Topos Niniwy w Starym Testamencie

Abstract

It is very difficult to make objective judgement of the ancient Israeli’s memory of Nineveh. This capital of the odious and cruel enemy, which plundered and finally completelThenslaved the bigger part of Israel, appears in the biblical text surprisingly rarely (in contrast to Babylon, what is found in the Bible ten times more frequently). When Nineveh is mentioned, it is rather as a symbol or allegory, more seldom as a historical capital of Assyria. Of course, the most primary cause of this phenomenon is a silent voice of those who have most suffered from Assyria, that is the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom, but the meanders of the Judean memory are not to be omitted. The Judeans sud ered less from Assyria, but also considerably. Nevertheless it seems that with time the memory of injustice faded, whereas the memory of Nineveh’s wealth and superiority stayed (fortified by complexes, what doesn’t exclude contempt).