May 1, 2022

In Isaiah chapter 36, verse 1 it reads "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them." Sennacherib destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was responsible for the northern 10 tribes becoming the 10 lost tribes. This is a relief image of King Sennacherib:

This is a rough map of the growth of the Assyrian Empire. It is the home of Nineveh and Babylon. We drive several hours across the Governorate of Nineveh each week and after some research realized we were in the heart of King Sennacherib's canal network that fed the hanging gardens of Babylon- which were actually the hanging gardens of Nineveh.

An artist rendering of Nineveh on the Tigris River at the time of King Sennacherib about 680 BC.  We see the Tigris when we travel just south of Duhok.  We cannot go to the ruins themselves due to ISIS and IED bombs that remain buried around there.

In one of our weekly drives across the Assyrian Empire, we went to find King Sennacherib's canal network, it led us over many gravel roads...

….and across small Kurdish farms……

…to the remains of one of the bridges where Sennacherib’s aqueduct crossed a river.  Archeologists are realizing Sennacherib’s aqueduct was an incredible engineering marvel constructed long before the Roman aqueducts…. Barbara by the aqueduct pictured above. 

The aqueduct used millions of cut rocks.  

Jim is standing on the water bed area where the stair-step design kept the water moving.

Here is where the bridge collapsed over the river… which was wider at that time.

This is an artist’s rendering of what the reconstructed bridge and aqueduct would have looked like at that time.   The site is called JERWAN.

Many of the blocks had Assyrian cuneiform writing extolling Sennacherib and his great construction genius.

…. Cuneiform writing….

A close up of the cuneiform writing…..

Scattered cut stones from Sennacherib’s aqueduct.  

We have seen some of these taken and used by local Kurds in the construction of their own very humble abodes.

Barbara standing in the bed of the aqueduct.

Another view of the aqueduct ruins…

You can just make out the continuation of the bed of the aqueduct toward that abandoned building.

The continuation of the aqueduct in the other direction….

Our second foray was within the city of Duhok.  At the botttom of the mountains is the Duhok River, and in a sacred spot high up the mountain King Sennacherib had a bas relief carved honoring the Assyrian gods.

Here we are approaching the area of the bas relief…. we put our car in 4-wheel drive and traveled a seldom traveled dirt road/path.

The rock face with the carvings comes into view.

Here is a close up of the relief.  Sennacherib is on the left in the dark area slightly below the gods and facing them.  Then there are 5 gods and 2 goddesses standing on sacred beasts and holding sacred symbols.  Sennacherib is again on the right as well looking toward the backs of the gods.

Here is a close up of one of the gods.  Our next adventure will be to Khinnis - the beginning of Sennacherib’s aqueduct.