Akitu Chronicle

Museum number BM 86379 [1], ABC 16 [2, p. 35], CM 20 [3, p. 212].

Origin: Purchased by the British Museum from an antiquities dealer in 1899.

First Translated: 1924 by S. Smith [4].

Translation

1  For [eight] years during (the reign of) Se[nnacherib],
2  for twelve years (during the reign of) Esar[haddon]—
3  twenty years (altogether)—Bel s[tayed] in Baltil (Ashur) and
4  the Akitu festival did not take place.
5  The accession year of Shamash-shumaukin: In the month Iyyar [Bel]
6  and the gods of Akkad went out from Baltil (Ashur) and
7  on the twenty-fourth day of the month Iyyar they entered Babylon.
8  Nabu and the gods of Borsippa went to Babylon.
9  The sixteenth year of Shamash-shumaukin: From the month Iyyar until the month Tebet
10 the major-domo conscripted troops in Akkad.
11 On the nineteenth day of the month Tebet hostilities began between Assyria and Akkad.
12 The king withdrew before the enemy into Babylon.
13 On the twenty-seventh day of Adar the armies of Assyria and Akkad
14 did battle in Hirit. The army of Akkad
15 retreated from the battlefield and a major defeat was inflicted upon them.
16 (However), there were still hostilities (and) warfare continued.
17 The seventeenth year: There were [insu]rrections in Assyria and Akkad.
18 Nabu did not come from [Borsippa] for the procession of Bel (and)
19 Bel did not come out.
20 The eighteenth year: Nabu did not come from Borsippa for the procession of Bel (and)
21 Bel did not come out.
22 The nineteenth year: Nabu did not come (and) Bel did not come out.
23 The twentieth year: Nabu did not come (and) Bel did not come out.
24 After Kandalanu, in the accession year of Nabopolassar,
25 there were insurrections in Assyria and Akkad.
26 There were hostilities (and) warfare continued.
27 Nabu did not come (and) Bel did not come out.

[2, p. 131]

Key Information

Line 24: After Kandalanu, in the accession year of Nabopolassar.

References