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 compared to Thebes, the Egyptian city that Assyria itself had destroyed in 663 BCE.

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 ".

The modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria begins with excavations in Nineveh in 1845, which revealed the Library of Ashurbanipal.

It comes to conclusion with a taunt song and funeral dirge of the impending destruction of Nineveh and the " sleep " or death of the Assyrian people and demise of the once great Assyrian conqueror-rulers.

" The prophet Jonah shows us where God shows concern for the people of Nineveh, while Nahum ’ s writing testifies to his belief in the righteousness / justice of God and how God dealt with those Assyrians in punishment according to " their cruelty " ( Nahum 3: 19 ).

A collection of immense importance, the holdings of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities are among the most comprehensive in the world with entire suites of rooms panelled in alabaster bas-reliefs from highly important sites between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and include the biblical cities of Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad.

He also opened in the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh with ' no less than seventy-one halls '.

Layard's work was continued by his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam and in 1852 – 1854 he went on to discover the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh with many magnificent reliefs, including the famous Royal Lion Hunt scenes.

Marduk-apla-iddina II ( the Biblical Merodach-Baladan ) of Bit-Yâkin, allied himself with the powerful Elamite kingdom and briefly seized control of Babylon in 721 BC after the death of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V who had ruled Babylon directly from Nineveh.

The Medes, Persians, Chaldean ruled Babylonians, together with the Scythians and Cimmerians attacked Assyria in 616 BC, and by 612 BC, after five years of bitter fighting, the alliance had sacked Nineveh, killing Sin-shar-ishkun in the process.

Over 30, 000 clay tablets from the Library of Ashurbanipal have been discovered at Nineveh, providing modern scholars with an amazing wealth of Mesopotamian literary, religious and administrative work.

From about 616 BC, in a coalition with the Scythians and Cimmerians, they besieged Nineveh, sacking the town in 612 BC, after which it was razed to the ground.

The ruins of Nineveh, with the whole area included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn from the one to the other, are generally regarded as consisting of these four sites.

He laid siege to Jerusalem, but soon returned to Nineveh, with Jerusalem not having been sacked, in order to put down an attempted coup.

Assyria n warship ( probably built by Phoenicians ) with two rows of oars, relief from Nineveh, ca.

Fragments from an 8th century relief at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh depicting the fleets of Tyre and Sidon have been interpreted as depicting two-and three-level warships, fitted with rams.

Shamash-shum-ukin, after decades peacefully subject to his brother, eventually became infused with Babylonian nationalism, declaring that the city of Babylon ( and not the Assyrian city of Nineveh ) should be the seat of empire.

In some versions of the apocryphal or deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, Ahasuerus is given as the name of an associate of Nebuchadnezzar, who together with him, destroyed Nineveh just before Tobit's death.

Commonly thought of as a form of paganism, Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, worshipping over 2100 different deities, many of which were associated with a specific city or state within Mesopotamia such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Assur, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Mari and Babylon.

These and the other towers have overhanging parapets just like the mediaeval machicolations, and are finished at top with battlements, remains of which have been found at Nimroud and Kouyunjik, and at Kale Shortage, the supposed capital of Assyria before Nineveh.

Esarhaddon returned to his capital Nineveh with rich booty, and erected a victory stele showing the son of Taharqa in chains.

Canford Manor, Dorset, was extended in a Tudor Gothic style ( 1848 – 52 ), including a large entrance tower, the most unusual interior is the Nineveh porch, built to house Assyrian sculptures from the eponymous palace, this has an interior decorated with Assyrian motifs.

Having collected a large amount of invaluable information on this and kindred topics, in addition to much geographical knowledge gained in the prosecution of various explorations ( including visits with Sir Austen Henry Layard to the ruins of Nineveh ), he returned to England on leave of absence in 1849.

Layard remained in the neighbourhood of Mosul, carrying on excavations at Kuyunjik and Nimrud, and investigating the condition of various peoples, until 1847 ; and, returning to England in 1848, published Nineveh and its Remains: with an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians ( 2 vols., 1848 – 1849 ).