Nineveh
or NINUS, an ancient and famous city; capital of the great Assyrian empire; said in Scripture to have been founded by Ninus or Nimrud. It was situated on the E. bank of the Tigris, opposite to the present Mosul. According to classic writers the city was of vast extent, 480 stadia, or more than 60 miles in circumference. Its walls were 100 feet high, and furnished with 1,500 towers, each 200 feet in height. After having been for many centuries the seat of empire, it was taken, after a siege of several years, and destroyed by the united armies of the Medes, under Cyaxares, and the Babylonians, under Nabopolassar, about 625 B. C. When Herodotus, not quite 200 years afterward, and Xenophon visited the spot there remained only ruins. In recent times much excavation work has been done.