The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

148 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
of the dates presented by Berossus in his history is evidenced by
their accurate reflection of historical material now available on
ancient cuneiform tablets unearthed in Babylon, particularly the
Neo-Babylonian Chronicles (a series of historical vignettes setting out
certain episodes relating to the Babylonian empire, notably records
of kingly succesion and of military campaigns waged), and also the
Babylonian kinglists (particularly the one known as the Uruk kinglist)
which list the Babylonian rulers by name along with the years of
their reign.
Likewise with the source known as the Royal Canon, a list of
Babylonian rulers, which, though only fully extant in manuscripts
of Ptolemy’s Handy Tables dated to the eighth century C.E. and in
later manuscripts, seems clearly to have been the common source
relied upon by astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (70–161 C.E.) and by
earlier scholars, such as Hipparchus of the second century B.C.E.,
when these dealt with and dated events of the Neo-Babylonian
period. Though the Royal Canon evidently drew upon sources
common to those employed by Berossus―that is, the ancient Neo-
Babylonian chronicles and kinglists―the order and forms of the names
of kings found in it differ from his presentation sufficiently to
indicate that it is a record developed independently of his writings.
It is acknowledged that the Neo-Babylonian chronicles unearthed up
to this point are still incomplete, and also that some of the figures
in the Uruk kinglist for the reigns of the Neo-Babylonian kings are
damaged and only partially legible. However, the figures that are
there and are legible on these cuneiform tablets all agree with the
corresponding figures found both in the writings of Berossus and
in the listing of the Royal Canon.
There is, then, strong reason to believe that the chronological
information originally given in those Neo-Babylonian sources has
been preserved unaltered by Berossus and the Royal Canon. Both
of these agree as to the overall length of the Neo-Babylonian era.
In the crucial area here under investigation, their figures point to
604/03 B.C.E. as the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, and
587/86 B.C.E. as his eighteenth year when he desolated Jerusalem.
Though this evidence is substantial, it remains true that Berossus
and the Royal Canon are secondary sources, and even those ancient
tablets known as the Babylonian Chronicles and the Uruk kinglist
are evidently copies of earlier originals. What supporting evidence
is there, then, to believe the records involved were actually written
contemporaneously with the times and events described?