The capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River opposite modern Mosul, Iraq. Nineveh was one of the largest cities of the ancient world — an exceeding great city of three days' journey (Jonah 3:3) — and the seat of the most violent imperial power of its era, infamous for the cruelty of its military campaigns. Jonah was commissioned by God to preach against Nineveh's wickedness (Jonah 1:2), fled west by sea to Tarshish, was returned to Nineveh by the great fish, and saw the city repent from king down to commoner under his eight-word sermon (Jonah 3). The repentance staved off judgment for a generation. A century or so later, Nahum prophesied Nineveh's coming destruction, fulfilled when the Medes and Babylonians sacked the city in 612 BC, leaving it so thoroughly destroyed that within centuries its very location was disputed. Christ Himself cited the Ninevites who repented at Jonah's preaching as a witness against His own generation (Matt 12:41).