The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

136 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
to the “seventeenth year” of Nabonidus, but as was pointed out
earlier, this portion of the chronicle is damaged and the year
number is illegible. Nonetheless, a whole group of economic texts
has been found that provides chronological interlocking
connections between Nabonidus’ seventeenth year and the reign of
Cyrus . These include the tablets with the catalogue numbers
CT 56:219, CT 57:52.3, and CT 57:56. 94
(9) The first of the three documents (CT 56:219) is dated to the
accession year of Cyrus, and the next two (CT 57:52.3 and CT 57:56)
are dated to his first year. But all three tablets also refer to the
preceding king’s “year 17,” and since it is accepted as fact that
Nabonidus was the final king of the Neo-Babylonian line,
preceding Cyrus the Persian’s rule, this confirms that Nabonidus’
reign lasted 17 years 95
(10) One of the more graphic examples of a chronological linkage
between two reigns is a cuneiform tablet in the archaeological
museum at Florence known as SAKF 165. As Professor J. A.
Brinkman points out, this document “presents a unique year-byyear
inventory of wool stuffs made into garments for the cult
statues of the deities in Uruk. . . . Furthermore, it covers the vital
years before and after the Persian conquest of Babylonia.” 96
The inventory is arranged chronologically, and the preserved
portion of the text covers five successive years, from the fifteenth
year of Nabonidus to the second year of Cyrus, with year numbers
given at the end of the inventory for each year:
Lines 3 – 13: year 15 [of Nabonidus]
14 – 25: year 16 [of Nabonidus]
26 – 33: year 17 [of Nabonidus]
34 – 39: year 1 of Cyrus
40 – : [year 2 of Cyrus]
94 “CT 55–57” refers to the catalogues Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the
British Museum, Parts 55–57, containing economic texts copied by T. G. Pinches
during the years 1892 to 1894 and published by British Museum Publications
Limited in 1982.
95 Stefan Zawadzki, “Gubaru: A Governor or a Vassal King of Babylonia?,” Eos, Vol.
LXXV (Wroclaw, Warszawa, Krakow, Gdansk, Lódz, 1987), pp. 71, 81; M. A.
Dandamayev, Iranians in Achaemenid Babylonia (Costa Mesa, California and New
York: Mazda Publishers, 1992), p. 91; Jerome Peat, “Cyrus ‘king of lands,’
Cambyses ‘king of Babylon’: the disputed co-regency,” Journal of Cuneiform
Studies, Vol. 41/2, Autumn 1989, p. 209. It should be noted that one of the three
tablets, CT 57:56, is dated to Cambyses as co-regent with Cyrus in his first year.
96 J. A. Brinkman, “Neo-Babylonian Texts in the Archaeological Museum at Florence,”
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. XXV, Jan.–Oct. 1966, p. 209.