Review Palace

Tradition has it that the mound of Nebi Yunus ("Prophet Jonah"), the spot where this Assyrian armory was built, contains the grave of the prophet Jonah. An important mosque is constructed directly above the ruins of the Assyrian armory.

The building may have existed in the Middle Assyrian Period. Inscribed clay cones of the ruler Aššur-rēša-iši I report that that Assyrian king made repairs to a room of a bīt-kutalli that had been damaged during an earthquake that took place during the reign of Aššur-dān I. The bīt-kutalli mentioned in that text may refer to the Nineveh armory. A brick of Ashurnasirpal II discovered at Nebi Yunus might suggest that that early Neo-Assyrian ruler worked on that building. It is clear from 7th-century B.C. Akkadian inscriptions that an armory had existed at Nineveh long before Sennacherib made Nineveh the capital of Assyria. Sennacherib claims to have completely rebuilt and expanded the existing armory. His son Esarhaddon built a large and ornately decorated wing onto that palace and his grandson Ashurbanipal made repairs to various parts of it.