ABC 19 (Weidner Chronicle)

Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19) or Esagila Chronicle: religious text from ancient Babylonia. Although called a chronicle, it is, in fact, a text with a religious apology.

The Weidner Chronicle (ABC 19) or Esagila Chronicle is a religious text from ancient Babylonia. In fact, it is not a chronicle but a piece of propaganda in the form of a letter, although it contains after line 31 a part that resembles a chronicle.

The presumed author, probably king Damiq-ilišu of Isin (ruled 1816-1794, according to the Middle chronology), writes to king Apil-Sin of Babylon (1830-1813) about the blessings that the gods bestowed upon earlier rulers who sacrificed to the supreme god Marduk in the Esagila shrine in Babylon. Most of these kings ruled in the third millennium, when Babylon and the shrine probably did not exist.

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), Alan Millard's rendering in W.W. Hallo (ed.), The Context of Scripture (2003 Leiden and Boston), and Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004).

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Colophon

Section

Translation
[Pr] Say to Apil-Sin, king of Babylon, thus says Damiq-ilišu, king of of Isin:^note

Translation