5.2.7 - Babylonian Chronicle

“A reliable source, unique to Babylonia, is the Babylonia Chronicle, which relates specific events in each year. The major Chronicles extant are: 1. Sargon of Agade-Kaštiliašu (ca. 2350-1600 B.C.). 2. The Babylonian Chronicle: Nabonassar-Šamaš-šumukīn (747-648). 3. Esarhaddon Chronicle (680-667). 4. Chronicle of the Years 680-667. 5. Nabopolassar-Nebuchadrezzar II (626-595). . . . 6. Neriglissar 3 (556). 7. Nabonidus (555-539). 8. Various Seleucid Chronicles and King Lists (306-175). In these such events as the fall of Nineveh (612), the siege of Harran by Neco II with Assyrian help (609), the Babylonian defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish and the overrunning of Syria and Palestine (605), the Egyptian defeat of the Babylonians (601), the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (Mar. 16, 597 B.C.), and the fall of Babylon to Cyrus (Oct. 29, 539 B.C.) are independently attested from extrabiblical sources.”¹

Notes

¹ Donald J. Wiseman, “Babylonia,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915), 1:398.