ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף יונה 3:3

Is this true? Yonah 3:3 describes Nineveh as an exceeding great city, of three days' journey. The Gemara (Pesachim 94b) states that an average person can walk ten Parsah, the equivalent of forty kilometers in one day. This seems to indicate that Nineveh was one hundred and twenty kilometers wide.

Jack also suggests that the description of Nineveh (Yonah 3:3) as an “Ir Gedolah,” “large city”, refers to Nineveh’s large regional influence and authority, rather than its physical size. The term Gadol (large) in Tanach at times refers to influence. Examples include⁷¹Translation adapted from Jewish Publication Society 1917 edition.

One could argue that the Tanach's description of the size of Nineveh is hyperbolic. It is intended to convey the great size of Nineveh as noted in Yonah 3:3 which refers to Nineveh as "a great city to God". However, one wonders what purpose would be served by describing Nineveh is such an overstated manner.