Nimrud, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. Vertical aerial photograph of the ancient tell near Noomanea village thought by local tradition to have been the city of Nimrod. Calah, or Kalhu, was the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. It thrived from the 13th century BCE to its destruction by the enemies of Assyria in the late 7th century BCE. Archaeologists have been excavating here since the 1840s, notably Austin Henry Layard. Nimrud, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. Vertical aerial photograph of the ancient tell near Noomanea village thought by local tradition to have been the city of 'Nimrod'. Calah, or Kalhu, was the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. It thrived from the 13th century BCE to its destruction by the enemies of Assyria in the late 7th century BCE. Archaeologists have been excavating here since the 1840s, notably Austin Henry Layard.