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Chronicle P (ABC 22)
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  Chronicle P (ABC 22) is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with several conflicts between Assyria, Babylonia, and Elam in the fourteenth to twelfth century BCE. It may be a Babylonian adaptation of the Assyrian Synchronistic History.

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 92701 (82-7-4, 38), upon which Chronicle P is inscribed is in very poor condition. The fragment is 180 mm wide and 120 mm long and represents only about one third of the original tablet. The fragment comes from the bottom portion of the chronicle.

Translation of Column 1

Lacuna
2' [...] king of Karduniaš and [...]
3' king of Assyria between them made a treaty and together they fixed the boundary.
4' [...] he rebuilt and restored it.
------------------------------------------
5' Kadašman-harbe, son of Karaindaš, son of Muballitat-serua,
6' the daughter of Aššur-uballit,[1] king of Assyria, ordered[7] the overthrow of the Suteans
7' from the east to west, and annihilated their extensive forces.
8' He reinforced the fortresses in Mount Šaršar.[2] He dug wells and
9' settled people on fertile lands to strengthen the guard. Afterwards
10' the Kassite people rebelled against him and killed him. Šuzigaš, a Kassite,
11' the son of a nobody,[3] they appointed as sovereign over them. Aššur-uballit,
12' king of Assyria, marched to Karduniaš[13], to avenge Kadašman-harbe, his daughter's son, and
13' Šuzigaš, the Kassite,
14' he killed. Aššur-iballit put Kurigalzu, son of Kadašman-harbe, on his father's throne.
Assyrian and
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Translation of Column 2

1' Too broken
2' Too broken
3' upon them [...] and a shout/complaint [...] [4]
4' The enemy seized him. Together [...] to the sword
5' he put all of them, and he did not leave a soul. Those who were fallen,
6' they put in distress. They colored the midst of the rolling sea with their blood.
7' They sent out their troops, fought zealously, and achieved victory.
8' They subdued the enemy troops. He gathered the possessions of the vast enemy and
9' made piles of them. Again the warriors said:
10' "We did not know, Kurigalzu, that you had conquered all peoples.
11' We had no rival among people. Now you [have overcome us??]
12' We have set out, sought the place where you are and brought gifts.
13' We have helped you conquer [...]" Again he [...]
14' [...] them and [...]

>> To columns 3 and 4 >>

Note 1:
Aššur-uballit was king of Assyria from 1353 to 1318. These events are also described in the Synchronistic Chronicle (ABC 21), which, however, offers slightly different names.

Note 2:
The Djebel Bišri.

Note 3:
This means that his father did not belong to a royal dynasty.

Note 4:
The next section is very unlike other chronicles and may have belonged to an epic.
Online 2006
Latest revision: 1 April 2006
 
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Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles