This lavishly illustrated volume contains more than 65 chapters by international specialists, providing a detailed and thorough study of the Ancient city of Nineveh, the once-flourishing capital of the Assyrian Empire in present-day Iraq.

'Well, as for Nineveh, skipper, it was wiped out long ago. There's not a trace of it left, and one can't even guess where it was' (Lucian, 2nd century AD). Nineveh, the once-flourishing capital of the Assyrian Empire, has fascinated writers, travellers and historians alike since its complete annihilation by allied forces in 612 BC. It was said to have been a great and populous city with 90-km walls, stunning palaces and colossal statues of pure gold. Since 1842 archaeologists have been investigating the ruins of Nineveh, which are located on the eastern banks of the river Tigris, near the moder.

The Book of Jonah the Prophet is full of wonderful spiritual contemplation. Our aim in this book is to tackle purely the spiritual side, and not the theological side. Our aim is to benefit and not to debate. We wish to take from this beautiful Book beneficial lessons for our life. We wish to benefit from God's work and from people's virtues and faults. How beautiful is the Church's choice! She chose this Book to be the prelude of the forty days of Lent! A beautiful story of repentance and fasting precedes the Great Lent by two weeks, that we may approach the holy forty days with a clean heart attached to the Lord. It is remarkable that many of those who study the Book of Jonah concentrate on the people of Nineveh and their fast and overlook the mariners and Jonah with his problem. Pope Shenouda III

The story of Israel's triumphs, defeats, backslidings, captivity, and reformation abounds in great.