Buried beneath the plains of Mesopotamia lay
the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh.
Why was its
discovery one of the most important historical
and archaeological finds of all time?
The year was 1839 when Austen Henry Layard
began his journey across Europe and the Middle
East on
route to Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka.
Upon reaching Mesopotamia, in the region of
the city of Mosul
today, he stopped to investigate the remains
of ancient cities which were found buried
beneath mounds
of clay, known as 'tells.'
City mounds, or 'tells' were formed by collapsing
mud brick which was
historically the primary material used in
construction.
Upon the mounds there were remains of towers
that stood out in the landscape and it was
understood that these were ancient Assyrian
temples, known
as 'ziggurats'.
Clay tablets were found strewn across the
landscape bearing a triangular script, now
known as Cuneiform.
It was from this text; found on more than
22,000 clay tablets, that an ancient
civilisation and vast city were revealed from
the sands of time.
In 19th century Victorian Britain, incredulity
towards the Bible had begun to set in bringing
the Bible's
historicity into question.
In the 'Post-Age of Enlightenment' period
many scholars had eroded the
confidence in the accuracy of scripture.
However, when Layard produced his first book
"Nineveh and its
Remains" it became a bestseller and rejuvenated
a dying faith in the public consciousness.
Other than
the Old Testament and an obscure description
of ruins by Greek historian Xenophon, in 400
BC, there
was no other historical record to prove the
existence of Nineveh.
The city had long since been
considered a myth.
What Layard ultimately discovered were the
records of kings and their conquests
which directly paralleled the biblical account.
Upon the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
was found an inscription and image of one
of the Kings of
Israel paying tribute to the Assyrian king.
This was the first time any evidence had been
uncovered to
support the divided kingdoms of Israel and
Judah from the books of Kings and Chronicles.
For Victorian
Britain, it provided "...the conviction of
many people that archeological evidence had
vindicated the
Bible..."
The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, also recorded
his victories over the region of Samaria and
Judah
providing details that support many biblical
accounts.
On clay hexagonal tablets, known as
Sennacherib's Annals, he wrote: "As for the
king of Judah, Hezekiah, who had not submitted
to my
authority, I besieged and captured forty-six
of his fortified cities, along with many smaller
towns, taken
in battle with my battering rams...
As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged
bird in his royal city of
Jerusalem.
I then constructed a series of fortresses
around him, and I did not allow anyone to
come out
of the city gates.
His towns which I captured I gave to the kings
of Ashod, Ekron, and Gaza."
These
conquests and the failed siege of Jerusalem
match the biblical account which records that
"...in the
fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib
king of Assyria came up against all the fortified
cities of
Judah and took them.
Defeats are virtually never
recorded by the defeated but no
mention of Jerusalem's capture, the last remaining
stronghold in Judah, is recorded by Sennacherib
and
according to the bible God defeated his army
and "...he returned shamefaced to his own
land."
These discoveries and many more like them
paint a clear picture of the ancient Assyrians
and their vast
cities, such as that of Nineveh, and provide
a concise historical record of their achievements
and
conquests.
The once popular notion that these cities
and kingdoms were myths was shattered by
Layard's work.
The unearthed evidence brought the stories
of the Bible to life as people began to realise
the historical accounts found in scripture
were speaking about real kingdoms and real
historical figures,
which prior to had no other verifiable source.
There are many who scoff at the historical
accounts found in the Bible but what Layard
and his
contemporaries uncovered were secular accounts
that substantially corroborated with the Biblical
account.
Victorian society's growing skepticism was
largely rebuffed and a renewed faith in the
accuracy
and importance of the Bible was established.
We now live in an age where skepticism and
open ridicule of the Bible abounds but the
archaeological
discoveries of men like Austen Henry Layard
should cause us, once again, to consider the
historical
importance of the Bible and no longer treat
it with disdain.
For more information on this subject you can
order or download our free booklet 'The Bible:
Fact or Fiction?'
I am Jonathan Riley for 
Tomorrow's World Viewpoint
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To access articles, telecasts and booklets from Tomorrow's World
visit our website TWCanada.org
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