ABC 21 (Synchronic Chronicle)

The Synchronic Chronicle (ABC 21) is a historiographical text from ancient Babylonia. It deals with the relations between Assyria and its southern neighbor Babylonia (which is called Karduniaš), and is an important source for those who want to study the chronology of this period, as it offers many synchronisms. The tablet was written in c. 800 BCE.

The Synchronic Chronicle

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 text, which informs us about a number of boundary conflicts and has a strong pro-Assyrian bias, is preserved on three tablets from the library of king Aššurbanipal in Nineveh. Tablet A is the main text, which can (at the edge) be supplemented with tablets B and C. The chronicle purports to render the text of a boundary stone between Assyria and Babylonia that stood somewhere on the east bank of the Tigris. This may be a literary fiction. The Babylonian version is Chronicle P.

The text must have been composed after the accession of Adad-nirari III in 810, but not much later, because there are no references to later troubles.

This is the first part of this web page. The second part is here.

[ii.A32'] as sovereign over the Babylonians.

[ii.A33'] Aššur-bêl-kala, king of Assyria,

[ii.A34'] married the daughter of Adad-apla-iddina, king of Karduniaš, and

[ii.A35'] took her with a vast dowry to Assyria.

[ii.A36'] The peoples of Assyria and Karduniaš

For columns III and IV, go [livius:13465|title:here|type:source].

[ii.A37'] were joined together.

 

Column II

[ii.C1] [lacuna]

[Tukulti-Ninurta, king of Assyria, and] Kaštiliašu, king of Karduniašnote

[ii.C2] ... in open battle.

[lacuna]

[ii.B1'] his servants, he made ...

[ii.B2'] to Mount Kullar [...]

 

[ii.B3'] Enlil-kudurri-usur, king of Assyria, and Adad-šuma-usur, king of Karduniaš,note with another

[ii.B4'] did battle. As Enlil-kudurri-usur and Adad-šuma-usur

[ii.B5'] were engaged in battle, Ninurta-apil-ekur

[ii.B6'] went home. He mustered his numerous troops and

[ii.B7'] marched to conquer Libbi-ali (the city of Aššur).

[ii.B8'] But [...] arrived unexpectedly, so he turned and went home.

 

[ii.B9'] In the time of Zababa-šuma-iddina, king of Karduniaš,

[ii.B10'] Aššur-dan, king of Assyria, went down to Karduniaš.note

[ii.B11'] Zaban, Irriya, Ugarsallu and [...]

[ii.B12'] he captured. He took their vast booty to Assyria. 

 

[ii.A1'] [lacuna]

together they made an entente cordiale.

[ii.A2'] he went home.note

After he had gone, Nebuchadnezzarnote

[ii.A3'] took his siege engines and Zanqi, a fortress in Assyria,

[ii.A4'] he went to conquer. Aššur-reš-iši, king of Assyria,

[ii.A5'] mustered his chariots to go against him.

[ii.A6'] To prevent the siege engines being taken from him, Nebuchadnezzar burnt them.

[ii.A7'] He turned and went home.

[ii.A8'] This same Nebuchadnezzar with chariots and infantry,

[ii.A9'] went to conquer Idi, a fortress[8] of Assyria. Assur-reš-iši

[ii.A10'] sent chariots and infantry to help the fortress.

[ii.A11'] He fought with Nebuchadnezzar, brought about his total defeat, slaughtered his troops and

[ii.A12'] carried off his camp. Forty of his chariots with harness were taken away and

[ii.A13'] Karaštu[?], Nebuchadnezzar's field-marshal, was captured.

 

[ii.A14'] Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria, and Marduk-nadin-ahhe, king of Karduniaš.note

[ii.A15'] Twice Tiglath-pileser drew up[16] a battle array of chariots, as many as were by the Lower Zab,

[ii.A16'] opposite Ahizûhina, and

[ii.A17'] in the second year he defeated Marduk-nadin-ahhe at Gurmarritu, which is upstream from Akkad.

[ii.A18'] Dur-Kurigalzu, Sippar-ša-Šamaš

[ii.A19'] Sippar-ša-Anunitu,

[ii.A20'] Babylon, and Upû, the great urban centers,

[ii.A21'] he captured together with their forts.

[ii.A22'] At that time, Ugarsallu

[ii.A23'] he plundered as far as Lubda.

[ii.A24'] He ruled every part of Suhu as far as Rapiqu.

 

[ii.A25'] In the time of Aššur-bêl-kala, king of Assyria,note

[ii.A26'] Marduk-šapik-zeri was the king of Karduniaš.

[ii.A27'] An entente cordiale

[ii.A28'] they together made.

[ii.A29'] At the time of Aššur-bêl-kala, king of Assyria,

[ii.A30'] Marduk-šapik-zeri, king of Karduniaš, passed away.

[ii.A31'] Aššur-bêl-kala appointed Adad-apla-iddina, son of Esagil-šaduni, son of a nobody,