The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

100 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
B-1: Chronicles, kinglists, and royal inscriptions
a) Neo-Babylonian Chronicles
A chronicle is a form of historical narrative covering a sequence of
events.
Several cuneiform chronicles covering parts of Neo-Babylonian
history have been discovered, all of which are kept in the British
Museum, London. Most of them are probably copies of (or
extracts from) original documents written contemporary with the
events. 22
The most recent translation of them has been published by A.
K. Grayson in Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. 23 Grayson
subdivides the Babylonian chronicles into two parts, the first of
which is called the Neo-Babylonian Chronicle Series (Chronicles 1–
7). Chronicle 1 (= B.M. 92502) begins with the reign of Nabonassar
(747–734 B.C.E.) and ends with the accession-year of Shamashshuma-ukin
(668 B.C.E.). Chronicles 2–7 begin with the accessionyear
of Nabopolassar (626 B.C.E.) and continue into the beginning
of the reign of Cyrus (538 B.C.E.).
What do these “chronicles” consist of? With respect to the
contents of the chronicles, Grayson explains:
The narrative is divided into paragraphs with each paragraph
normally devoted to one regnal year. The text is concerned only
with matters related to Babylonia and, in particular, her king, and
the events, which are almost exclusively political and military in
character, are narrated in an objective and laconically dry
manner. 24
22 Professor D. J. Wiseman says: “The Neo-Babylonian Chronicle texts are written in a
small script of a type which does not of itself allow any precise dating but which
can mean that they were written from any time almost contemporary with the
events themselves to the end of the Achaemenid rule [331 B.C.E.].” (Chronicles of
Chaldean Kings [London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1961], p. 4)
Professor J. A. Brinkman is a little more specific, stating that the extant copies of
the Neo-Babylonian chronicles are “slightly antedating the Historiai of Herodotus,”
which was written c. 430 B.C.E. (J. A. Brinkman, “The Babylonian Chronicle
Revisited,” in Lingering Over Words. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in
Honor of William L. Moran, ed. T. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, and P. Steinkeller
[Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990], pp. 73, 85.) Dr. E. N. Voigtlander says that the
copies of the Neo-Babylonian chronicles seem to come from the reign of Darius I
(Voigtlander, A Survey of Neo-Babylonian History [unpublished doctoral thesis,
University of Michigan, 1963], p. 204, note 45.) Chronicle 1A has a colophon* in
which it is explicitly stated that the text was copied (from an earlier original) in the
22nd year of Darius I (500/499 B.C.E.).
23 A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (Locust Valley, New York: J.J.
Augustin Publisher, 1975). The work will hereafter be referred to as ABC.
24 A. K. Grayson in Reallexikon der Assyriologie and vorderasiatischen Archäologie
(henceforth abbreviated RLA), ed. D. O. Edzard, Vol. VI (Berlin and New York:
Walter de Gruyter, 1980), p. 86.
* The term colophon derives from a tablet inscription appended by a scribe to the end of an
ancient Near East (e.g., Early/Middle/Late Babylonian, Assyrian, Canaanite) text such as
a chapter, book, manuscript, or record. In the ancient Near East, scribes typically