From *The Skeptical Review*, 1992 / March-April:
by Dave Matson
Jonah 3:3 informs us that the old Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was an exceedingly great city, being three days' journey across! 'Twas a really, really, really big city!
Assyria was the first world-class power to really collide with Israel, and the size of its fabled capital may have slipped out of focus. At any rate, the Bible gave it the diameter of a three-day journey. Scholars, using old traveler's accounts, usually reckon a day's journey in ancient times as 20 miles or thereabouts. The fact that Jonah was probably on foot is irrelevant since Jonah is not the standard of measurement. For an ancient walker, a day's journey in a well paved city would have been a picnic.
