Most 7th-century B.C. Assyrian inscriptions record that Nineveh had eight south- and east-facing gates: the Step Gate was the sixth of these. The Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib constructed it and gave it the Akkadian ceremonial name Mušēṣât-šīr-asakki, which means "The One Who Exorcises the 'Flesh' of the Asakku-demon."