Most 7th-century B.C. Assyrian inscriptions record that Nineveh had eight south- and east-facing gates: the Sennacherib Gate was the third of these. The Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib constructed it and gave it the Akkadian ceremonial name Sāpin-gimir-nakirī, which means "The One Who Flattens All Enemies." During the reign of Sennacherib's grandson, the gate was renamed the Ashurbanipal Gate.