The Destruction of Nineveh

     Massive walls said to have been 60 feet thick and 100 feet high surrounded the ancient Assyrian capital, Nineveh.  From this fortified city, Assyrian kings ruled over a great empire—until the reign of Sardanapalus.  During this period a coalition of Babylonians, Medes, and Chaldeans began a rebellion against Sardanapalus to end Assyrian rule.

      For 2 years the rebel armies fought against the Assyrian forces, but could not penetrate the walls of Nineveh.  Sardanapalus felt safe, because an oracle had assured the Assyrian king that Nineveh would not fall unless the River Tigris became its enemy.  As luck would have it, the Tigris overflowed, and its floodwaters knocked down a portion of the great wall surrounding the city.

      The rebels poured in through the breach, and in despair Sardanapalus burned himself alive on a massive pyre in his palace.  The fate of the oracle is not known.

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