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Ninive oli Tigrist ületavate kaubateede tähtis ristumiskoht. Asudes kesksel kohal [[Vahemeri|Vahemere]] ja [[India ookean]]i vahelisel maanteel, ühendas Nineve Ida ja Läänt ning kogus rikkust paljudest allikatest. Nii sai sellest üks võimsamaid Põhja-Mesopotaamia muistsetest linnadest<ref>"Uhke Niineve" on Vana Testamendi prohvetiraamatuis läbiv maise kõrkuse sümbol: "Ta sirutab oma käe põhja poole ja hävitab [[Assur]]i; ta teeb Niineve lagedaks, kuivaks nagu kõrbe." ([[Sefanja]] 2:13) </ref>ja Uus-Assüüria pealinn.
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==Ajalugu==
Texts from the [[Hellenistic]] period and later offered an [[eponym]]ous [[Ninus]] as the founder of Nineveh, although there is no historical basis for this. The historic Nineveh is mentioned about [[18th century BC|1800 BC]] as a centre of worship of [[Ishtar]], whose cult was responsible for the city's early importance. The goddess's statue was sent to Pharaoh [[Amenhotep III]] of Egypt in the 14th century BC, by orders of the king of [[Mitanni]]. The [[Assyria]]n city of Nineveh became one of Mitanni's vassals for nearly a century until the mid 14th century BC, when the Assyrian king [[Ashur-uballit I]] reclaimed it in 1365 BC while overthrowing the Mitanni Empire.<ref>Genesis 10:11 attributes the founding of Nineveh to an [[Asshur]]: "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh".</ref>
There is no large body of evidence to show that Assyrian monarchs built at all extensively in Nineveh during the 2nd millennium BC; it appears to have been originally an "Assyrian provincial town". Later monarchs whose inscriptions have appeared on the high city include [[Shalmaneser I]] and [[Tiglath-Pileser I]], both of whom were active builders in Assur ([[Ashur]]); the former had founded [[Calah]] ([[Nimrud]]). Nineveh had to wait for the [[Neo Assyrian Empire]], particularly from the time of [[Ashurnasirpal II]] (ruled 883–859 BC) onward, for a considerable architectural expansion. Thereafter successive monarchs such as [[Sargon II]], [[Esarhaddon]], [[Sennacherib]] and [[Ashurbanipal]] kept in repair and founded new palaces, temples to [[Sin (mythology)|Sîn]], [[Ashur]], [[Nergal]], [[Shamash|Šamaš]], [[Ishtar]], and [[Nabu|Nabiu]] of [[Borsippa]].
[[Image:Pergamonmuseum - Vorderasiatisches Museum 067.JPG|thumb|Refined low-relief section of a bull-hunt frieze from Nineveh, alabaster, c. 695 BC ([[Pergamon Museum]]), Berlin.]]
[[Image:Nineveh north palace king hunting lion.jpg|thumb|The king hunting lion from the North Palace, Nineveh seen at the [[British Museum]]]]
It was [[Sennacherib]] who made Nineveh a truly magnificent city (c. 700 BC). He laid out new streets and squares and built within it the famous "palace without a rival", the plan of which has been mostly recovered and has overall dimensions of about {{convert|503|x|242|m|ft|0}}. It comprised at least 80 rooms, many of which were lined with sculpture. A large number of [[Cuneiform|cuneiform tablet]]s were found in the palace. The solid foundation was made out of limestone blocks and mud bricks; it was {{convert|22|m|ft|0}} tall. In total, the foundation is made of roughly {{convert|2680000|m3|yd3|0}} of brick (approximately 160 million bricks). The walls on top, made out of mud brick, were an additional {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} tall. Some of the principal doorways were flanked by colossal stone door figures weighing up to {{convert|30000|kg|t|0}}; they included many winged lions or bulls with a man's head. These were transported {{convert|50|km|mi|0}} from quarries at Balatai and they had to be lifted up {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} once they arrived at the site, presumably by a ramp. There are also {{convert|3000|m|ft|0}} of stone panels carved in [[bas-relief]], that include pictorial records documenting every construction step including carving the statues and transporting them on a barge. One picture shows 44 men towing a colossal statue. The carving shows three men directing the operation while standing on the Colossus. Once the statues arrived at their destination the final carving was done. Most of the statues weigh between {{convert|9000|and|27000|kg|lb|0}}.<ref>"The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World" edited by Chris Scarre 1999 (Thames and Hudson)</ref><ref>An experiment in the 1950s required 180 men to tow a ten-ton colossus on Easter Island.</ref>
The stone carvings in the walls include many battle scenes, impalings and scenes showing Sennacherib's men parading the spoils of war before him. He also bragged about his conquests: he wrote of Babylon "Its inhabitants, young and old, I did not spare, and with their corpses I filled the streets of the city." He later wrote about a battle in [[Lachish]] "And [[Hezekiah]] of Judah who had not submitted to my yoke...him I shut up in Jeruselum his royal city like a caged bird. Earthworks I threw up against him, and anyone coming out of his city gate I made pay for his crime. His cities which I had plundered I had cut off from his land." <ref>Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Mesopotamia: The Mighty Kings. (1995)</ref>
At this time the total area of Nineveh comprised about {{convert|7|km2|acre|0}}, and fifteen great gates penetrated its walls. An elaborate system of eighteen canals brought water from the hills to Nineveh, and several sections of a magnificently constructed aqueduct erected by Sennacherib were discovered at Jerwan, about {{convert|65|km|mi|0}} distant.<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip24.pdf Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd, Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan, Oriental Institute Publication 24], [[University of Chicago Press]], 1935</ref> The enclosed area had more than 100,000 inhabitants (maybe closer to 150,000), about twice as many as [[Babylon]] at the time, placing it among the largest settlements worldwide.
Nineveh's greatness was short-lived. In around 627 BC after the death of its last great king [[Ashurbanipal]], the Neo-Assyrian empire began to unravel due to a series of bitter civil wars, and Assyria was attacked by its former vassals, the [[Babylonians]] and [[Medes]]. From about 616 BC, in a coalition with the [[Scythians]] and [[Cimmerians]], they besieged Nineveh, sacking the town in 612 BC, after which it was razed to the ground. Most of the people in the city who could not escape to the last Assyrian strongholds in the north and west were either massacred or deported out of the city. Many unburied skeletons were found by the archaeologists at the site. The Assyrian empire then came to an end by 605 BC, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its colonies between them.
Following the defeat in 612 BC, the site remained largely unoccupied for centuries with only a scattering of Assyrians living amid the ruins until the Sassanian period, although [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] continue to live in the surrounding area to this day. The city is mentioned again in the [[Battle of Nineveh (627)|Battle of Nineveh]] in 627 AD, which was fought between the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] and the [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanian Empire]] of [[Persia]] near the ancient city. From the [[Arab]] conquest 637 CE until modern time the city of [[Mosul]] on the opposite bank of the river Tigris became the successor of ancient Nineveh.
===Biblical Nineveh===
In the [[Bible]], Nineveh is first mentioned in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|10:11|}}: "[[Ashur]] left that land, and built Nineveh". Some modern translations interpret "Ashur" in the Hebrew of this verse as the country "Assyria" rather than a person, thus making [[Nimrod (king)|Nimrod]] the builder of Nineveh.
Though the [[Books of Kings]] and [[Books of Chronicles]] talk a great deal about the Assyrian empire, Nineveh itself is not again noticed till the days of [[Jonah]], when it is described ({{Bibleverse||Jonah|3:3|}}ff; {{Bibleverse-nb||Jonah|4:11}}) as an "exceedingly great city of three days journey in breadth". But it is also possible that it took three days to cover all its neighborhoods by walking, which would match the size of ancient Nineveh. The ruins of Kouyunjik, [[Nimrud]], [[Karamles]] and [[Khorsabad]] form the four corners of an irregular quadrangle. The ruins of Nineveh, with the whole area included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn from the one to the other, are generally regarded as consisting of these four sites. The book of Jonah depicts Nineveh as a wicked city worthy of destruction. God sent Jonah to preach, and the Ninevites fasted and repented. As a result, God spared the city; when Jonah protests against this, God states He is showing pity for the population who are ignorant of the difference between right and wrong ("who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand" <ref>[http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1704.htm Mechon Mamre Hebrew Bible translation, Jonah 4]</ref>) and the animals in the city.
Nineveh was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire ({{Bibleverse|2|Kings|19:36|}}); and ostensibly was the home of King [[Sennacherib]], King of Assyria, during the Biblical reign of King [[Hezekiah]] and the prophetic career of [[Isaiah]]. According to scripture, Nineveh was also the place where Sennacherib died at the hands of his two sons, who then fled to the land of ''`rrt'' [[Urartu]]. ({{Bibleverse||Isa.|37:37-38|}}). The book of the prophet [[Nahum]] is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic denunciations against this city. Its ruin and utter desolation are foretold ({{Bibleverse||Nahum|1:14|}}; {{Bibleverse-nb||Nahum|3:19|}}, etc.). Its end was strange, sudden, tragic. ({{Bibleverse||Nahum|2:6–11|}}) According to the Bible, it was God's doing, his judgment on Assyria's pride ({{Bibleverse||Jonah|Nah|10:5-19}}). In fulfillment of prophecy, God made "an utter end of the place". It became a "desolation". [[Zephaniah]] also ({{Bibleverse-nb||Zephaniah|2:13–15|}}) predicts its destruction along with the fall of the empire of which it was the capital. Nineveh is also the setting in the [[Book of Tobit]].
Nineveh's repentance and salvation from evil is noted in the ''[[Gospel of Matthew]]'' ({{Bibleverse-nb||Matthew|12:41|}}) and the ''[[Gospel of Luke]]'' ({{Bibleverse-nb||Luke|11:32|}}). To this day, oriental churches of the Middle East commemorate the three days Jonah spent inside the fish during the [[Fast of Nineveh]]. The faithful fast by refraining from food and drinks. Churches encourage followers to refrain from meat, fish and dairy products.<ref name=SycOrth>{{cite web|title=Three Day Fast of Nineveh|url=http://syrianorthodoxchurch.org/news/2011/02/10/three-day-fast-of-nineveh/|publisher=syrianorthodoxchurch.org|accessdate=1 February 2012}}</ref>
===Classical history===
Before the great archaeological excavations in the 19th century, historical knowledge of the great Assyrian empire and of its magnificent capital was almost wholly a blank. Other cities that had perished, such as [[Palmyra, Syria|Palmyra]], [[Persepolis]], and [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]], had left ruins to mark their sites and tell of their former greatness; but of this city, imperial Nineveh, not a single vestige seemed to remain, and the very place on which it had stood became only matter of conjecture.
In the days of the Greek historians [[Ctesias]] and [[Herodotus]], [[400 BC]], Nineveh had become a thing of the past; and when [[Xenophon]] the historian passed the place in the ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Retreat of the Ten Thousand]]'' the very memory of its name had been lost. It was buried out of sight.
<ref>Menko Vlaardingerbroek, The Founding of Nineveh and Babylon in Greek Historiography, Iraq, vol. 66, Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assriologique Internationale, Part One, pp. 233-241, 2004</ref>
In his ''History of the World'' (written c. 1616) [[Sir Walter Raleigh]] erroneously asserted (attributing the information to [[Johannes Nauclerus]] c. 1425-1510), that Nineveh had originally had the name '''Campsor''' before Ninus supposedly rebuilt it. This was still regarded as correct information when news of Layard's discoveries (see below) reached the west.<ref>"Dr. Layard and Nineveh", ''Bentley's Miscellany'' Vol 29 (1851), p. 102</ref>
==Archaeology==
===Excavation history===
In 1842, French Consul General at Mosul, [[Paul-Émile Botta]] began to search the vast mounds that lay along the opposite bank of the river. The Arabs whom he employed in these excavations, to their great surprise, came upon the ruins of a building at the mound of [[Khorsabad]], which, on further exploration, turned out to be the royal palace of [[Sargon II]], which was largely explored for sculptures and other precious relics.
[[Image:Nineve.jpg|thumb|left|Bronze lion from Nineveh.]]
In 1847 the young British adventurer Sir [[Austen Henry Layard]] explored the ruins.
<ref>A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, John Murray, 1849</ref>
<ref>A. H. Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, John Murray, 1853</ref>
<ref>A. H. Layard, The monuments of Nineveh; from drawings made on the spot, John Murray, 1849</ref>
<ref>A. H. Layard, A second series of the monuments of Nineveh, John Murray, 1853</ref>
In the Kuyunjik mound Layard rediscovered in 1849 the lost palace of [[Sennacherib]] with its 71 rooms and colossal [[bas-relief]]s. He also unearthed the palace and famous [[library of Ashurbanipal]] with 22,000 [[cuneiform]] clay tablets. Most of Layard's material
was sent to the [[British Museum]], but two large pieces were given to
[[Lady Charlotte Guest]] and eventually found their way to the [[Metropolitan Museum]].
<ref>John Malcolm Russell, From Nineveh to New York: The Strange Story of the Assyrian Reliefs in the Metropolitan Museum & the Hidden Masterpiece at Canford School,
Yale University Press, 1997, ISBN 0300064594</ref>
The study of the archaeology of Nineveh reveals the wealth and glory of ancient Assyria under kings such as [[Esarhaddon]] (681–669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (669–626 BC).
The work of exploration was carried on by [[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]], [[Hormuzd Rassam]], and others, and a vast treasury of specimens of Assyria was incrementally exhumed for European museums. Palace after palace was discovered, with their decorations and their sculptured slabs, revealing the life and manners of this ancient people, their arts of war and peace, the forms of their religion, the style of their architecture, and the magnificence of their monarchs.
<ref>George Smith, Assyrian discoveries; an account of explorations and discoveries on the site of Nineveh, during 1873 and 1874, S. Low-Marston-Searle and Rivington, 1876</ref>
<ref>Hormuzd Rassam and Robert William Rogers, Asshur and the land of Nimrod, Curts & Jennings, 1897</ref>
The mound of Kouyunjik were excavated again by the archaeologists of the [[British Museum]], led by [[Leonard William King]], at the beginning of the twentieth century. Their efforts concentrated on the site of the Temple of [[Nabu]], the god of writing, where another cuneiform library was supposed to exist. However, no such library was ever found: most likely, it had been destroyed by the activities of later residents.
The excavations started again in 1927, under the direction of Campbell Thompson, who had already taken part in King's expeditions.
<ref>R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, The excavations on the temple of Nabu at Nineveh, Archaeologia, vol. 79, pp. 103-148, 1929</ref><ref>R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, The site of the palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nineveh excavated in 1929-30, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. 18, pp. 79-112, 1931</ref>
<ref>R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hamilton, The British Museum excavations on the temple of Ishtar at Nineveh 1930-31, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and
Anthropology, vol. 19, pp. 55-116, 1932</ref><ref>R. Campbell Thompson and M E L Mallowan, The British Museum excavations at Nineveh 1931-32, Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. 20, pp. 71-186, 1933</ref>
Some works were carried out outside Kouyunjik, for instance on the mound of Nebi Yunus, which was the ancient arsenal of Nineveh, or along the outside walls. Here, near the northwestern corner of the walls, beyond the pavement of a later building, the archaeologists found almost 300 fragments of prisms recording the royal annals of [[Sennacherib]], Esarhaddon, and [[Ashurbanipal]], beside a prism of Esarhaddon which was almost perfect.
After the Second World War, several excavations were carried out by Iraqi archaeologists. From 1951 to 1958 Mohammed Ali Mustafa worked the site.<ref>Mohammed Ali Mustafa, Sumer, vol. 10, pp. 110-11, 1954</ref><ref>Mohammed Ali Mustafa, Sumer, vol. 11, pp. 4, 1955</ref>
The work was continued from 1967 through 1971 by Tariq Madhloom.<ref>Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: A preliminary report, Sumer, vol. 23, pp. 76-79, 1967</ref><ref>Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: The 1967-68 Campaign, Sumer, vol 24, pp. 45-51, 1968</ref><ref>Tariq Madhloom, Excavations at Nineveh: The 1968-69 Campaign, Sumer, vol. 25, pp. 43-49, 1969</ref> Some additional excavation occurred by Manhal Jabur in 1980, and Manhal Jabur in 1987. For the most part, these digs focused on Nebi Yunus.
Most recently, British archaeologist and Assyriologist Professor [[David Stronach]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley]] conducted a series of surveys and digs at the site from 1987–1990, focusing his attentions to the several gates and the existent mudbrick walls, as well as the system that supplied water to the city in times of siege. The excavation reports
are in progress.
<ref>[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic/wl/digsites/Mesopotamia/Nineveh_07/index.htm] Shelby White - Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications - Nineveh Publication Grant</ref>
===Archaeological remains===
Today, Nineveh's location is marked by two large mounds, Kouyunjik and ''Nabī Yūnus'' "Prophet [[Jonah]]", and the remains of the city walls (about {{convert|12|km|mi|0}} in circumference). The Neo-Assyrian levels of Kouyunjik have been extensively explored. The other mound, ''Nabī Yūnus'', has not been as extensively explored because there is an Arab Muslim shrine dedicated to that prophet on the site.
*Kuyunjik - The ruin mound rises about {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} above the surrounding plain of the ancient city. It is quite broad, measuring about {{convert|800|x|500|m|ft|0}}. Its upper layers have been extensively excavated and several Neo-Assyrian palaces and temples have been found there. A deep sounding by Max Mallowan revealed evidence of habitation as early as the 6th millennium BC. Today, there is little evidence of these old excavations other than weathered pits and earth piles. In 1990, the only Assyrian remains visible were those of the entry court and the first few chambers of the Palace of Sennacherib. Since that time, the palace chambers have received significant damage by looters due to the turmoil in the area. Portions of relief sculptures that were in the palace chambers in 1990 were seen on the antiquities market by 1996. Photographs of the chambers made in 2003 show that many of the fine relief sculptures there have been reduced to piles of rubble.
[[File:Nineveh Nebi Yunus Excavation Bull-Man Head.JPG|thumb|right|[[Lamassu|Bull man]] excavated at Nebi Yunus by Iraqi archaeologists]]
*Nebi Yunus - located about {{convert|1|km|mi|1}} south of Kuyunjik, is the secondary ruin mound at Nineveh. On the basis of texts of Sennacherib, the site has traditionally been identified as the "armory" of Nineveh, and a gate and pavements excavated by Iraqis in 1954 have been considered to be part of the "armory" complex. Excavations in 1990 revealed a monumental entryway consisting of a number of large inscribed orthostats and "bull-man" sculptures, some apparently unfinished.
===City wall and gates===
[[Image:Nineveh map city walls & gates.JPG|thumb|left|Simplified plan of ancient Nineveh showing city wall and location of gateways.]]
The ruins of Nineveh are surrounded by the remains of a massive stone and mudbrick wall dating from about 700 BC. About 12 km in length, the wall system consisted of an ashlar stone retaining wall about {{convert|6|m|ft|0}} high surmounted by a mudbrick wall about {{convert|10|m|ft|0}} high and {{convert|15|m|ft|0}} thick. The stone retaining wall had a'foresticking stone towers spaced about every {{convert|18|m|ft|0}}. The stone wall and towers were topped by three-step [[merlon]]s.
[[Image:Nineveh mashki gate from west.JPG|thumb|Mashki Gate. Reconstructed.]]
The city wall was fitted with fifteen monumental gateways. In addition to serving as checkpoints on entering and exiting the city, these structures were probably used as barracks and armories. With the inner and outer doors shut, the gateways were virtual fortresses. The bases of the walls of the vaulted passages and interior chambers of the gateway were lined with finely cut stone orthostats about {{convert|1|m|ft|0}} high. A stairway led from one of the interior chambers to the top of the mudbrick wall.
Five of the gateways have been explored to some extent by archaeologists:
====Mashki Gate====
Translated "Gate of the Watering Places", it was perhaps used to take livestock to water from the River Tigris which currently flows about {{convert|1.5|km|mi|1}} to the west. It has been reconstructed in fortified mudbrick to the height of the top of the vaulted passageway. The Assyrian original may have been plastered and ornamented.
====Nergal Gate====
Named for the god [[Nergal]], it may have been used for some ceremonial purpose, as it is the only known gate flanked by stone sculptures of winged bull-men ([[lamassu]]). The reconstruction is conjectural, as the gate was excavated by Layard in the mid 19th century, and reconstructed in the mid 20th century.
====Adad Gate====
[[Image:Nineveh Adad gate exterior entrance far2.JPG|thumb|right|Restored [[Adad]] Gate]]
Named for the god [[Adad]]. A reconstruction was begun in the 1960s by Iraqis, but was not completed. The result is an uneasy mixture of concrete and eroding mudbrick, which nonetheless does give one some idea of the original structure. Fortunately, the excavator left some features unexcavated, allowing a view of the original Assyrian construction. The original brickwork of the outer vaulted passageway is well exposed, as is the entrance of the vaulted stairway to the upper levels. The actions of Nineveh's last defenders can be seen in the hastily built mudbrick construction which narrows the passageway from {{convert|4|to|2|m|ft|0}}.
====Shamash Gate====
[[Image:Nineveh walls east Shamash Gate from rampart.JPG|thumb|Eastern city wall and [[Shamash]] Gate.]]
Named for the Sun god [[Shamash]], it opens to the road to Arbil. It was excavated by Layard in the 19th century. The stone retaining wall and part of the mudbrick structure were reconstructed in the 1960s. The mudbrick reconstruction has deteriorated significantly. The stone wall sticks outward about {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} from the line of main wall for a width of about {{convert|70|m|ft|0}}. It is the only gate with such a significant projection. The mound of its remains towers above the surrounding terrain. Its size and design suggest it was the most important gate in Neo-Assyrian times.
====Halzi Gate====
Near the south end of the eastern city wall. Exploratory excavations were undertaken here by the University of California expedition of 1989–90. There is an outward projection of the city wall, though not as pronounced as at the Shamash Gate. The entry passage had been narrowed with mudbrick to about {{convert|2|m|ft|0}} as at the Adad Gate. Human remains from the final battle of Nineveh were found in the passageway.
<ref>Diana Pickworth, Excavations at Nineveh: The Halzi Gate, Iraq, vol. 67, no. 1, Nineveh. Papers of the 49th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part Two, pp. 295-316, 2005</ref>
== Threats to Nineveh ==
The site of Nineveh is exposed to decay of its [[reliefs]] by a lack of proper protective roofing, vandalism and looting holes dug into chamber floors.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0611_030611_iraqlootingreport2.html
|title= Cultural Assessment of Iraq: The State of Sites and Museums in Northern Iraq – Nineveh
|publisher=[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] News
|date=May 2003}}</ref> Future preservation is further compromised by the site's proximity to constantly expanding suburbs.
In an October 2010 report titled ''[[Saving Our Vanishing Heritage]]'', [[Global Heritage Fund]] named Nineveh one of 12 sites most "on the verge" of irreparable destruction and loss, citing insufficient management, development pressures and looting as primary causes.<ref>[http://globalheritagefund.org/index.php/what_we_do/sites_on_the_verge/ Globalheritagefund.org]</ref>
==Rogation of the Ninevites (Nineveh's Wish)==
[[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] of the [[Ancient Church of the East]], [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], and [[Assyrian Church of the East]] observe a fast called ''Ba'uta d-Ninwe'' or ''Bo'utho d-Ninwe'' (ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ) which means ''Nineveh's Wish''. [[Copts]] and [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox]] also maintain this fast.<ref> [http://christiansofiraq.com/BaootaFeb86.html article about the Roagation of the Ninevites]</ref>-->
==Vaata ka==
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