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2,700 years ago, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. Researchers from the University of Heildelberg have made a spectacular discovery in the palace of King Assurbanipal. During excavations, they came across the first large-format depictions of two important Assyrian deities. German archaeologists have made a spectacular discovery in Iraq. During excavations in the ancient metropolis of Nineveh, a team from Heidelberg University came across large parts of a monumental relief. It shows King Assurbanipal (668 to 627 BC), the last ruler of the Assyrian Empire, accompanied by two important deities and other figures. The relief was found in...

Archaeological excavations at the ancient site of Megiddo in northern Israel, also known as "Armageddon," have unearthed a significant amount of 7th-century BCE Egyptian pottery, potentially providing the first physical evidence of the battle between King Josiah of Judah and Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, as documented in the biblical books of Kings II and Chronicles.A team of Israeli archaeologists, led by Prof. Israel Finkelstein of the University of Haifa and Dr. Assaf Kleiman of Ben Gurion University, detailed their findings in two academic papers published earlier this year. The unprecedented quantity of Egyptian ceramic vessels discovered at Megiddo suggests a...

Who was the king of Assyria during the ministry of Jonah? This isn’t a question I’ve really heard discussed before. Now, having looked into it, it seems we have a strong candidate. And that in part because of an ancient solar eclipse. The biblical text of Jonah never names the king who presided over Nineveh during its great repentance, simply calling him “the king of Nineveh” (Jonah 3:6). But the Bible does tell us which king was on the throne of Israel during Jonah’s ministry – Jeroboam II. This king of Samaria ruled from 782 – 753 B.C., during a...

The subject of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel has fascinated Biblical researchers for centuries, if not longer. One theory which started becoming popular in the sixteenth century is that some, if not all, of these Ten Tribes migrated to ancient Britain. The theory is much less popular today than it once was. However, it has experienced something of a resurgence in recent decades. According to proponents of the theory connecting the Israelites to the Britons, the Cimmerians can be identified as the deported Israelites. There are two main pieces of evidence for this. The first is that they appear...

One of Sargon II's (r. 721–706 BCE) many acts -- besides conquering Samaria and taking the ten northern tribes of Israel into exile, of course -- was the establishment of a brand-new capital for the Assyrian Empire, Dur-Sharrukin. Before the purpose-built city was completed, however, Sargon fell in battle, and his son, Sennacherib, moved the capital instead to Nineveh, leaving the unfinished Dur-Sharrukin to be buried by history. Now, a joint French-German team is discovering that much more of the city had been completed than previously thought...Utilizing a high-resolution magnetometer, the team conducted a large-scale survey, scanning 2.79 million square...

The final demise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, at the hands of the powerful Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE, receives only a few terse passages in the Book of 2 Kings:Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes...From at least the ninth century BCE, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had...

Archaeologists have found evidence of an Assyrian military campaign against Judaea that resulted in the siege of Jerusalem.The campaign was launched in 701 B.C., when Sennacherib was king of Assyria and Hezekiah was king of Judaea. Sennacherib launched the campaign because he considered Hezekiah a vassal king who should obey the Assyrians, but Hezekiah refused and rebelled against him.The Assyrians conquered much of Judaea and laid siege to Jerusalem but, for reasons that are unclear, failed to take the city. The Hebrew Bible claims that the "the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and...

Archaeologists in Israel uncovered a stone seal they believe to be around 2,700 years old from the First Temple period, a find that strengthens the biblical heritage of Jerusalem. The seal, discovered at the City of David National Park in Jerusalem, contains a winged figure with one arm raised forward with an open palm, the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced. The seal was discovered during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation near the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount in the Davidson Archaeological Garden. On either side of the figure is an inscription in...

The stone ring indicates a multi-national culture thriving in ancient Jerusalem "The figure of a winged man in a distinct Neo-Assyrian style is unique and very rare in the glyphic styles of the late First Temple period," he added. "The influence of the Assyrian Empire, which had conquered the entire region, is clearly evident here." The seal depicts a winged genie in the style of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which the excavating team argued showed the influence of the empire in the region in the 7th and 8th centuries. The press release said the "figure raises one arm forward, with an...

Archaeologists have uncovered a "monumental" fortification that protected Jerusalem's biblical kings some 3,000 years ago. The "dramatic" archaeological discovery solved a 150-year-old mystery in the City of David. Since 2007, archaeologists have been excavating the area around the Givati Parking Lot, the largest active archaeological excavation in Jerusalem today. The excavation site on the northwestern side of the City of David has unearthed different layers of the city's life from the Middle Ages to ancient times. The most recent archaeological find is the remnants of a moat that split the City of David in half — separating the king's palace...

Excavations in Jerusalem have finally revealed the route of an ancient fortification, according to a report published Sunday.For more than 150 years, researchers have asked: who divided Jerusalem in two? A report published Sunday by the Jewish Press may finally have another piece of the puzzle, bringing researchers a step closer to answering this question.Excavations in the Givati parking lot at the City of David revealed a massive fortification created by quarrying rock between the National Park and the area above, which contains the Temple Mount and the Ofel. Researchers found unearthed perpendicular cliffs on both sides of a moat,...

Researchers suggested that the inscriptions are short cultic proverbs related to the religious temple they were found in, which was burned and destroyed thousands of years ago.The temple was located in an ancient settlement called Deir 'Alla, at the center of Jordan Valley, which runs along the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee in Israel to the Dead Sea...Archaeologists discovered the tablets in a heavily burned part of the excavation site.The team also found ceramics among the ruins, including goblets and ceremonial vessels, along with armor.Sculptures that were a gift from Egyptian Queen Twosret were also found at the...

One of the big lies in today’s world is that the Jews are white supremacist colonizers, while the people in Gaza and the West Bank are the region’s indigenous inhabitants. In fact, the contrary is true. Jews long predated Muslims in the region, as described in the Bible. Now, there’s more evidence that Isaiah, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles all accurately describe the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.During the reign of Hezekiah of Judah in Jerusalem and Sennacherib in Assyria, the mighty Assyrian kingdom attacked Jerusalem (around 701 BC). We know it happened because of a clay prism...

The 3D-printed reproduction of the Assyrian statue was previously displayed at the Colosseum in Rome and the Unesco headquarters in ParisItaly has donated a reconstructed Assyrian statue to Iraq in what has been described as a “miracle of Italian cultural diplomacy”. Constructed in the ninth century BC, the 5m-tall Bull of Nimrud was destroyed by Isis fighters in 2015, before Italian artisans made a copy of the monument using 3D-printing technology. The replica, which was previously displayed at the Colosseum in Rome and the Unesco headquarters in Paris, has now been permanently relocated outside the entrance to the Basrah Museum....

In 701 B.C.E., an African king marched into Syria-Palestine to defend Judah against the invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Second Kings 19:9 mentions "Tirhakah, king of Cush," coming to the help of Hezekiah, who was up against the Assyrian superpower. Though the Cushites are mentioned only briefly in the biblical text, a number of scholars have argued that their involvement in the conflict against Assyria was decisive in the survival of Jerusalem at this critical historical juncture...The 25th Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted for about a hundred years, from the mid-eighth century to the mid-seventh century B.C.E., was Cushite...

Archaeologists in northern Iraq, working on the Mashki and Adad gate sites in Mosul that were destroyed by Islamic State in 2016, recently uncovered 2,700-year-old Assyrian reliefs. Featuring war scenes and trees, these rock carvings add to the bounty of detailed stone panels excavated from the 1840s onwards, many of which are currently held in the British Museum. They stem from the ancient city of Nineveh which, for a time, was likely the most dazzling in the world. There is evidence of occupation at the site already by 3,000 BC, an era known as the late Uruk period. But it...

Hasanlu developed into a significant commercial and production center during the early Iron Age (1400-800 B.C.), owing to its location on important trade and communication routes between Mesopotamia and Anatolia. The citadel at the center of the settlement contained an array of monumental buildings, including palaces, temples, and large multi-columned halls. The evidence Danti is studying confirms that the citadel met with a violent end. Many buildings were ransacked and burned, which caused them to collapse. In addition, the remains of more than 250 people were uncovered, some with signs of systematic execution. "The horrific level of violence evident in...

Archaeologists in northern Iraq have unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees from the Assyrian empire, an archaeologist has said. The carvings on marble slabs were discovered in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, where experts have been working to restore the site of the ancient Mashki Gate, which was bulldozed by Islamic State militants in 2016. IS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and carried out a campaign of systematic destruction of museums and invaluable archaeological sites in their fervour to erase history. Fadhil Mohammed, the head of the restoration works, said the team were surprised...

Archaeologists recently unearthed ivory plaques found in a luxurious Iron Age residence in Jerusalem, a first-of-its-kind discovery at the site, shedding light on the owner's wealth and social status.The ivory pieces were found in a building from around the eighth or seventh century B.C., the First Temple era, in the City of David...Sifting through the ruins in the building, likely burnt during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., diggers found around 1,500 ivory fragments, said Reli Avisar from Tel Aviv University, which excavated the site along with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)...The decorations consisted of frames with rosettes...

A bungled looting scheme has led archaeologists to an underground Iron Age complex in Turkey that may have been used by a fertility cult during the first millennium B.C., a new study finds.The ancient complex, which has yet to be fully investigated due to the instability of the structure, has rare rock art drawings on its walls featuring a procession of deities depicted in an Assyrian style. This art style appears to have been adapted by local groups, indicating how strongly the culture of the Neo-Assyrian Empire — which hailed from Mesopotamia and later expanded into Anatolia — spread to...