Šibaniba Gate

The gate is mentioned in Akkadian inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib dating to 697-691 B.C. Most of Sennacherib’s inscriptions record that the Šibaniba Gate was the seventh of the south- and east-facing gates. One inscription, however, states that it was the sixth of those gates.

The gate’s exact position is uncertain and cannot be confirmed from in-situ inscriptions. Most scholarly reconstructions place the Šibaniba Gate about 900 m or 1,450 m south of the northeast corner of Nineveh’s wall (coordinates: respectively 36.3718555, 43.1668081 and 36.3674842, 43.1700696). Julian Reade (SAAB 22 [2016], 77-80) has recently suggested two alternative locations for this gate: (1) approximately 2,000 m south of the northeast corner (coordinates: 36.3632768, 43.1724032), the spot where scholars traditionally locate the Step Gate, and (2) about 2,800 m north of the southeast corner, just south of the Khosr River, the location where most scholarly reconstructions place the Mullissu Gate (coordinates: 36.361431, 43.173201). Given the fairly regular spacing of the gates along the eastern stretch of wall, the Šibaniba Gate in this resource is tentatively located 900 m south of the northeast corner of the city.