Chronicle of the Early Kings (ABC 20)
The Chronicle of the Early Kings (No. 20 in Grayson's Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles , JJ Augustin 1975 and No. 40 in Jean-Jacques Glassner's Chroniques mésopotamiennes ) is a fragmentary text of historical Babylonian historiography . The chronicle consists of two tables (A and B) that are more or less complete. Panel A is completely preserved, while panel B, in particular, has the reverse side badly damaged. The tablets describe the deeds of the early kings of Babylon , starting with Sargon of Akkad .
content
Panel A
- 1 " Sargon , King of Akkad , came to power during the reign of Ištar and"
- 2 “He had neither rivals nor equals. His fame in the countries "
- 3 “spread. He crossed the sea to the east. "
- 4 "In the 11th year he conquered the western country to the furthest point."
- 5 “He brought it under a rule. He erected his statues there "
- 6 "and crossed the western booty with barges."
- 7 "He stationed his court officers at intervals of five double hours and"
- 8 "ruled in unison with all the peoples of the countries."
- 9 "He marched into Kazallu and turned Kazallu into a heap of ruins,"
- 10 "so that there wasn't even a pole for a bird."
- 11 "Then, at an older age, all countries rebelled again and"
- 12 “surrounded him in Akkad . Sargon went out to a fight and caused their defeat. "
- 13 "He overthrew them and overpowered their huge army."
- 14 " Subartu then attacked Sargon with full force and called him to arms."
- 15 "Sargon set an ambush and defeated them completely."
- 16 "He overpowered its huge army"
- 17 "and brought their possessions to Akkad."
- 18 "He dug up the earth from the trench of Babylon and"
- 19 "made a counterpart to Babylon right next to Akkad."
- 20 "Because of what he did wrong, the Great Lord Marduk became angry and wiped out his family through starvation."
- 21 "From east to west [22], the subordinates rebelled against him"
- 22 [see 21]
- 23 "and Marduk tormented him with insomnia."
- -
- 24 " Naram-Sin , son of Sargon, marched to Apišal ."
- 25 "He made a breakthrough in the city wall and Riš-Adad "
- 26 "He took the king of Apišal and the vizier of Apišal prisoner."
- 27 "He marched to Magan and took Mannu-dannu , king of Magan prisoner."
- -
- 28 " Sulgi , the son of Ur-Nammu , offered plenty of food for Eridu , who is on the coast."
- 29 "But he had criminal inclinations and possessions of Esagila and Babylon"
- 30 “he took as booty. Bêl [= Marduk] caused that [...] devour his body and killed him. "
- -
- 31 " Irra-imitti , the king appointed [32] Enlil-bani , the gardener"
- 32 "as a substitute king for his throne."
- 33 "He put the royal crown on his head."
- 34 "Irra-imitti died in his palace while eating hot soup."
- 35 "Enlil-bani, who took over the throne, did not relinquish it and"
- 36 "so he became ruler."
- -
- 37 " Ilu-šumma was king of Assyria at the time of Su-abu."
- 38 "Fights."
Panel B
front
- 1–7 Identical to panel A, lines 31–36.
- 8 " Hammurabi , King of Babylon, gathered his army and"
- 9 "marched against Rim-Sin [I.] , King of Ur."
- 10 "Hammurabi conquered Ur and Larsa and"
- 11 "and brought its property to Babylon."
- 12 "He brought Rim-Sin to Babylon in a ki-is-kap ."
- -
- 13 " Samsu-iluna , king of Babylon, son of Hammurabi the king"
- 14 "[...] he gathered and"
- 15 "[...] Rim-Sin [II.] Marched to [...]"
- 16 "[...] he conquered and"
- 17 "[...] in good health in his palace"
- 18 "[...] he went and surrounded [...]"
- 19 "[...] his people [...]"
- 20 "[...]"
Then a piece is missing.
back
The back starts with a missing piece. This is followed by the following lines.
- 1 "[…]"
- 2 "[...] Ili-ma-ilu [...]"
- 3 "[...] he made [...]"
- 4 "he fought against them [...]"
- 5 "their corpses [...] in the sea [...]"
- 6 "he repeated and Samsu-iluna [...]"
- 7 "Iluma-ilu attacked and caused the defeat of his army."
- -
- 8 "Abi-ešuh, son of Samsu-iluna, set out to defeat Iluma-ilu."
- 9 "He decided to contain the Tigris ."
- 10 "He dammed the Tigris, but did not defeat Ili-ma-ilu."
- -
- 11 "At the time of Samsuditana , the Hittites marched against Akkad."
- -
- 12 " Ea-Gamil , the king of the sea country , fled to Elam ."
- 13 "After he left, Ulam-Buriaš, brother of Kaštiliašu, the Kassite ,"
- 14 “gathered an army and conquered the seaside. He was ruler of the country. "
- 15 " Agum , the son of Kaštiliašu , gathered his army and"
- 16 "marched into the seaside."
- 17 "He took hold of major enlil and"
- 18 "destroyed Egalgašešna, Enlil's temple in Dur-Enlil."
- -
literature
- Albert Kirk Grayson : Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. 1975, no.20.