Greco-Parthian Nineveh

Abstract

Nineveh, after its sack in 612 BC, had two entirely distinct histories. One is exotic and largely lost. The suspiciously Assyrian name of Assarakos appears in Homer as that of an ancestor of Aeneas (Iliad 20: 239–40), and we can envisage, from occasional Aramaic and Greek allusions, a multiplying host of fantastic tales about the city and its ancient rulers, which must have been widely current in the taverns and market-places of the ancient world (André-Salvini 1994: 29–38). These legends were to re-emerge in later European literature, such as the play “Sardanapalus” by Byron. While a few anecdotes probably reflect real events, they cannot be taken as free-standing evidence.The alternative history is what really happened at Nineveh when metropolitan Assyria was first devastated in the late seventh century and later transformed, under Seleucid and Parthian rule, into the kingdom or province of Adiabene (see map, p. 81). Evidence for the region in these periods is widely scattered, consisting of a few serious documents and a mass of poorly digested archaeological data. The current paper deals with some of the more prominent items.Nineveh, though not the principal centre of Adiabene, retained the natural advantages of its position as a market-town beside a crossing-point of the Tigris, and eventually regained some of its importance. Its actual name survived, remaining attached to the ruins down to modern times, but contemporary references to the city and its vicinity during the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods are problematic (Dalley 1993). A Nabonidus text names the son of a priest of the Lady of Nineveh (Zadok 1985: 238), but it is not certain that the reference is to a priest employed at Nineveh itself, since this Ishtar may still have had shrines in a number of places. Some Neo-Elamite tablets were certainly found at Nineveh, which is what one might have expected at a Median administrative centre, but their date is uncertain and a Neo-Assyrian origin is more likely (Reade 1992). We do not even know whether Nineveh and metropolitan Assyria were under the control of Medes or Babylonians or neither after 612 BC (Curtis 1989: 53–4); it must have been a very insecure region.