Heywood Broun wrote: `` Belle Poitrine is the most original thinker since Caligula '', and even F.D.R. had to concede that `` if the rest of this nation showed the foresight and patriotism of Miss Poitrine, America would rapidly resemble ancient Babylon and Nineveh ''.

It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission.

The actual prophetic word against Nineveh is given only in passing through the narrative.

The subject of Nahum's prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the great and at that time flourishing Assyrian empire.

" This is very symbolic showing that Nineveh was known for being a city full of prostitutes.

Nineveh is ironically compared with a lion, in reference to the lion as an Assyrian symbol of power ; Nineveh is the lion of strength that has a den full of dead prey but will become weak like the lion hiding in its den.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians in 612 BC.

Ordered by God to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it " for their great wickedness is come up before me ," Jonah seeks instead to flee from " the presence of the Lord " by going to Jaffa and sailing to Tarshish, which, geographically, is in the opposite direction.

Jonah's mission to the Ninevites is commemorates by the Fast of Nineveh in Syriac and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

This concept is developed in the book of Jonah: Jonah, the son of truth, ( The name of his father " Amitai " in Hebrew means truth ,) refuses to ask the people of Nineveh to repent.

* The sanctuary of Jama Naballa Jonas is another place that tradition says is Jonah's grave, near the city of Mosul ( today in Iraq ), near the ancient remnants of Nineveh.

There is also evidence of libraries at Nippur about 1900 BC and at Nineveh about 700 BC showing a library classification system.

There is also evidence of libraries at Nippur about 1900 BC and those at Nineveh about 700 BC showing a library classification system.

The origin of the name Nineveh is obscure.

Texts from the Hellenistic period and later offered an eponymous Ninus as the founder of Nineveh, although there is no historical basis for this.

The historic Nineveh is mentioned about 1800 BC as a centre of worship of Ishtar, whose cult was responsible for the city's early importance.

There is no large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built at all extensively in Nineveh during the 2nd millennium BC ; it appears to have been originally an " Assyrian provincial town ".

The city is mentioned again in the Battle of Nineveh in 627 AD, which was fought between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanian Empire of Persia near the ancient city.

In the Bible, Nineveh is first mentioned in: " Ashur left that land, and built Nineveh ".

Other cities that had perished, such as Palmyra, Persepolis, and Thebes, had left ruins to mark their sites and tell of their former greatness ; but of this city, imperial Nineveh, not a single vestige seemed to remain, and the very place on which it had stood became only matter of conjecture.

* c. 668 BC: Nineveh, capital of Assyria becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes in Egypt.

* 668 BC: Nineveh, capital of Assyria becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes in Egypt ( estimation ).

Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practised at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed.

The forms of Assyrian pottery are graceful ; the porcelain, like the glass discovered in the palaces of Nineveh, was derived from Egyptian models.

All of the vanquished leaders save one were sent to Nineveh, only Necho I the native Egyptian Prince of Sais, convinced the Assyrians of his loyalty and was sent back to become the Assyrian puppet Pharaoh of Egypt.

In alliance with Egyptian forces, Ashuruballit's army was able to defend Harran from the combined Babylonian-Mede attack for a brief period following the destruction of Nineveh ; however, when the Egyptian army had to return their homeland in 610 BC, the Babylonians and Medes swept into Harran and sacked it in 609 BC.

With the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC and the fall of the Assyrian Empire, both Psamtik and his successors attempted to reassert Egyptian power in the Near East, but were driven back by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar II.

Egyptian Chariot, illustration by Joseph Bonomi from Nineveh and its Palaces

The book itself calls Nineveh a “ great city ,” referring to its size 3: 3 + 4: 11 ( NIV ) and perhaps to its affluence as well.

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand ; and also much cattle?

The story of descent ( from Israel, to Tarshish, to the sea, to under the sea ) becomes the story of ascent ( from the belly of the fish, to land, to the city of Nineveh ).

Simplified plan of ancient Nineveh, showing city wall and location of gateways.

Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the center of the civilization and commerce of the world, a " bloody city all full of lies and robbery " ( Nahum 3: 1 ), for it had robbed and plundered all the neighboring nations.

Jonah had already uttered his message of warning, and Nahum was followed by Zephaniah, who also predicted ( Zephaniah 2: 4-15 ) the destruction of the city, predictions which were remarkably fulfilled ( 625 BC ) when Nineveh was destroyed apparently by fire, and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia.

This time he goes and enters the city crying, " In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such as the city of Ma-asesblu, the Akkadian kingdom, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the various Assyrian empires.

Nineveh (; Akkadian: Ninwe ; ; Nīnewē ; Nineuē ; ; Naynuwa ; Nainavā ) was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

The Assyrian city of Nineveh became one of Mitanni's vassals for nearly a century until the mid 14th century BC, when the Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I reclaimed it in 1365 BC while overthrowing the Mitanni Empire.

It was Sennacherib who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city ( c. 700 BC ).

From the Arab conquest 637 CE until modern time the city of Mosul on the opposite bank of the river Tigris became the successor of ancient Nineveh.

Though the Books of Kings and Books of Chronicles talk a great deal about the Assyrian empire, Nineveh itself is not again noticed till the days of Jonah, when it is described ( ff ; ) as an " exceedingly great city of three days journey in breadth ".

The book of Jonah depicts Nineveh as a wicked city worthy of destruction.

Simplified plan of ancient Nineveh showing city wall and location of gateways.

He wrote about the end of the Assyrian Empire, and its capital city, Nineveh, in a vivid poetic style.

During his reign, he moved the empire's capital from his father's newly-constructed city of Dur-Sharrukin to the old city and former capital of Nineveh.