ABC 17 (Religious Chronicle)

The Religious Chronicle (ABC 17) is a historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with omens and events during the reign of several kings in the instable period between 1033 and 943: Nabû-šumu-libur, Simbar-šipak, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, and Nabû-mukin-apli. The tablet was written in the Seleucid age.

For a very brief introduction to the literary genre of chronicles, go here. The translation on this webpage was adapted from A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975) and Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004).

The tablet, BM 35968 (Sp III, 504), on which the Religious Chronicle is inscribed measures 81 mm long and 99 mm wide. It is poorly preserved, the bottom and left-hand side being entirely broken away. There are several other smaller lacunae due to the flaking of the surface.

Chapter
i
ii
iii
iv
Section
11
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
22
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
26
25
24
23

[i.11] ... Tigris


[i.21] ... Tašmetum


[i.20] ... he spoke


[i.19] ... was removed.


[i.18] ... they went.


[i.17] ... a lion was lying lurking and they killed it.


[i.16] ... Nabû-šumu-libur, the king,note


[i.15] ... who saw him/it.


[i.14] ... the temple of Ursag which is in the district of Nippur.


[i.13] ... to the Abul-mahiri ("Gate of the rate of exchange")


[i.12] ...


[i.22] ... was seen.


[i.10] ... they went.


[i.9] ... Bêlit-...


[i.8] ... Babylon ...


[i.7] ... they killed him/it


[i.6] ... Bêlit-Nina ...


[i.5] ...


[i.4] ...


[i.3] ...


[i.2] ... Sin


Translation of Column 1

[i.1] ...


[i.26] ...
[lacuna]


[i.25] ... lower


[i.24] ...


[i.23] ... was seen.