ABC 1.iii (From Nabû-Nasir to Šamaš-šuma-ukin)

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 text is preserved on two copies that are now in the British Museum; one of these copies was written in 499 BCE, the twenty-second year of king Darius I the Great. (It is the only Neo-Babylonian chronicle that is preserved on more than one copy.) The best of these measures 193 mm long and 158 mm wide, which is extremely large; this made it possible to create two columns (cf. ABC 7, the Nabonidus Chronicle, which may have been written by the same scribe). It is from Babylon. The other fragments are from Sippar and may belong to one and the same broken, large tablet. A parallel text that contains variant information can be found here.

Translation of Column III

[iii.1] plundered the gods and inhabitants of Uruk.

[iii.2] After the Elamites had come and carried off^[3] the gods

[iii.3] and inhabitants of Uruk Nergal-ušezib^[2] in the district of Nippur on the seventh day of the month Tašrîtu

[iii.4] did battle against the army of Assyria. He was taken prisoner in the battlefield and

[iii.5] transported to Assyria. For one year - precisely: six months - Nergal-ušezib

[iii.6] ruled Babylon. On the twenty-sixth day of the month Tašrîtu

[iii.7] the subjects of Hallušu-Inšušinak, king of Elam, rebelled against him. The door in his face^note[This remarkable statement probably means that he was taken prisoner.]

[iii.8] they shut and they killed him. For six years Hallušu-Inšušinak ruled Elam.

[iii.9] Kudur-Nahhunte ascended the throne in Elam. Afterwards Sennacherib

[iii.10] went down to Elam. From Raši to

[iii.11] Bit-Burnaki, he ravaged and plundered it.

[iii.12] Mušezib-Marduk ascended the throne in Babylon.

[iii.13] The first year of Mušezib-Marduk:^note[692/691.] On the seventeenth day of the month Âbu,

[iii.14] Kudur-Nahhunte, king of Elam, was taken prisoner in a rebellion and killed. For ten months

[iii.15] Kudur-Nahhunte ruled Elam. Humban-nimena in Elam

[iii.16] ascended the throne. In an unknown year Humban-nimena

[iii.17] mustered the troops of Elam and Akkad^[16] and battle against Assyria in Halule

[iii.18] he did. He effected an Assyrian retreat.

[iii.19] The fourth year of Mušezib-Marduk:^note[689/688.] On the fifteenth day of the month Nisannu

[iii.20] Humban-nimena, king of Elam, was stricken by paralysis and

[iii.21] his mouth was so affected that he could not speak.

[iii.22] On the first day of the month Kislîmu the city of Babylon was captured. Mušezib-Marduk

[iii.23] was taken prisoner and transported to Assyria.

[iii.24] For four years, Mušezib-Marduk ruled Babylon.^note[Babylon was sacked by Sennacherib, an event that is not recorded in this chronicle.]

[iii.25] On the seventh day of the month Addaru Humban-nimena, king of Elam, died.

[iii.26] For four years, Humban-nimena, ruled Elam.

[iii.27] Humban-haltaš ascended the throne in Elam.

[iii.28] The eighth year of there not being a king in Babylon:^note[681/680. In fact, Sennacherib ruled over the country, but he was not recognized, because he had sacked Babylon.] on the third day of the month Du'ûzu,

[iii.29] the gods of Uruk went from Elam to Uruk.

[iii.30] On the twenty-third day of the month Tašrîtu, at the noon hour, Humban-Haltaš, king of Elam,

[iii.31] became paralyzed and died at sunset. For eight years Humban-Haltaš

[iii.32] ruled Elam.

[iii.33] Humban-Haltaš the second, his son, ascended the throne.

[iii.34] On the twentieth day of the month Tebêtu, Sennacherib, king of Assyria,

[iii.35] was killed by his son in a rebellion. For twenty-four years Sennacherib

[iii.36] ruled Assyria. After the twentieth day of the month Tebêtu

[iii.37] the rebellion continued in Assyria until the second day of the month Addaru.

[iii.38] On the eighteenth day of the month Addaru Esarhaddon, his son, ascended the throne in Assyria.

[iii.39] The first year of Esarhaddon:^note[680/679.] when^[40] Nabû-zer-kitti-lišir, governor of the Sealand,

[iii.40] had gone upstream, he encamped against Ur, but did not capture the city.

[iii.41] Instead he fled from the Assyrian officers and went back into Elam.

[iii.42] In Elam the king of Elam took him prisoner and put him to the sword.

[iii.43] In an unknown month the governor [...] in Nippur.

[iii.44] In the month Ulûlu, Ištaran and the gods of Der

[iii.45] went^[45] from [...] to Der [...].

[iii.46] went to Dur-Šarrukin [...].^note[The capital of Assyria.]

[iii.47] In the month Adarru [...].

[iii.48] In the second year:^note[679/678.] the major-domo [conscripted troops in Akkad...]^note[Restoration based on ABC 14.]

[iii.49] In that same year Arza was captured and sacked. The people were plundered, the king and his son were taken prisoner.

[iii.50] There was a slaughter in Buššua and there was a slaughter of the Cimmerians in Šubuhn.]