The fall of the empire? Shifting constructions of Nineveh in the book of Nahum and beyond

The superscription to Nahum announces an oracle ( massā ) concerning Nineveh. In the rest of the book, one finds a vivid portrayal of the fall of this capital city of the Assyrian Empire, named explicitly in Nah. 3.7 when Nineveh is declared to be utterly destroyed ( šaddā ) (cf. also Nah. 2.8 [MT 9]). However, given the complexity in dating the book of Nahum, with scholars arguing respectively for a 7th century, an exilic, or post-exilic setting for this book, it is a question of which empire’s real or imagined fall is celebrated in this book. This article considers whether Nineveh really is Nineveh and whether this fallen city perhaps may also represent empires to come. Being mindful of the shifting constructions of empire and how later generations reused past empires to speak about the empire that remains holds important implications for contemporary readers who continue to navigate complicated relationships with empire themselves.