The Nabonidus Chronicle — Babylon falls, October 539 BC
The fall of Babylon to Cyrus is dated to a single month by Babylon's own chronicle, and the co-regency arrangement behind Daniel's Belshazzar appears in the same body of texts.
Date fixeAuteur antique6th–3rd century BC copy
A Babylonian chronicle of the reign of Nabonidus: the king absent for years at Teima, his son left in charge, the army defeated at Opis, and Cyrus entering Babylon in the month Arahsamnu — mid-October 539 BC. Daniel 5 places Belshazzar in the city on the night it falls.
In the month of Arahsamnu, the third day, Cyrus entered Babylon. Green twigs were spread in front of him — the state of peace was imposed upon the city.
- Découvert
- Babylonia — Nineteenth-century acquisitions
- Conservé à
- British Museum, London
- Langue
- Akkadian
- Comment il nous est parvenu
- Fouillé, ou encore debout là où il fut bâti.
Ce qu'elle montre
The chronicle does not mention Belshazzar's death or a feast. It fixes the date and the political situation, not Daniel's narrative.
Ce qu'en font les historiens
The standard source for the Persian conquest of Babylon, cited in every history of the Achaemenid empire.
Dans l'Écriture
Se rattache à
Sources
- Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975), ABC 7
Ces textes sont pour l'instant en anglais. Les traductions suivront.