Uruk King List

Uruk King List: historiographical document from ancient Babylonia, mentioning the length of the reigns of several kings from Kandalanu (r.647-627) to the Seleucid king Seleucus II Callinicus (r.246-226/225).

Uruk King List, obverse
Uruk King List, obverse

The Uruk King List (also known as "King List 5" and ANET3 566) is an important historiographical document from ancient Babylonia. It mentions the length of the reigns of several kings, beginning with Kandalanu (r.647-627) and continuing to the Seleucid king Seleucus II Callinicus (r.246-226/225). Together the Babylonian King List of the Hellenistic Period, the Uruk King list is a useful text for those who are reconstructing the chronology of Babylonia in the late fourth to mid-second centuries.

Unless it was stolen when the museum was looted in April 2003, the cuneiform tablet (IM 65066) is in the Bagdad Museum. On this website, you will find a slightly adapted transcription by A.K. Grayson, from the Reallexikon der Assyriologie, s.v. "Königslisten und Chroniken".

Chronological notes have been added; the right-hand column is a modern approximation of regnal dates.

Description of the tablet

Uruk King List, reverse
Uruk King List, reverse

This list of kings of Babylonia and their regnal years, which appears on a fragment from the middle of a small tablet found at Uruk, covers in its preserved portion the period (obverse) from Kandalanu (r.647-627 BCE) to Darius I (522-486 BCE) and from (reverse) Darius III (r.335-331 BCE) to Seleucus II (r.246-226/225 BCE). The script is late Babylonian and the tablet was obviously inscribed some time after the reign of Seleucus II.

Previous editions

Obverse

       
1'note /MU 21\ [mAššur-bâni-apli] Aššurbanipal 21 years 668-631
2' ša-niš /m\Šamaš-šuma-ukîn Šamaš-šuma-ukîn at the same time 667-648
3' MU 21 mK[an-da]-la-an Kandalanu 21 years 647-627
4' MU 1 m dSîn2-šumu-lîšir2 Sin-šumliširnote 1 year 626
5' u m dSîn2-šarra-iš-ku-un and Sin-šar-iškûn Id. Id
6' MU 21 m dNabû-apla-usur Nabopolassar 21 years 626note-605
7' [M]U 43 m dNabû-kuddurî-usur Nebuchadnezzar [II] 43 years 604-562
8' [M]U 2 mAmîl-dMarduk Amel-Marduk 2 years 561-560
9' [MU] /3\ 8 ITI m dNergal2-šarra-usur Neriglissar 3 years, 8 months 559-556
10' [(...)]note 3 ITI mLa-ba-ši-dMarduk Labaši-Marduk [accession year] 3 months 556
11' [MU] /17?\ m dNabû-nâ'id Nabonidus 17? years 555-539
12' [MU x mK]ur-aš Cyrus [the Great] [x years] 539-530
13' [MU x mKambu-z]i-i Cambyses [II] [x years] 530-522
14' [MU x mDaria-m] Darius [the Great] [x years] 522-486

Reverse

       
1' [š]á MU šá-nu-ú mNidin-dB[êl] [...] whose second name is Nidin-Bêlnote [...] 336??
2' [M]U 5 mDa-ra-a-muš Darius [III Codomannus] 5 years 336-331
3' MU 7? mA-lik-sa-an-dar Alexander [the Great] 7? years 331-323
4' MU 6 mPi-il-ip-su Philip [III Arridaeus] 6 years 323-317
5' MU 6 mAt-tu-gu-un Antigonus [the One-eyed] 6 years 317-311
6' MU 31 mSi-lu-ku Seleucus [I Nicator] 31 years 311-281
7' MU 22note mAn-ti-'u-ku-su Antiochus [I Soter] 22 years 281-261
8' MU 15 mAn-ti-'u-ku-su Antiochus [II Theos] 15 years 261-246
9' [MU] [...]note mSi-lu-k[u] Seleucus [II Callinicus] [... years] 246-225

This page was created in 2005; last modified on 13 October 2020.