King Lists

Synchronistic King List   A Fragment of a Synchronistic King List   A Fragment of a Synchronistic King List   Ptolemaic Canon  

Babylonian King List A and several synchronistic king lists record that Sennacherib was king of Assyria and Babylonia. The Ptolemaic Canon, however, does not mention Sennacherib as a ruler of Babylon, but rather records the periods that he directly controlled Babylon as "kingless." For the convenience of the user of this volume, it has been thought useful to present translations of the relevant passages here. In this section, the entries immediately preceding and following those of the kings whose inscriptions are also edited in this volume are given when they are preserved.

1. Babylonian King List A

(CT 36 pls. 24–25; Grayson, RLA 6/1–2 [1980] pp. 90–96 §3.3)
iv 11)  5 (years)  Sargon (II)  
iv 12)  2 (years)   Sennacherib, Ḫabigal (Ḫanigalbat) Dynasty[62]  
iv 13)   1 month  Marduk-zākir-šumi (II), son of Arad[63]  
iv 14)   9 months  Marduk-apla-iddina (II), a soldier of Ḫabi (Ḫanigalbat)
iv 15)   3 (years)   Bēl-ibni, E (Babylon) Dynasty[64]  
iv 16)   6 (years)   Aššur-nādin-šumi, Ḫabigal (Ḫanigalbat) Dynasty  
iv 17)   1 (year)   Nergal-ušēzib  
iv 18)   4? (years)   Mušēzib-Marduk, E (Babylon) Dynasty  
iv 19)   8? (years)   Sennacherib  
iv 20)    [N] (years)   Esarha(ddon)  

2. Synchronistic King List

(Weidner, AfO 3 [1926] pp. 70–71; Grayson, RLA 6/1–2 [1980] pp. 116–121 §3.12)
  Lacuna (at the end of col. iii)    
iv 1)   [Senn]acherib, king of Assyria   [and Babylo]n  
iv 2)   Nabû-apla-iddina (was) his scholar   [(...)]  
iv 3–6)      [...] king of Akkad. Afterwards, the people [of Ak]kad rebelled and [he] placed [Aš]šur-nādin-šumi on the throne.   
iv 7–9)   Sennacherib   Nergal-(u)šēzib, son of G[a]ḫul, (and) Mušēzib-Marduk, son of D[a]kkūri, kings of A[kk]ad.   
iv 10)   Sennacherib, king of Assyria  and Babylon  
iv 11)   Bēl-upaḫḫir (and)   Kalbu (were) his schol[ars]   
iv 12)   Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, king of Assyria   and Babylon  
iv 13)   Nabû-zēru-līšer (and)   Ištar-šumu-ēreš (were) his scholars  

3. A Fragment of a Synchronistic King List

(Schroeder, KAV no. 9; Grayson, RLA 6/1–2 [1980] pp. 121–122 §3.13)
  Lacuna     
iv 1')   [...]  [šur-nādin-šumi]   
iv 2')   [...]  Šū[zubu (Nergal-ušēzib)]   
iv 3')   [...]  Šū[zubu (Mušēzib-Marduk)]   
iv 4')   [...]  Sennach[erib]   
iv 5')   [...]  Esar[haddon]   

4. A Fragment of a Synchronistic King List

(Schroeder, KAV no. 182; Grayson, RLA 6/1–2 [1980] pp. 124–125 §3.17)
  Lacuna    
iv 1')   [Sennacherib, k]ing of Assyria and Babylon  Nabû-bāni  
iv 2')   [ditto]   Kalbu  
iv 3')   [ditto]   Bēl-upaḫḫir  
iv 4')   [Esarhaddon], king of Assyria and Babylon  Nabû-zēru-līšer  

5. Ptolemaic Canon

(Wachsmuth, Alten Geschichte p. 305; Grayson, RLA 6/1–2 [1980] p. 101 §3.8)
Ἀρκεανοῦ   ε   Arkeanos (Sargon II)    5 (years)   
ἀβασίλευτα   β   Kingless   2 (years)   
Βιλίβου   γ   Bilibos (Bēl-ibni)    3 (years)   
Ἀπαραναδίου    ζ   Aparanadios (Aššur-nādin-šumi)    6 (years)   
Ῥηγεβήλου   α   Rhegebelos (Nergal-ušēzib)    1 (year)   
Μεσησιμορδάκου   δ   Mesesimordakos (Mušēzib-Marduk)    4 (years)   
ἀβασίλευτα   η   Kingless   8 (years)   
Ἀσαραδίνου   ιγ   Asaradinos (Esarhaddon)    13 (years)   

Notes

62 For an explanation of BALA ḫa-bi-gal (iv 12 and 16) and ERIM ḫa-bi (iv 14), see Brinkman, Studies Oppenheim pp. 35–37 and Frame, RIMB 2 pp. 90–91. Recently, M. Valério (Journal of Language Relationship 6 [2011] pp. 173–183) has argued that the Semitic name of Mitanni (Ḫanigalbat) should be read as Ḫani-Rabbat, a West-Semitic (Amorite) name meaning "Great Ḫani." If this understanding of the name is correct, then one should read BALA ḫa-bi-gal as BALA ḫa-bi-GAL "Habi-rabbat dynasty." As pointed out by G. Frame (RIMB 2 pp. 90–91), it is unclear why some Assyrian kings are given dynastic affiliation (Sennacherib and Aššur-nādin-šumi to the Ḫabigal [Ḫanigalbat] dynasty, and Shalmaneser V to the Baltil dynasty) while others are not (Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, and Esarhaddon). It is also curious that King List A describes Marduk-apla-iddina II during his first regnal period (721–710) as being from the Sealand dynasty (KUR tam-(tim)), but as a soldier of Ḫabi (Ḫanigalbat) during his second regnal period (703).

63 J.A. Brinkman (Studies Oppenheim pp. 24–25 n. 137 and RLA 7/5–6 [1989] p. 379) proposes that Marduk-zākir-šumi II is likely to be identified with a provincial governor of this name who is said to have been the son (or descendant) of Arad-Ea and who appeared as a witness in a kudurru composed at Babylon in 715 (Messerschmidt and Ungnad, VAS 1 no. 37 v 2–3).

64 For the interpretation that BALA E may refer to the Babylon Dynasty, see Brinkman, PKB pp. 166–171.

A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny

A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny, 'King Lists', RINAP 3: Sennacherib, The RINAP 3 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap3/rinap31introduction/datingandchronology/kinglists/]

 
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