Greetings,

Scripture doesn't mention the name of the 'king' of Ninevah of whom Jonah went
to preach.

Perhaps you may have heard of the famous Assyrian Queen Semiramis. I believe it
is possible, that Jonah helped train her.

2Ki 14:23 ...Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign
in Samaria, [and reigned] forty and one years.
2Ki 14:24 And he ...
2Ki 14:25 He restored ...according to the word of the LORD God of
Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant ***Jonah***, the son of
Amittai, the prophet, which [was] of Gathhepher.

Thus, we can locate Jonah, historically with Jeroboam, King of Israel.

2 chapters earlier, in 2Ki 12:17,18, there was a battle involving Hazael, King
of Syria and Jehoash king of Judah.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary volume 4 p.222 speculates that the invasion,
spoken of in 2 Kings 12:17,18 took place when Samsi-Adad V of Assyria died in
811 B.C. and the Queen Semiramis became regent..

Several different clay Tablets have been found with sequential lists of their
kings and how long each king ruled... They are called Assyrian King lists. A
famous British Archeologist, named Rawlinson, added his view of the 'dates'
associated with one of these Assyrian King lists. Rawlinson's Assyrian King list
has these 3 kings who lived around 811bc:
Shalmaneser II 858bc
Samas-Rimmon II 823bc
Rimmon-nirari III 810bc

It is strange than none of them are 'Samsi-Adad'. Samsi-Adad should have been in
this list cuz he died in 811bc. Is this an error in the King's list? No, but it
isn't complete. Apparently Queen Semiramis became 'regent', when Samsi-Adad
died, so it looks like the King List shows her instead of perhaps showing both
of them. So the king 'Samas-Rimmon' must have been Semi-ramas. ..... you can
see the similarity in the spelling:
Samas = Semi
Rimmon = Ramas

The following website:
--- http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_semiramis.htm

says this about Semiramis:

"Semi-legendary Assyrian Queen. Some legends have her raised by doves in the
desert ... Her first husband was said to have been the governor of
Nineveh...Records show that after the reign of Shamshi-Adad V, 823-811 B.C.E.,
his widow served as regent from 811 - 808 B.C.E.'."

The Hebrew common noun translated as 'DOVE' is the exact same spelling for the
Hebrew proper noun, transliterated as JONAH. Jonah, as you recall, went to
Ninevah to preach. I believe this occurred about 820bc; so it's likely that he
preached to Samsi-Adad V and Semiramis. In the book of Jonah, the governor of
Ninevah had everyone in the city 'repent' in 'sackcloth and ashes'. So, they
listened to Jonah, whose name means 'dove'. Hence, they were trained by 'the
dove'. Hence the legend that Semiramis 'was raised by doves in the desert' might
well have some truth in it.

Toby