CM 4 (Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period)
The Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (also known as "King List 6") is an important historiographical document from ancient Babylonia.
The Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (also known as "King List 6") is an important historiographical document from ancient Babylonia. It mentions the length of the reigns of several kings, beginning with the accession of Philip Arridaeus, the brother of Alexander the Great, in June 323, and continuing to the reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r.175-164). Together with the Uruk King List, the Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period is a useful text for those who are reconstructing the chronology of Babylonia in the late fourth to mid-second centuries.
The cuneiform tablet (BM 35603 = Sp. III 113) is in the British Museum. On this website, you will find a new transciption and translation by Bert van der Spek of the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), who has recently restudied this tablet as part of his publication of the Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period. He also took the photos.note
Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (BM35603), left edge |
Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (BM35603), obverse |
Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (BM35603), reverse |
Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period (BM35603), upper edge |
Description of the tablet
The tablet measures about 80 x 65 mm and is written in a late Babylonian script. The only exception is the archaic spelling of the AG sign. As Grayson has suggested, this suggests that "the original editors observed that the scribe was conscious of the antiquity of the king list tradition in Babylonia and of the fact that he was perpetuating this tradition in his own time".
Since Demetrius II (r.145-125 BCE) is mentioned on the left edge the tablet was probably inscribed in his reign.
Previous editions:
- Iraq 16 (1954) 202-212. has no Babylonian regnal years.
- The tablet contains lacunae where the regnal years of Seleucus II and Seleucus III should have been mentioned; the restoration offered below is almost certainly incorrect.
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[Obv.5] Alexander [IV], son of Alex[ander III]: 6 years?. |
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[Obv.4] general-in-chief of the army, ruled the land.note |
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[Obv.3] For [n] years there was no king in the country. Antigonus, |
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[Obv.2] [Ph]ilip, brother of Alexander, […]. |
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[Obv.1] [...] Alexand[er III] [...] |
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[Obv.6] Year 7, which is year 1: Seleucus (I Nicator was) king.note |
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[Obv.7] He reigned for twenty-five years. |
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[Obv.8] Year 31, Ulûlu [= month VI]: Se(leucus I), the king, was killed in the land of the Hanaeans. |
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[Obv.9] Year 32 [280/279]: An(tiochus I Soter), son of Se(leucus I, was) king. He reigned twenty years.note |
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[Obv.10] Year 51: Ajaru [= month II], on the sixteenth day, An(tiochus I), the great king, died. |
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[Obv.11] Year 52 [260/259]: An(tiochus II Theos), son of An(tiochus I was) king. [He reigned] 15 <years>. |
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[Obv.12] Year 66, Abu [= month V]: It was heard in Babylon |
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[Obv.13] as follows: "An(tiochus), the son of An(tiochus), the great king, has died." |
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[Obv.14] [Year] 67 [245/244]: S[e(leucus II Callinicus), the son of An(tiochus II was) king. He reigned 20? years] |
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[Obv.15] [...] [In the lacuna between the obverse and reverse, we would expect references to the death of king Seleucus II Callinicus (after 18 September 226) and the accession of Seleucus III Keraunos (before 10 April 225).] |