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In 1845–47 and again in 1849–51 Mr. (later Sir) A. H. Layard carried out a series of excavations among the ruins of the ancientcity of Nineveh, "that great city, wherein are more than sixteen thousand persons that cannot discern between their righthand and their left; and also much cattle" (Jonah iv, II). Its ruins lie on the left or east bank of the Tigris, exactly opposite the town of Al-Mawsil, or Môsul, which was foundedby the Sassanians and marks the site of Western Nineveh. At first Layard thought that these ruins were not those of Nineveh,which he placed at Nimrûd, about 20 miles downstream, but of one of the other cities that were builded by Asshur (seeGen. x, 11, 12). Thanks, however, to Christian, Roman and Muhammadan tradition, there is no room for doubt about it, and the site of Ninevehhas always been known. The fortress which the Arabs built there in the seventh century was known as "Kal'at-Nînawî, i.e., "Nineveh Castle," for many centuries, and all the Arab geographers agree in saying that tile mounds opposite Môsul containthe ruins of the palaces and walls of Nineveh. And few of them fail to mention that close by them is "Tall Nabi Yûnis," i.e., the Hill from which the Prophet Jonah preached repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh, that "exceeding great city of threedays' journey" (Jonah iii, 3). Local tradition also declares that the prophet was buried in the Hill, and his supposed tomb is shown there to this day.
The situation of the ruins of the palaces of Nineveh is well shown by the accompanying reproduction of the plan of page 2the city made by Commander Felix Jones, I.N. The remains of the older palaces built by Sargon II (B.C. 721–705), Sennacherib(B.C. 705–681), and Esarhaddon (B.C. 681–668) lie under the hill called Nabi Yûnis, and those of the palaces and other buildingsof Ashur-bani-pal (B.C. 681–626) under the mound which is known locally as "Tall al-'Armûshîyah," i.e., "The Hill of 'Armûsh," and "Kuyûnjik." The latter name is said to be derived from two Turkish words meaning "many sheep,"in allusion to the large flocks of sheep that find their pasture on and about the mound in the early spring. These two greatmounds lie close to the remains of the great west wall of Nineveh, which in the time of the last Assyrian Empire was washedby the waters of the river Tigris. At some unknown period the course of the river changed, and it is now more than a miledistant from the city wall. The river Khausur, or Khoser, divides the area of Nineveh into two parts, and passing close tothe southern end of Kuyûnjik empties itself into the Tigris. The ruins of the wails of Nineveh show that the east wall was16,000 feet long, the north wall 7,000 feet long, the west wall 13,600 feet, and the south wall 3,000 feet; its circuit wasabout 13,200 yards or 7½ miles.
In the spring of 1852 Layard, assisted by H. Rassam, continued the excavation of the "South West Palace" at Kuyûnjik. In onepart of the building he found two small chambers, opening into each other, which he called the "chamber of records," or "thehouse of the rolls." He gave them this name because "to the height of a foot or more from the floor they were entirely filled"with inscribed baked clay tablets and fragments of tablets. Some tablets were complete, but by far the larger number of themhad been broken