, Jonah, AOTC, 58.
territory (2 Kings 14:25), but the memories of Assyrian terror, only recently

experienced in the campaigns not many years before by King Adad-Nirari, were

not far from Israel’s mind. It is no wonder that the last thing a prophet of Israel

would want to hear at that moment was a message of mercy for the Ninevites.

Similarly, it is not surprising that a city experiencing famine, sickness, uprisings,

and foreign threats was ripe for a message of repentance.

Assyrian Government

Despite the weakened structure Assyria experienced in the early 8th century,

the head of the Assyrian Empire and government was still the king. Like other

Mesopotamian nations, the king of Assyria was not perceived to be divine, but

divinely chosen. To represent this, in each city that the capital of the empire moved

to, the royal palace would be built directly beside and below the city’s temple,

which would be located geographically on the city’s highest point.17 The king was

chosen by the gods, and particularly, Ashur, to accomplish his will, which meant

completing rituals as high priest, building the gods’ temples, and conquering other

nations.18 The notorious Assyrian military was motivated by monetary gain, but it

was fueled further by a sense of divine mission, by which Assyria would turn

chaos into order by absorbing the unknown into its empire.19

17
Petit, ed. City, 128.
18
Petit, ed. City, 215.
19
Bradley J. Parker, “The Construction and Performance of Kingship in the Neo-Assyrian Empire,” JAR 67 (2011):
364.
 Important to every Assyrian king was the notion of their legitimacy, and

thus every monarch invested in the documented tracing of their lineage, including

usurpers of the throne, who would simply rewrite history and give themselves an

ancestry they did not have. These records, as well as records of the king’s military

campaigns, would be distributed throughout the Empire as proof of his

legitimacy.20

Like other Mesopotamian kings, the king of Assyria’s power was not

absolute; he had to abide by traditional notions of justice, check any major

decisions first by the gods through various divining means, and he had to please

the nobility, who generally held high positions within his court.21

Responsibility for day-to-day tasks was delegated to upper-class individuals

throughout the Empire. Large provinces were run by provincial governors, and

smaller towns were given to village managers. Provincial governors were

responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining secure borders, and constructing

necessary or requested building projects. They often even had their own military

force.22 Their impressive power, particularly during this period in the 8th century

when central power was so unstable, is probably why the book of Jonah describes a

20
Parker, “Kingship,” 366.
21
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 334.
22
Parker, “Kingship,” 369.
“King of Nineveh,” rather than the King of Assyria; likely, the book is referring to

a provisional governor who was overseeing Nineveh at the time.

Village managers were primarily responsible for collecting taxes, as well as

obtaining manpower for projects being accomplished elsewhere.23 ‘Royal

delegates,’ would watch over all these proceedings, and report their findings

directly to the king.24

Assyrian Customs and Social World

The most common language within the Empire was Akkadian, but Aramaic

was becoming a common second language.25 Daily life for most Assyrians

probably involved agriculture and pastoral farming on land owned by the upper-

class.26 For men, much of life was consumed by military service, which was

compulsory.27 Society was divided into three classes: the mar bini, landholding

free men; the ummanu, the literate, professional class, and the hubshu, the lower

classes.28 It was from the mar bini that advisors, chief priests, officers, and

governors would be chosen,29 including the king of Nineveh from Jonah’s time.
23
Parker, “Kingship,” 370-371.
24
Parker, “Kingship,” 360.
25
Parker, “Kingship,” 360.
26
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 336.
27
Parker, “Kingship,” 372.
28
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 336.
29
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 336.
 The ummanu contained Assyria’s educated professionals, such as bankers,

scribes, scholars, physicians, and merchants. Interestingly, women were not

unprecedented within these professions.30 The scholars in particular would be

consulted by the king regularly to discern the will of the gods’, as the scholars

were trained in practices such as divination, astrology, and omen interpretation. 31

The lower class, the hubshu, were the most common of the Assyrians, and

the ones who were the agricultural and pastoral farmers and the military force. At

the bottom of this class were the slaves. Slaves who had been sold to pay off their

debts could potentially work their way out of slavery, but foreign prisoners of war

had little hope of ever escaping their lot.32

Despite the presence of a strong class system, the archaeological remains of

wealthy, large homes in close proximity to smaller houses may indicate that

Assyrian society was not particularly segregated.33

Assyrian Religion

The Assyrians were a polytheistic people like most throughout

Mesopotamia, but with a special focus on their national god Assur, the god of their

home city. They worshipped many gods, including Samas, the god of justice,

30
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 336.
31
Parker, “Kingship,” 368, 370.
32
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 336.
33
Petit, ed. City, 130.
Nergal, the god of death, and Ishtar, the goddess of love and warfare. Ishtar in

particular held a prominent place in the city of Nineveh, which had a large temple

dedicated to her. 34

The gods had to be tended to, which was the daily task of the priests and

priestesses. They would dress and clean the god’s images and feed them through

animal sacrifices. The chief priest of the land was the king, who would travel to

Assur, Kalhu, and Arbela to perform the necessary rituals for the religious

calendar.35

In addition to the good gods, the Assyrians also believed in evil, lesser gods,

or demons. These figures were responsible for the sickness and disaster that would

touch people’s lives. To protect themselves, Assyrians would go to the local

priests, who could conduct complicated rituals to deter the demons. Individuals

would also carry images of the gods, or wear jewelry containing images of the

gods, to ward demons away.36

Assyrian Military

The Assyrian military was a highly trained machine, in part because the

Assyrians felt they had a religious obligation to conquer their surrounding nations.

The Assyrian king set out on a campaign each year to fulfill this responsibility of

34
Petit, ed. City, 213.
35
Petit, ed. City, 216.
36
Petit, ed. City, 216.
expanding Assur’s realm.37 It was also a bonus that the army would return with

loot from realms that were more blessed in natural resources than they were.

The Assyrians were notoriously cruel conquerors. They used psychological

warfare to intimidate their subjects, and potential subjects, into compliance. They

would treat their rebellious vassals with particular hostility. Some of their methods

were impalement, flaying alive, starvation, and mutilation. They would frequently

have family members witness each other’s deaths.38

Usually, only the elite upper class, such as the royal household and nobility,

would be subjected to this treatment, because they were the ones who were

generally responsible for rebellions when they occurred. However, if cities were

particularly stubborn to overcome, then much of the populace would be tortured

and killed.39

The Assyrian army had three main divisions, with various subdivisions: the

chariotry, the infantry, and the cavalry. The infantry was divided into archers,

slingers, and spearmen. Accompanying the army always was a group of specialists

and engineers, who could mine tunnels underneath walls, build boats to cross

bodies of water, and construct battering rams and siege works.40 With the

37
Parker, “Kingship,” 365, 367.
38
Parker, “Kingship,” 372. Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 339-340.
39
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 340.
40
Stiebing Jr. and Helft, Ancient, 338.
combined forces of ingenuity and viciousness, the Assyrian army was truly

something to fear in the ancient world.

Conclusion

The prophet Jonah lived during the early 8th century B.C. During this time,

he likely witnessed early in his life his home of Israel suffering attacks from the

Assyrian empire. The Assyrians, for their part, were beset by various internal and

external problems, including famines, plagues, constant revolts, and power

struggles with Babylon and other kingdoms, which kept them from expanding their

territory. The Nineveh that Jonah arrived in would have been a city that was

weakened, and receptive to the idea that they had done something to displease his

God.

Bibliography

Dubovsky, Peter. “Tiglath-pileser III’s Campaigns in 734-732 B.C.: Historical

Background of Isa 7; 2 Kgs 15-16 and 2 Chr 27-28.” Biblica 87 (2006): 153-
170.

Parker, Bradley J. “The Construction and Performance of Kingship in the Neo-

Assyrian Empire.” Journal of Anthropological Research 67 (2011): 357-
386.

Petit, L. P. and D. Morandi Bonacossi, ed. Nineveh, the Great City. Leiden:
Sidestone Press, 2017.

Phillips, Elaine A. Obadiah, Jonah, & Micah. Apollos Old Testament

Commentary. London: Apollos, 2022.
Stiebing Jr., William H., and Susan N. Helft. Ancient Near Eastern History and
Culture. New York: Routledge, 2018.