Babylonian King List A (BM 033332; Rm 3, 005)
A large clay tablet (BM 033332; Rm 3, 005) preserves the best known copy of a list of rulers from the Old Babylonian kings of Babylon (1894-1595 BC) to the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty [/ribo/babylon7/index.html] (625-539 BC); this document is generally referred to as "Babylonian King List A" in scholarly literature. Despite the facts that the compilation does not take into account the possibility that two or more dynasties might be contemporary or overlap, that the figures for the regnal years of some rulers are incorrect, and that the sequence of a few Kassite-period kings is out of order, Babylonian King List A is one of the most important chronological sources for Babylon in the second and first millennia BC. The list, generally speaking, appears to be a near complete list of rulers of the First Dynasty of Babylon (1894-1595 BC), the First Dynasty of the Sealand, the Kassite Dynasty (-1155 BC), the Second Dynasty of Isin [/ribo/babylon2/index.html] (1157-1026 BC), the Second Dynasty of the Sealand [/ribo/babylon3/index.html] (1025-1005 BC), the Bazi Dynasty [/ribo/babylon4/index.html] (1004-985 BC), the Elamite Dynasty [/ribo/babylon5/index.html] (984-979 BC), and the period of the Uncertain Dynasties [/ribo/babylon6/index.html] (978-626 BC).
The obverse and reverse of the tablet each have two columns of text. Most of the dynasties are separated from one another by horizontal ruling lines and dynastic summaries, which contain the total number of years and kings, as well as the common name of the dynasty. The exact date of compilation is uncertain since the end of the text is broken away. However, we do know that Babylonian King List A was prepared after the short reign of Sîn-šumu-līšir (ca. 627/626 BC), a eunuch who very briefly seized the thrones of both Assyria and Babylonia, sometime during the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty [/ribo/babylon7/index.html] (625-539 BC).
| Lacuna | ||
| i 1') | [x (years)] | [Ammī-ṣaduqa] |
| i 2') | [x (years)] | [Samsu-ditāna] |
| i 3') | [x (years)] | Eleven king(s), [...] Dyn[asty] |
| i 4) | [N]+1 (years) | Iluma |
| i 5') | N (years) | Itti-ili-(nibi) |
| i 6') | 26 (years) | Damiq-ilī(šu) |
| i 7') | 15 (years) | Iš(ki)ba(l) |
| i 8') | 24 (years) | Šušši, (his) brother |
| i 9') | 55 (years) | Gulki(šar) |
| i 10') | 50 (years) | Pešgal(daramaš) |
| i 11') | 28 (years) | Ayadara(galama) |
| i 12') | 26 (years) | Ekurdu(anna) |
| i 13') | 7 (years) | Melamma(kurkurra) |
| i 14') | 9 (years) | Ea-ga(mil) |
| i 15') | 368 (years) | Eleven kings, Sealand Dynasty |
| i 16') | 26 (years) | Gandaš |
| i 17') | 22 (years) | Agum the first, his son |
| i 18') | 22 (years) | K[a]š[t]iliaš (I) |
| i 19') | 8 (years) | ...ši, his son |
| i 20') | [N] (years) | Abi-Rattaš |
| i 21') | [N] (years) | Urzigurumaš |
| i 22') | [N] (years) | [...] ... |
| Lacuna | ||
| ii 1') | 25 (years) | [Kurigalzu (II)] |
| ii 2') | 26 (years) | [Nazi-Maruttaš] |
| ii 3') | 18 (years) | K[adašman-Turgu] |
| ii 4') | N (years) | Kadaš[man-Enlil (II)] |
| ii 5') | 6 (years) | Kudu[r-Enlil], his [son] |
| ii 6') | 13 (years) | Šagarakti-(Šuriaš), his [so]n |
| ii 7') | 8 (years) | Kaštil(iašu) (IV) |
| ii 8') | 1 year, 6 months | Enlil-nādin-šumi |
| ii 9') | 1 year, 6 months | Kadašman-Ḫarbe (II) |
| ii 10') | 6 (years) | Adad-šuma-idd[ina] |
| ii 11') | 30 (years) | Adad-šuma-uṣur |
| ii 12') | 15 (years) | Meli-Šipak |
| ii 13') | 13 (years) | Marduk-apla-iddina (I), his son |
| ii 14') | 1 year | Zababa-šu[ma-iddina] |
| ii 15') | 3 (years) | Enlil-nādin-[aḫi] |
| ii 16') | 576 (years), 9 months | Thirty-six ki[ng(s), ... Dynasty] |
| ii 17') | 17 (years) | Mar[duk]-k[abit-aḫḫēšu] |
| ii 18') | 8 (years) | I[tti-Marduk-balāṭu] |
| Lacuna | ||
| iii 1) | 22 (years) | [Adad-apla-iddina] |
| iii 2) | 1 year, 6 months | Marduk-aḫḫ[ē-erība] |
| iii 3) | 12 (years) | Marduk-zēr-[...] |
| iii 4) | 8 (years) | Nabû-šumu-[libūr] |
| iii 5) | 132 (years), 6 months | Eleven kings, Isin Dynasty |
| iii 6) | 18 (years) | Simbar-Ši(pak) |
| iii 7) | 5 months | Ea-mukīn-(zēri) |
| iii 8) | 3 (years) | Kaššû-nādin-aḫḫē |
| iii 9) | 21 (years), 5 months | Three king(s), Sealand Dynasty |
| iii 10) | 17 (years) | Eulmaš-šākin-šumi |
| iii 11) | 3 (years) | Ninurta-kudurrī-(uṣur) (I) |
| iii 12) | 3 months | Širiktu-Šuqamu(na) |
| iii 13) | 20 (years), 3 months | Three king(s), Bas[a] Dynasty |
| iii 14) | 6 (years) | Mār-b[īti-apla-uṣur] |
| iii 15) | 36 (years) | [Nabû-mukīn-apli] |
| iii 16) | 8 months, 12 [days] | [Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur (I)] |
| iii 17) | N (years) | [Marduk-bīti-aḫḫē-iddina] |
| Lacuna | ||
| iv 1) | [N] (years) | (E)rība-[Marduk] |
| iv 2) | [N] (years) | Nabû-šuma-iškun [(...)] |
| iv 3) | [N] (years) | Nabû-nā[ṣir] |
| iv 4) | 2 (years) | [Na]bû-nādin-zēri, his son |
| iv 5) | 1 month, 13 day(s) | Nabû-šuma-ukīn (II), his son |
| iv 6) | Twenty-two (kings), E (= Babylon) Dynasty | |
| iv 7) | 3 (years) | (Nabû)-mukīn-zēri, Dynasty of Šapî (Šapīya) |
| iv 8) | 2 (years) | Pūlu (= Tiglath-pileser III) |
| iv 9) | 5 (years) | Ulūlāyu (= Shalmaneser V), Dynasty of Baltil (= Aššur) |
| iv 10) | 12 (years) | Marduk-apla-iddina (II), Dynasty of the Sealand |
| iv 11) | 5 (years) | Sargon (II) |
| iv 12) | 2 (years) | Sennacherib, Ḫabigal (= Ḫanigalbat) Dynasty |
| iv 13) | 1 month | Marduk-zākir-šumi (II), son of Arad |
| iv 14) | 9 months | Marduk-apla-iddina (II), a soldier of Ḫabi (Ḫanigalbat) |
| iv 15) | 3 (years) | Bēl-ibni, E (Babylon) Dynasty |
| 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) |
| iv 21) | [N] (years) | Šamaš-šuma-(ukīn) |
| iv 22) | [N] (years) | Kandal(ānu) |
| iv 23) | [N] (years) | Sîn-šumu-līšir |
Selected Bibliography
Gadd, C.J., Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum 36, London: British Museum Publications, 1921, pls. 24–25.
Grayson, A.K., 'Königslisten und Chroniken. B. Akkadisch,' in: D.O. Edzard (ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie 6/1–2, Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1980, pp. 90–96 §3.3.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Babylonian King List A (BM 033332; Rm 3, 005)', The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/KingLists/KingListA/]