The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

358 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
the tablet. As F. X. Kugler explained, the tablet belongs to a
category of texts containing installment dates or delivery dates
(mashshartum). 84 Such dates were given at least one month, and
often several months in advance. That is why PD states (p. 14) that
“this tablet is useless for dating purposes” As shown by its
contents, No. 1055 is an administrative text giving the dates for
deliveries of certain amounts of barley in year 17 of Nabonidus. 85
(A-3) Nabonidus “XII -19 —17” (BM 55694):
This tablet was copied by T. G. Pinches in the 1890’s and was
finally published in 1982 as CT 57:168. 86 It is also listed in CBT 6,
p. 184, where the date is given as “Nb(-) 19/12/13+” (= day 19,
month 12, year 13+). 87 Evidently the royal name and the year
number are both damaged and only partially legible. “Nb(-)” shows
that the royal name begins with “Nabu-”. This could refer to either
Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, or Nabonidus. If it is Nabonidus,
the damaged year number, “13+”, may refer to any year between
his 13th and 17th year. An examination of the original tablet might
perhaps give some clues.
None of the three tablets listed by Furuli, then, can be used to
prove that Nabonidus’ 17th year overlapped the accession-year of
Cyrus, suggesting that “Nabonid reigned longer than 17 years”
(B) Attempts at undermining the reliability of the
astronomical tablets
(B-1) Only three principal sources for the chronology of
the ancient world?
Furuli is well aware that the most damaging evidence against his
so-called “Oslo Chronology” is provided by the astronomical
cuneiform tablets. He therefore strives to belittle the importance of
most of these tablets, stating that there are only two principal
astronomical sources on which the chronology of the Neo-
Babylonian and Persian periods can be based. (Pages 15, 24, 45) At
least one of these, he claims, contradicts the third principal
chronological source—the Bible:
84 F. X. Kugler, SSB II:2 (1912), pp. 388, 389.
85 P.-A. Beaulieu in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 52:4 (1993), pp. 256,
258.
86 CT 57:168 = Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, Part
57 (1982), No. 168.
87 Erle Leichty, Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum (CBT), Vol.
6 (1986), p. 184 (82-7-14, 51).