The Babylonian Chronicle on Carchemish, 605 BC
The battle Jeremiah uses to date a prophecy is recorded, to the year, in Babylon's own chronicle.
Fixed dateAncient writer6th century BC
The chronicle records Nebuchadnezzar, then crown prince, crossing the river at Carchemish, destroying the Egyptian army there, and taking the whole of Hatti-land. Jeremiah dates a prophecy to "the army of Pharaoh Necho, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar smote."
He crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Carchemish… he accomplished their defeat and beat them to non-existence.
- Found
- Babylonia — Acquired by the British Museum; published by D. J. Wiseman, 1956
- Now held at
- British Museum, London
- Language
- Akkadian
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
The chronicle fixes the campaign to Nebuchadnezzar's accession year, 605 BC.
How historians use it
One of the fixed points of Near Eastern chronology for the end of the seventh century.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.