Babylonian Chronicles
The Babylonian Chronicles are a series of tablets recording historical events. Of the surviving chronicles there are 6 that belong to the Neo-Babylonian era, however they do not span the entire period.
ABC – A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975)
CM – J.J. Glassner, Chroniques Mésopotamiennes (1993) (translated as Mesopotamian Chronicles, 2004)
BM – British Museum Number
| Name | ABC | CM | BM | Start Year | End Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akitu Chronicle | 16 | 20 | 86379 | Sennacherib ? | Nabopolassar Acc. |
| Early Years of Nabopolassar Chronicle | 2 | 21 | 25127 | Nabopolassar Acc. | Nabopolassar 3 |
| Fall of Nineveh Chronicle | 3 | 22 | 21901 | Nabopolassar 10 | Nabopolassar 18 |
| Late Years of Nabopolassar Chronicle | 4 | 23 | 22047 | Nabopolassar 18 | Nabopolassar 20 |
| Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle | 5 | 24 | 21946 | Nabopolassar 21 | Nebuchadnezzar 11 |
| Third year of Neriglissar Chronicle | 6 | 25 | 25124 | Neriglissar 3 | Neriglissar 3 |
| Nabonidus Chronicle | 7 | 26 | 35382 | Nabonidus Acc. | Nabonidus 17? |
Regarding the early chronicles Grayson says [1, p. 14]:
In conclusion it may be stated that Chronicles 1-7 represent only a small part of a series of late Babylonian chronicles which, like all chronicles of category A, were probably resumes or extracts made from running accounts which were sometimes kept on writing-boards and these running accounts were probably identical with astronomical diaries. The narrative exhibits a narrow outlook restricted to matter of concern to Babylonia, but within these confines the authors are objective. Their main concern is to record what actually happened. Thus one may use these documents as source material for the history of the period with considerable confidence in their reliability.
References
[1] A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Eisenbrauns, 2000, [Online]. Available: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ydcGZA6k5nwC.