Is the Bible's description of Nineveh correct?

scout575

Jonah 3:3 Says: "Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey." If we assume that about 20 miles can be covered in a day's walk, that would make Nineveh about 60 miles wide. Was Nineveh really that big? This would make it far bigger than modern day Greater London. Can this Bible account be trusted?

FairMind

Maybe the three days journey was how long it took to walk around Nineveh as oppose to across it. This would have made Nineveh 19 miles wide instead of 60. Still seems rather big doesn't it?

RunningMan

No, the Bible's description of Ninevah was grossly exagerated, much like the rest of the Bible.

JUST HOW BIG WAS NINEVAH? “So Jonah arose and went to Ninevah, according to the word of the LORD. Now, Ninevah was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey.” - Jonah 3:3,4 A day’s journey in ancient times was approximately 20 miles, so, Ninevah would have been 60 miles in diameter. It would have occupied 2,826 square miles. That’s one big city. Let’s make a few comparisons. New York City occupies only 304 square miles. In that area, 7,322,564 people are housed. This gives a population density of 24,000 people per square mile. By contrast, I live in a small city of 195,000, which occupies 42 square miles, for a density of 4,600. Most ancient cities were fairly dense, due to the logistical difficulties in feeding, watering, and cleaning up after large numbers of people before the age of mass transportation systems, not to mention the cost of building the city walls. For example, ancient Pompeii had a population of 20,000, inside walls with a circumference of 2 miles, for a density of 62,500 persons per square mile. If Ninevah had an average density of 50,000 people per square mile, it must have had a population of 141,300,000. Since New York is considered to be a “great city” by most standards, Ninevah must have been stupendous. It was 9 times larger than New York in land area, and 19 times larger in population. But wait, the bible gives us the population of Ninevah: “And should not I pity Ninevah, that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” - Jonah 4:11 One hundred and twenty thousand persons, spread over 2,826 square miles is only 42 persons per square mile - that’s 15 acres per person, or 60 acres for a family of four. That’s not a city. Realistically, we could expect Ninevah to have a walled circumference of approximately seven miles, assuming that the population figures are accurate. Interestingly, archeologists have found walls that likely were Ninevah, and they were about seven miles around. So, Ninevah was not a three day journey in breadth, unless Jonah was a really slow walker. So slow, in fact, that he could have gotten a job working on the temple.

Honesty

It was probably 45-60 miles in circumference which would make it approximately 15-19 miles across. Jonah 4:1 mentions 120,000 people. Some commentators believe that is how many men lived in the city. Taking into account the women and children it is plausible that Nineveh was a very large city in its time.

Jonah 3:3 Now Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three-day walk.

Jonah 4:11 Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people.

Sad emo

It looks like it depends on what translation you use. The NIV reads:

'Now Nineveh was a very important city - a visit required three days'

My IVP New Bible Commentary suggests that this is a more accurate translation and that a proper state visit would take three days:

Day 1 - Arrival, settling in, locating the correct government officials and presenting credentials.

Day 2 - Official reception and business conduction.

Day 3 - Official send-off with any replies etc.

Hope this is helpful