Ctesias, Assyrian History fr. 1b (=Diodorus Siculus 2.3.1)

Ninus, king of the Assyrians, plans the foundation of the city of Nineveh.

ἐπιφανεστάτας γὰρ πράξεις τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατειργασμένος, ἔσπευδε τηλικαύτην κτίσαι τὸ μέγεθος πόλιν, ὥστε μὴ μόνον αὐτὴν εἶναι μεγίστην τῶν τότε οὐσῶν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τῶν μεταγενεστέρων ἕτερον ἐπιβαλλόμενον ῥᾳδίως ἂν ὑπερθέσθαι.

Although he had performed deeds more remarkable than those of the men who came before him, he was keen to found a city of such size that not only would it be the greatest of the cities that then existed anywhere in the inhabited world, but also no one in later ages would easily surpass it.