The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

Furuli’s Second Book 535
End of Assyrian Domination (1157-612 BC) (Toronto, Buffalo, London:
University of Toronto Press, 1995), p. 261.
As an example, tablet VAT 13142 calls Aššur-etel-ilāni “king of the world (and) king of
Assyria, son of Ashurbanipal, king of the world (and) king of Assyria.” (Frame, 1995, p. 264)
Sin-šarra-iškun:
“The last Assyrian king to exercise any control over at least part of Babylonia
was Sin-šarra-iškun, a son of Ashurbanipal. Exactly when he became ruler of
Assyria and when he held authority in Babylonia is unclear, but his reign
over Assyria ended in 612 BC. Only the Uruk King List includes him among
the rulers of Babylonia, assigning the year following the reign of Kandalanu
and preceding the reign of Nabopolassar (626 BC) to Sin-šumu-lišir and Sinšarra-iškun
jointly (Grayson, RLA 6/1-2 [1980] p. 97 obverse 4´-5´). No
known inscription gives him the title ‘king of Babylon,’ ‘viceroy of Babylon,’
or ‘king of the land of Sumer and Akkad.’ …
No Babylonian royal inscriptions of Sin-šarra-iškun are attested and his
Assyrian inscriptions will be edited elsewhere in the RIM series [The Royal
Inscriptions of Mesopotamia] (as A.0.116). Approximately 60 economic texts
were dated by his regnal years in Babylonia. These indicate that he controlled
Babylon, Nippur, Sippar, and Uruk; the earliest texts come from his
accession year and the latest from his seventh year. None of these economic
texts, however, gives him the title ‘king of Babylon’; he is called instead ‘king
of Assyria,’ ‘king of the lands,’ and ‘king of the world.” (Frame, 1995, p. 270)
It should be added that, although Nabopolassar’s revolt was successful, it took some years
before he had attained control over all cities of Babylonia. A few Babylonian cities remained
under Assyrian control for a few years after the accession of Nabopolassar to the
Babylonian throne.
Sin-šumu-lišir:
“No royal inscriptions of Sin-šumu-lišir are attested from Babylonia. At least
seven Babylonian economic texts (including four from Babylon and one
from Nippur) are dated by his accession year. In these he is either given no
title, or called ‘king of Assyria’ or simply ‘king.’” (Frame, 1995, p. 269)
The legible dates on the tablets dated to Sin-šumu-lišir are only from months III and V of
his accession year. The Uruk King List gives the “kingless” year after the death of
Kandalanu in 627 BCE (the last tablet before his death is dated in month III, i.e., May/June)
to “Sin-šumu-lišir and Sin-šarra-iškun” jointly, undoubtedly because both were fighting for
retaining Assyrian control of Babylonia this year (626 BCE). Whether both also were kings in
this year is another question. It is known from contemporary cuneiform inscriptions that
Aššur-etel-ilāni, not Sin-šarra-iškun, was the immediate successor of Assurbanipal. This
information is provided by a cuneiform tablet designated KAV 182 IV. – Joan Oates,
“Assyrian Chronology, 631-612 B.C.,” Iraq, Vol. XXVII (1965), p. 135.
Not only the Adad-guppi’ inscription (Nabon. No. 24; see C. O. Jonsson, The Gentile Times
Reconsidered, 4 th edition [henceforth GTR4], Atlanta: Commentary Press, 2004, pp. 113-116)
but also Berossus state that Assurbanipal ruled for 42 years. When his brother Shamashshum-ukin
(Berossus: Samoges), Assyria’s vassal king in Babylonia, died in Assurbanipal’s 21 st
year (648 BCE), Assurbanipal (Berossus: Sardanapallos) “ruled over the Chaldeans for 21
years.” (Burstein, op. cit., p. 25) This would indicate that Assurbanipal during the last 21 years
of his reign ruled both Assyria and Babylonia, in Assyria as Assurbanipal and in Babylonia
under the throne name Kandalanu. This is a view shared by a number of modern historians.
His last regnal year, then, was 627 BCE and the first regnal year of his son and successor
Aššur-etel-ilāni was 626/625 BCE. As the last tablet from his reign is dated to month VIII,
day 1, of his 4 th year, the accession year of his brother Sin-šarra-iškun should fall in 623