Babylonian Chronicles

   The general, collective name for a series of historical writings compiled by Babylonian scribes over the course of several centuries. Apparently commissioned by Babylonian rulers, they describe people and events from a local, biased Babylonian perspective. Modern scholars, therefore, are careful not to take everything in these works at face value. They are, nonetheless, extremely valuable when combined with other sources, such as the Assyrian royal annals. The oldest of the Babylonian chronicles dates from the Kassite dynasty in the late second millennium b.c. The rest, making up the bulk of the work, cover the period beginning with the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar (747-734 b.c.) and ending with the start of the Parthian period in the late second century b.c. These later chronicles bear names such as the Fall of Nineveh Chronicle, Artaxerxes III Chronicle, and Alexander the Great Chronicle. This excerpt from the Fall of Nineveh Chronicle describes incidents in 612 and 611 b.c., when the Babylonians and the Medes were attacking Assyria:

   The king of Babylonia mustered his army and marched to [?].... The king of the Medes [Cyaxares] marched towards the king of Babylonia. . . . They met one another. The king of Babylonia [and] Cyaxares ... marched along the bank of the Tigris [and] encamped against Nineveh. From the month Simanu [June] until the month Abu [August] . . . they subjected the city to a heavy siege. ... They inflicted a major defeat upon a great people. ... They carried off the vast booty of the city and the temple and turned the city into a ruin heap.

   See also: Assyrian Empire; historical accounts; Nineveh