On July 24 , 2014 , ISIS destroy and despoil the Mosque of Nabi Yunus , or the Tomb of Jonah , as part of their campaign to remove all religious sanctuaries assort with sham idols or foreign influence . However , their plan kind of backfired .
After the discharge of East Mosul in January 2017 , the great unwashed returning to the reclaimed area found that ISIS - back looters had counterfeit out four tunnels beneath the temple . An archeological survey of the area showed that the pillager ' workplace had in reality help oneself fetch to illume a bunch of inscription about a Neo - Assyrian King , ancient carvings , and many other 2,700 - year - older archeological treasures .
betimes reportsabout the tunnel first come out last class , but now prof Ali Yaseen Al - Juboori from the University of Mosul has detailed the determination in a late issue of the journalIraq .
Above ground , the ruined tabernacle contained what Muslims and Christians believe to be the tomb of Yunus , also known as Jonah , the prophet from the Old Testament most famous for being swallowed by a whale . Yunus is also an important prophesier in the Quran ; however , in the ultra - fundamentalistic view of ISIS , the worship of Yunus is examine as idol worship .
Deep in the freebooter ’ tunnel , investigator discovered long stretchiness of decorations and lettering built during the sovereignty of Esarhaddon , a king of the Neo - Assyrian Empire who ruled from 681 to 669 BCE . estimate by the inscriptions , he was once a muscular ruler ( or at least he wish to think so ) .
One of the inscription in the burrow reads : “ The palace of Esarhaddon , great top executive , mighty king , baron of the world , king of Assyria , son of Sennacherib , business leader of the world , king of Assyria , descendent of Sargon ( II ) , queen of the world , king of Assyria . ”
Another record : “ The palace of Esarhaddon , potent king , business leader of the reality , king of Assyria , governor of Babylon , Martin Luther King of Sumer and Akkad , king of the kings of ( lower ) Egypt , upper Egypt [ and Kush ] . ”
They also discovered a number of jar , limestone slab , and paries carvings . One stage set of this wall shows legion woman , while another shows a cutting of a giant homo - head winged crap , a mythological figure known as a lamassu .
ISIS are believed to have looted and sold off many of the other artifacts . Nevertheless , much of this unbelievable piece of story remains comparatively whole .
[ H / T : Live Science ]
