Thursday, February 18, 2021

Online Prepublication: Mesopotamian Chronicles

Mesopotamian Chronicles
The Assyrian and Babylonian chronicles are historiographical texts from ancient Mesopotamia. Although they contain references to the earliest times, they deal especially with the second half of the second and the entire first millennium down to the first century BCE (cf. this table).

On this page, you will find

  • links to translations of all known chronicles; they are meant as a first introduction and for ready reference, but it is advisable not to quote them without consulting a printed edition, because many readings are still uncertain;
  • new editions of the chronicles of the Seleucid and Parthian period; several of them have not been published before.

The main editions are:

  1. A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975 = ABC);
  2. Jean-Jacques Glassner, Chroniques Mésopotamiennes (1993) (translated as Mesopotamian Chronicles, 2004) (= CM);
  3. I.L. Finkel, R.J. van der Spek, R. Pirngruber, Babylonian Chronographic Texts from the Hellenistic Period (2020; = BCHP; Writings of the Ancient World)

The third of these books has not been published yet, but is being prepared by Irving Finkel of the British Museum (London) and Bert van der Spek of the Free University of Amsterdam (Holland).note

Below, you will find an overview of chronicles, more or less in their chronological order. For those who are unfamiliar with the subject but are interested, the "reader's editions" ought to be accessible. These are simplified translations. After reading a bit about the conventions of publication, the "scholarly editions" ought to be accessible too.

In the table below, yellow indicates a text written in Sumerian, pink stands for Assyrian, blue for Babylonian.

     

Chronicles

 
  CM 1+2   Sumerian King List
Translation
ABC 18 CM 3   Dynastic chronicle
Translation
  CM 5   Assyrian King List
Translation
  CM 6   Royal chronicle of Lagaš
Translation
ABC 19 CM 38   Weidner chronicle
Translation
ABC 20 CM 39-41   Early kings chronicle
Translation
  CM 7   Tummal chronicle
Translation
  CM 48   Uruk chronicle concerning the kings of Ur
Translation
  CM 8   Assyrian Eponym List (second millennium)
Translation
ABC 23 CM 50   Market prices chronicle
Translation
ABC 21 CM 10   Synchronic history
Translation
ABC 22 CM 45   Chronicle P
Translation
  CM 11   Enlil-nirari chronicle
Translation
  CM 12   Arik-den-ili chronicle
Translation
ABC 25 CM 46   Walker chronicle
Translation
  CM 13   Tukulti-Ninurta chronicle
Translation
  CM 14   Aššur-reša-iši chronicle
Translation
  CM 15   Tiglath-pileser I  chronicle
Translation
ABC 24 CM 47   Eclectic chronicle
Translation
ABC 17 CM 51   Religious chronicle
Translation
  CM 9   Assyrian Eponym List (first millennium)
Translation
  CM 52   Chronographic document concerning Nabu-šuma-iškun
Translation
ABC 1 CM 16   Period from Nabu-Nasir to Šamaš-šuma-ukin
Translation
ABC 1B CM 17   Period from Nabu-Nasir to Esarhaddon
Translation
ABC 14 CM 18   Esarhaddon chronicle
Translation
ABC 15 CM 19   Šamaš-šuma-ukin chronicle
Translation
ABC 16 CM 20   Akitu chronicle
Translation
ABC 2 CM 21   Early Years of Nabopolassar chronicle
Translation
ABC 3 CM 22   Fall of Nineveh chronicle
Translation
ABC 4 CM 23   Late years of Nabopolassar chronicle
Translation
ABC 5 CM 24   Early Years of Nebuchadnezzar chronicle
Translation
ABC 6 CM 25   Third year of Neriglissar chronicle
Translation
ABC 7 CM 26   Nabonidus chronicle
Translation
  CM 53   Chronographic document concerning Nabonidus
Translation
      Cyrus Cylinder
Translation
ABC 9 CM 28   Artaxerxes III chronicle
Translation
ABC 8 CM 29 BCHP 1 Alexander chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 2 Alexander and Arabia chronicle Translation
ABC 10 CM 30 BCHP 3 Diadochi chronicle
Translation
  CM 31 BCHP 4 Alexander and Artaxerxes Fragment
Translation
ABC 11 CM 32 BCHP 5 Antiochus I and Sin temple chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 6 Ruin of Esagila chronicle
Translation
ABC 13A CM 36 BCHP 7 Antiochus, Bactria, and India chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 8 Juniper garden chronicle
Translation
ABC 12 CM 33 BCHP 9 End of Seleucus I chronicle
Translation
ABC 13 CM 34 BCHP 10 Seleucid Accessions chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 11 Invasion of Ptolemy III chronicle
Translation
ABC 13B CM 35 BCHP 12 Seleucus III chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 13 Politai chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 14 Greek Community chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 15 Gold theft chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 16 Document on land and tithes
Translation
  CM 37 BCHP 17 Judicial chronicle
Translation
    BCHP 18B/A Chronogr. doc. conc. Bagayasha
Translation
    BCHP 18C Diary concerning Bagayasha
Translation
    BCHP 19 Chronicle concerning an Arsacid king
Translation
    BCHP 20 Euphrates chronicle
Translation
     

Additional documents

 
  CM 42   Kings of the Sealand
Translation
  CM 43   Samsuiluna fragment
Translation
  CM 44   Another Samsuiluna fragment
Translation
  CM 27   Fragment of a Neo-Babylonian chronicle
Translation
      Nabonidus Cylinder from Sippar
Translation
      Dynastic Prophecy
Translation
      Antiochus Cylinder
Translation
  CM 4   Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period
Translation
      Uruk King List
Translation
     

Astronomical diaries

 
      Diary concerning Artaxerxes II Mnemon
Text
      Diary conc. Gaugamela
Translation

There are no scholarly editions of the non-BCHP-chronicles on this page. For the original (usually Akkadian) text and commentaries, you must consult Grayson's or Glassner's book. The translations offered here are free adaptations from ABC and CM; the spelling of personal names has been harmonized, variants have been ignored, explanatory notes have been added, uncertain readings have not been indicated. In short, these pages are no subsitute for ABC or CM.

This page was created in 2004; last modified on 14 April 2020.

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