Babylonian Chronicles
Encyclopedia
The Babylonian Chronicles are many series of tablet
s recording major events in Babylon
ian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography
. The Babylonian Chronicles were written from the reign of Nabonassar
up to the Parthian Period
, by Babylonian astronomers ("Chaldaeans"), who probably used the Astronomical Diaries as their source.
Almost all of the tablets are currently in the possession of the British Museum
.
Clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age....
s recording major events in Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
ian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
. The Babylonian Chronicles were written from the reign of Nabonassar
Nabonassar
Nabonassar founded a kingdom in Babylon in 747 BC. This is now considered as the start of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. At the time the Assyrian Empire was in disarray through civil war and the ascendancy of other kingdoms such as Urartu...
up to the Parthian Period
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
, by Babylonian astronomers ("Chaldaeans"), who probably used the Astronomical Diaries as their source.
Almost all of the tablets are currently in the possession of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
List of Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles
- Dynastic Chronicle (ABC 18) (translation) ( another version of Column 5)
- Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19) (translation)
- Chronicle of the Kassite and Isin Dynasties, also known as Walker's Chronicle (called "Chronicle 25", but not available in ABC) ( translation)
- Chronicle of Early Kings (ABC 20) (translation)
- Synchronistic History (ABC 21) (one translation and another translation)
- Chronicle P (ABC 22) (translation and another translation)
- Chronicle of the Market Prices (ABC 23) (translation)
- Eclectic Chronicle (ABC 24) (translation)
- Religious Chronicle (ABC 17) (translation)
- NabonassarNabonassarNabonassar founded a kingdom in Babylon in 747 BC. This is now considered as the start of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty. At the time the Assyrian Empire was in disarray through civil war and the ascendancy of other kingdoms such as Urartu...
to Shamash-shum-ukinShamash-shum-ukinShamash-shum-ukin was the Assyrian king of Babylon from 668-648 BC.He was the second son of the Assyrian King Esarhaddon. His elder brother, crown prince Sin-iddina-apla had died in 672, and in his stead the third son Ashurbanipal was invested as crown prince and later king of Assyria, while...
Chronicle (ABC 1) (translation)
- Esarhaddon Chronicle (ABC 14) (translation)
- Shamash-shuma-ukin Chronicle (ABC 15) (translation) ( another translation)
- Akitu Chronicle (ABC 16) (translation)
- Early Years of NabopolassarNabopolassarNabopolassar was the king of the Babylonia and played a key role in the demise of the Assyrian Empire following the death of the last powerful Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal...
Chronicle (ABC 2) (translation)
- Fall of NinevehNinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
Chronicle (ABC 3) (translation)
- Late Reign of Nabopolassar Chronicle (ABC 4) (translation)
- First years of NebuchadnezzarNebuchadnezzarNebuchadnezzar was the name of several kings of Babylonia.* Nebuchadnezzar I, who ruled the Babylonian Empire in the 12th century BC* Nebuchadnezzar II , the Babylonian ruler mentioned in the biblical Book of Daniel...
Chronicle, also known as Jerusalem Chronicle (ABC 5) (translation)
- Third year of Neriglissar Chronicle (ABC 6) (translation)
- Nabonidus ChronicleNabonidus ChronicleThe Nabonidus Chronicle is an ancient Babylonian text, part of a larger series of Babylonian Chronicles incribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets...
(ABC 7) (text and translation)
- Artaxerxes III Chronicle (ABC 9) (translation)
- Alexander Chronicle (ABC 8 = BCHP 1) (text and translation)
- Alexander and Arabia Chronicle (BCHP 2) (text and translation)
- Diadochi Chronicle (ABC 10 = BCHP 3) (text and translation)
- Arses and Alexander fragment (BCHP 4) (translation)
- Antiochus and Sin Temple Chronicle (ABC 11 = BCHP 5) (text and translation)
- Ruin of Esagila Chronicle (BCHP 6) (text and translation)
- Antiochus, Bactria, and India Chronicle (ABC 13A = BCHP 7) (text and translation)
- Juniper garden Chronicle (BCHP 8) (text and translation)
- End of Seleucus I Chronicle (ABC 12 = BCHP 9) (text and translation)
- Seleucid Accessions Chronicle (ABC 13 = BCHP 10) (text and translation)
- Invasion of Ptolemy III Chronicle (BCHP 11) (text and translation)
- Seleucus III Chronicle (ABC 13B = BCHP 12) (text and translation)
- Politai Chronicle (BCHP 13) (text and translation)
- Greek Community Chronicle (BCHP 14) (text and translation)
- Gold Theft Chronicle (BCHP 15) (text and translation)
- Document on land and tithes (BCHP 16) (text and translation)
- Judicial Chronicle (BCHP 17) (text and translation)
- Bagayasha Chronicle (BCHP 18)
- Chronicle Concerning an Arsacid King (BCHP 19) (text and translation)
- Euphrates Chronicle (BCHP 20) (text and translation)
Literature
- Leo Oppenheim's translation of the Nabonidus ChronicleNabonidus ChronicleThe Nabonidus Chronicle is an ancient Babylonian text, part of a larger series of Babylonian Chronicles incribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets...
can be found in J. B. PritchardJames B. PritchardJames Bennett Pritchard was an American archeologist whose work explicated the interrelationships of the religions of ancient Israel, Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon...
(ed.) Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old TestamentAncient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old TestamentAncient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament edited by James B. Pritchard is an anthology of important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts from the ancient Near East. William W...
(= ANET; 1950, 1955, 1969). - The standard edition is A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (= ABC; 1975)
- A translation of Chronicle 25, discovered after the publication of ABC, was published by C.B.F. Walker "Babylonian Chronicle 25: A Chronicle of the Kassite and Isin Dynasties", in G. van Driel e.a. (eds.): Zikir Šumim: Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (= Fs. Kraus; 1982).
- John Brinkman revises Grayson's reading of ABC 1 in: "The Babylonian Chronicle revisited" in T. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, P. Steinkeller (eds.): Lingering over words. Studies in ancient Near Eastern literature in honor of William L. Moran (1990 Atlanta)
- Fragments of the chronicles that are relevant to the study of the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, can be found in William W. HalloWilliam W. HalloWilliam Wolfgang Hallo was professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and curator of the Babylonian collection at Yale University....
(ed.), The Context of Scripture, volume 1 (2003 Leiden and Boston). This book also contains the Weidner Chronicle. - A recent update of ABC is Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (2004, French version 1993)
- An even more recent update of ABC is Amélie Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources of the Achaemenid Period (Routledge, 2007)
- The publication of I. Finkel & R. J. van der SpekR. J. van der SpekRobartus Johannes van der Spek is a Dutch ancient historian, specializing in the Seleucid Empire. He is professor at VU University Amsterdam, and is currently working on the Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Age .Van der Spek studied history at Leiden...
, Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period (= BCHP) has been announced.
External links
- Mesopotamian Chronicles: all Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles
- Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, and King Lists
- Literature: Aa list of relevant secondary literature
- Synchronistic King List, Assyrian King List: translations and bibliographies
- Cuneiform sources for the history of Hellenistic Babylonia.Edition and Analysis: information about the BCHP Project