Assyrian king Shalmaneser I ordered the founding of Nimrud; which existed for about 1;000 years as the capital in the 13th century BCE. The city gained fame when king Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (c. 880 BCE) made it his capital. He built a large palace and temples on the site of an earlier city that had long fallen into ruins.

A grand opening ceremony with festivities and an opulent banquet in 879 BCE is described in an inscribed stele discovered during archeological excavations. The city of king Ashurnasirpal II housed perhaps as many as 100;000 inhabitants; and contained botanic gardens and a zoo. His son; Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE); built the monument known as the Great Ziggurat; and an associated temple.

The palace; restored as a site museum; is one of only two preserved Assyrian palaces in the world; the other being Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Nimrud remained the Assyrian capital until 706 BCE when Sargon II moved the capital to Khorsabad. It remained a major centre and a royal residence until the city was completely destroyed in 612 BCE when Assyria succumbed under the invasion of the Medes and the Babylonians.