Most 7th-century B.C. Assyrian inscriptions record that Nineveh had eight south- and east-facing gates: the Šibaniba Gate was the seventh of these. The Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib constructed it and gave it the Akkadian ceremonial name Dumuq-ašnan-u-lahar-qerebša-kayyān, which means "The Choicest of Grain and Flocks Are Constantly Inside It."