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"Politai" Chronicle (BCHP 13) |
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BCHP 13: Politai Chronicle (British Museum).** |
The first Babylonian
document on the politai (Greek citizens of Babylon),
the Politai Chronicle (BCHP 13), is one of the historiographical
texts from ancient Babylonia.
The tablet can be dated to SE
140 (=172/1 BCE) ands belongs, therefore, to the reign of the Seleucid
king Antiochus
IV Epiphanes (175-164). For a very brief introduction to the literary
genre of chronicles, go here.
The cuneiform tablet (BM 46120 = 81-7-6,572) is in the British Museum. On this website, a new reading is proposed by Bert van der Spek of the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Irving Finkel of the British Museum.* Please notice that this is a preliminary version of what will be the chronicle's very first edition. This web publication is therefore intended to invite suggestions for better readings, comments and interpretations (go here to contact Van der Spek). |
Description Text and translation Commentary |
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Description of the tabletLeft side of a small, roughly square tablet, covering certain years of the Seleucid era, starting with year 140. Length: 5 cm., width at top: 3 cm., at bottom 1,5 cm. The top and bottom edges are preserved, but the reverse is lost. In size and shape it resembles the Greek community Chronicle (BCHP 14) (SE 149 = 163/2 BCE) and ABC 9 (= Artaxerxes III chronicle, 345 BCE). |
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Babylonian Chronicles |