Early Years of Nabopolassar (ABC 2)

The translation on this webpage was adapted from A.K. Grayson,

Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles

(1975) and Jean-Jacques Glassner,

Mesopotamian Chronicles

(Atlanta, 2004)

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue … mixed-breed demigods in teal)

 

 

The Chronicle Concerning the Early Years of Nabopolassar (ABC 2) is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with Nabopolassar‘s capture of Babylon, his accession as king and his war against the Assyrians. This chronicle belongs to one large text that continued with the Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC 3) and the Late Years of Nabopolassar (ABC 4).

Translation

1 In the month of […] Nabopolassar, having sent troops to Babylon, at night

2 entered the city and they did battle within the city all day.

3 They inflicted a defeat on Assyria. The garrison of Sin-šarra-iškun fled to Assyria.

4 The city was entrusted to […]. On the twelfth day of the month Ulûlu the army of Assyria

5 went down to Akkad, entered Šasanaku, set fire to the temple

6 and plunderded it. And in the month Tašrîtu the gods of Kiš (Kish) went to Babylon.

7 The Nthe day, the army of Assyria went to Nippur and Nabopolassar retreated before them.

8 The army of Assyria and the Nippureans followed him to Uruk,

9 they did battle against Nabopolassar in Uruk, and retreated before Nabopolassar.

10 In the month Ajaru the army of Assyria went down to Akkad. On the twelfth day of the month Tašrîtu

11 when the army of Assyria[12] had marched against Babylon and the Babylonians

12 had come out of Babylon; on that day[11] they did battle against the army of Assyria,

13 inflicted a major defeat upon the army of Assyria, and plundered them.

14 For one year there was no king in the land. On the twenty-sixth day of the month Arahsamna [23 November 626] Nabopolassar

15 ascended the throne in Babylon. The accession year of Nabolossar (626/625): in the month Addaru [24 February/23 March]

16-17 Nabopolassar returned to Susa the gods of Susa whom the Assyrians had carried off and settled in Uruk.

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18 The first year of Nabopolassar (625/624): On the seventeenth of the month Nisannu panic overcame the city.

19 Šamaš (Shamash / Utu) and the gods of Šapazzu went to Babylon.

20 On the twenty-first day of the month Ajaru [14 May 625] the army of Assyria entered Raqmat and carried off the booty.

21 On the twentieth day of the month […] the gods of Sippar went to Babylon.

22 On the ninth day of the month Âbu [30 July 625] Nabopolassar and his army marched to Raqmat.

23 He did battle against Raqmat but did not capture the city. Instead, the army of Assyria arrived so

24 he retreated before them and withdrew.

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25 The second year of Nabopolassar (624/623): at the beginning of the month Ulûlu [9 August 624] the army of Assyria

26 went down to Akkad and camped by the Banitu canal.

27 They did battle against Nabopolassar but achieved nothing

28 […] and withdrew.

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29 The third year (623/622): On the eight day of the month […] Der rebelled against Assyria. On the fifteenth day of the month Tašrîtu [11 October]

30 [the Assyrian general] Itti-ili joined battle with Nippur. Afterward the king of Assyria went down to Akkad

31 with his troops and took possession of Der; he took out its treasures and had them sent to Nippur.

32 He pursued Itti-ili, ravaged Uruk?, and set up a garrison at Nippur.

33 He went up from beyond the Euphrates and set out

34 toward Assyria. He ravaged […]nu and set out for Nineveh.

35 […] who had come to do battle against him

36 [..wh]en they saw him they bowed down before him.

37 […]

38 The rebel king […]

39 one hundred days […]

40 […] when […]

41 […] rebel […]