Nineveh See also Assyria; Jonah In the Old Testament, the capital of Assyria and for over two hundred years a great commercial center on the eastern bank of the Tigris river. It fell at the downfall of the Assyrian empire, 606 B.C. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, lived in Nineveh, 2 Kgs. 19:36. Jonah was sent to call the city to repentance, Jonah 1:1–2 (Jonah 3:1–4). The people of Nineveh repented, Jonah 3:5–10. Christ used Nineveh as an example of repentance before the Jews, Matt. 12:41.