Mesopotamian Chronicles Writings from the Ancient World Theodore J. Lewis, General Editor Associate Editors Billie Jean Collins Jerrold S. Cooper Edward L. Greenstein Jo Ann Hackett Richard Jasnow Ronald J. Leprohon C. L. Seow Niek Veldhuis Number 19 Mesopotamian Chronicles by Jean-Jacques Glassner Edited by Benjamin R. Foster MESOPOTAMIAN CHRONICLES by Jean-Jacques Glassner Edited by Benjamin R. Foster Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta Mesopotamian Chronicles Copyright © 2004 Society of Biblical Literature Original title: Chroniques Mésopotamiennes, presentées et traduités par Jean-Jacques Glassner, copyright © 1993 by Les Belles Lettres, Paris. English translation arranged with the approval of Les Belles Lettres from the original French edition, including additional material supplied by the author. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Glassner, Jean-Jacques. [Mésopotamie. English] Mesopotamian chronicles / by Jean-Jacques Glassner ; edited by Benjamin R. Foster. p. cm. — (Writings from the ancient world ; no. 19) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 1-58983-090-3 (paper binding : alk. paper) 1. Iraq—Civilization—To 634. I. Foster, Benjamin R. (Benjamin Read) II. Title. III. Series. DS73.2.G5313 2004a 935—dc22 2004012445 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. To Hayyim Tadmor, with respect The past . is a reconstruction of the societies and human beings of for- mer times by men and for men caught up in the network of today’s human realities. — Lucien Febvre, preface to Charles Moraze, Trois essais sur Histoire et Culture Concerning the flood, and Noah: it was not by chance that he took so long to build his ark. No, Noah wished to delay the flood, he dragged out the work, feeling that something of the sort would happen, that it was for a purpose that God had given him the order to build the ark. Noah was not anxious to separate himself from the world, steeped in evil, yet nonetheless familiar. He felt nostalgia for the present world, which belonged already more to the past, to a remote past that would fall into oblivion, for the waters would wash away all the roads leading there, and would carry off everything that could allow anyone to form some idea of it.... Noah suffered from nostalgia for the present, because he was alone in possessing a future.... The new world was unknown. — Saulius T. Kondrotas, L’Ombre du serpent For the supreme honor, to which the king attached the highest value, was to triumph over the gods of his enemies, whom, in spite of their gods, he had led into captivity. And when we asked them why they were kept in chains, they replied that [the king] intended, when he entered the town of Uzangué, to which he was making his way, to have them dragged in these same chains in triumph, following the victory won over them. — F. M. Pinto, Peregrination Contents Series Editor’s Foreword................................................................................xi Abbreviations................................................................................................xiii Babylonian Calendar....................................................................................xvi Explanation of Signs and Conventions......................................................xvii Preface ..........................................................................................................xix Part I: Mesopotamian Historiography I. The Future of the Past ..........................................................................3 Part II: Analysis of the Compositions II. Definition..............................................................................................37 III. Contents................................................................................................55 IV. Genesis ................................................................................................95 V. Diachrony ..........................................................................................101 Part III: The Documents VI. The Royal Chronicles ........................................................................117 1. Chronicle of the Single Monarchy ............................................117 2. Continuators: An Old Babylonian Fragment from Nippur ......126 3. Continuators: The Babylonian Royal Chronicle ........................126 4. Continuators: The Hellenistic Royal Chronicle..........................134 5. Continuators: The Assyrian Royal Chronicle ............................136 6. A Parody: The Royal Chronicle of Lagass ..................................144 VII. Sumerian Chronography....................................................................156 7. The Tummal Chronicle ..............................................................156 viii Contents VIII. Assyrian Chronicles............................................................................160 A. Eponym Chronicles 8. Eponym Chronicle (Second Millennium) ..................................160 9. Eponym Chronicle (First Millennium) ......................................164 B. Other Chronicles 10. Synchronistic Chronicle ..............................................................176 11. Chronicle of Enlil-naraa rıa i (1327–1318) ........................................184 12. Chronicle of Arik-den-ilie (1317–1306)........................................184 13. Chronicle of Tukultı-Ninurtai I (1243–1207) ..............................186 14. Chronicle of Assur-res se a-iss is I (1132–1115) ..................................186 15. Chronicle of Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076) ................................188 IX. Chronicles from the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, and Seleucid Periods ........................................................................193 16. From Nabonassar to SamasS -ss uma-ukıs ni (745–668) ....................193 17. From Nabonassar to Esarhaddon (748/747–669) ......................202 18. Esarhaddon’s Chronicle; Beginning of the Reign of SamasS -ss uma-ukıs ni (680–668) ..................................................206 19. From the End of Assur-nas din-sa umis to the Revolt of SamasS -ss uma-ukıs ni (694–652) and a Few Earlier Reigns ............210 20. Chronicle of the New Year’s Festival (689–626) ......................212 21. Chronicle of the First Years of Nabopolassar (626–623)..........214 22. Nabopolassar and the Fall of the Assyrian Empire (616–609) ....................................................................................218 23. Chronicle of Nabopolassar (608–606)........................................224 24. The Death of Nabopolassar and the First Years of Nebuchadnezzar II (605–595) ....................................................226 25. Chronicle of the Third Year of Neriglissar (557) ......................230 26. Chronicle of Nabonidus (556–539) ............................................232 27. Fragment of a Neo-Babylonian Chronicle ................................238 28. Chronicle of the Fourteenth Year of Artaxerxes III (345/344)......................................................................................240 29. Chronicle concerning Darius III (335–331) and Alexander (330–323)............................................................240 30. Chronicle of the Diadochi (321/320–309/308)..........................242 31. Mentions of Arses (337–336) and of Alexander the Great (330–323) ....................................................................246 32. Chronicle from the Time of Antiochus I, Crown Prince (294/293–281/280) ..............................................248 33 Chronicle of Seleucus I (311 or 305–281/280)..........................250 34. From Antiochus I (281–260) to Seleucus II (245–226) ............252 Contents ix 35. Chronicle of Seleucus III (225/224–223/222) ............................252 36. Chronicle from the Seleucid Period ..........................................254 37. Judicial Chronicle ........................................................................256 X. Babylonian Chronicles of Ancient Kings..........................................263 38. Chronicle of the Esagila..............................................................263 39. Chronicle of Ancient Kings ........................................................268 40. Chronicle of Ancient Kings ........................................................270 41. Fragments of a Chronicle of Ancient Kings ..............................272 42. Fragments of a Chronicle of Ancient Kings ..............................274 43. Fragment of a Chronicle of Ancient Kings................................276 44. Fragment of a Chronicle of Ancient Kings................................276 45. Chronicle of the Kassite Kings ..................................................278 46. Chronicle of the Last Kassite Kings and the Kings of Isin ......282 47. Chronicle of the Kings of Babylon from the Second Isin Dynasty