Ancient World

Babylonian Chronicles

The Babylonian Chronicles are a loosely defined series of about 45 tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They represent one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography. The Babylonian Chronicles are written in Babylonian cuneiform and date from the reign of Nabonassar until the Parthian Period. The tablets were composed by Babylonian astronomers ("Chaldaeans") who probably used the Babylonian astronomical diaries as their source. Almost all of the tablets were identified as chronicles once in the collection of the British Museum, having been acquired via antiquities dealers from unknown excavations undertaken during the 19th century. Only three of the chronicles are provenanced. The Chronicles provide the "master narrative" for large blocks of current Babylonian history.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Aleppo Citadel Museum
• ▸Eulophia
• ▸Ahwat

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.