Posted on 02/01/2026 12:20:46 PM PST by Twotone
For millennia, hundreds of vivid bas-reliefs adorned the walls of the Nineveh palace of the legendary eighth-century BCE Assyrian king Sennacherib, depicting daring conquests richly described in Assyrian sources and the Hebrew Bible.
In 2016, Islamic State terrorists entered the palace, in modern-day Mosul, Iraq, and systematically smashed the artifacts. The long-surviving sculptures had enabled modern scholars to compare biblical information on Sennacherib with historical sources and archaeological findings since the 19th century. Had they not been destroyed, they would have likely had more to offer.
Among the treasures broken in the terror group’s campaign of destruction was a slab of stone that had adorned Sennacherib’s opulent throne room, which scholars long ago concluded depicts the Assyrian siege of the Philistine city of Eltekeh.
But new research analyzing photographs and drawings of the largely overlooked bas-relief before its destruction suggests that it actually shows Jerusalem, making it the oldest-known depiction of the city.
Current scholarship holds that the Madaba map, a mosaic found in a sixth-century CE Byzantine church in modern-day Jordan, is the oldest rendering of Jerusalem to survive to modern times. But the study, published in October in the prestigious Journal of Near Eastern Studies by University of South Africa researcher Stephen Compton, suggests that the southwest palace in Nineveh was home to a depiction 1,200 years older than the one in Madaba.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
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Oh, for the day when not a mosque or a Koran exists in the multiverse.
Islam - the religion of death, destruction and subjugation.
But even armies generally have some respect for their enemy's irreplaceable historical and cultural objects and buildings, and try to leave them intact.
Not so, the Islamists. But sooner or later, everybody has to spend a day "in the barrel". God willing, their time will come.
So sad.
Is the CIA still funding ISIS?
Them muslims blew up statues in Afghanistan that were carved into a mountain too.
I personally believe that Heaven holds a copy of all worthy artworks done by man.
Islam particularly the fundamentalist flavor (Is there any other!) believes there is no history before Islam.
The largely overlooked bas-relief got no respect!
Islam, destroyer of everything. Every religion had many names for the destroyer of world. But its real name is Islam. Islam must be fought with biblical and mythological ferocity. Islam seeks to dominate the world and make it comfortable for Satan’s band of fallen angels.
Islam hates everything good and human made. Islamic Slave Dubya Bush surrendered to Islam when he called it a religion of peace and said they hate us because of our freedom. Liar. They hate us because ‘we’ create goodness and beauty and strived to make peace where there is ugliness tribalism and violence. Islam thrives on ugliness tribalism and violence. Mad Mohammed capitalized on the conquest of low IQ tribes in an ugly tribal violent sand dune. Every “discovery “ and invention claimed by Islam is a lie. Islam did nothing but massacre and subjugate.
Off my soap box now. I apologize. I’m in a foul mood as my wonderful lady friend is mad at me and we’re in a big argument about a trifling issue.
Islam believes there is no history until yesterday’s declarations and fatwahs.
Agree!
Wow
You can look closer to home this is the very same tactic the Democrats have been using here. Destroy the statues and memorials that point to what the Democrats truly are.
They can destroy an artifact, but the history behind it is unchanged. There are also enough pictures to document every scratch on it, so its information hasn’t been lost - hateful, ignorant destroyers notwithstanding.
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