Thursday, February 18, 2021

Mesopotamian Chronicles

 Mesopotamian Chronicles

From the home page:

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).

Introduction

ABC 5: Chronicle Concerning the Early Years of Nebuchadnezzar II ("Jerusalem Chronicle")

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

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