Uruk King List (W 20030/105; IM 065066)
A small fragment of a clay tablet (W 20030/105; IM 065066) discovered in the ruins of the Babylonian city of Uruk (and presumably still in the Iraq Museum) preserves a list of rulers of the Uncertain Dynasties [/ribo/babylon6/index.html] (978-626 BC) and the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty [/ribo/babylon7/index.html] (625-539 BC), as well as those of the Persian [/ribo/babylon8/index.html] (538-330 BC), Macedonian (330-307) and Seleucid [/ribo/babylon10/index.html] (305-64) periods. The so-called "Uruk King List" [http://www.livius.org/sources/content/uruk-king-list/] -- together with the "King List of the Hellenistic Period" [https://www.livius.org/sources/content/mesopotamian-chronicles-content/babylonian-king-list-of-the-hellenistic-period/] and the "Ptolemaic Canon" [/ribo/KingLists/PtolemaicCanon/index.html] -- is an extremely important chronographic source for reconstructing Babylonian history from the late fourth century BC to the mid-second century BC. Moreover, it is one of the few extant cuneiform sources that provides evidence for the Assyrian kings Sîn-šumu-līšir (ca. 627/626 BC) and Sîn-šarra-iškun (ca. 627/626–612 BC) exercising some control over (northern) Babylonia during the year 626 BC.
| Lacuna | ||
| Obv. 1') | 21 year(s) | [...] |
| Obv. 2') | at the same time | [(...)] |
| Obv. 3') | 21 year(s) | K[anda]lān(u) |
| Obv. 4') | 1 year | Sîn-šumu-līšir |
| Obv. 5') | and | Sîn-šarra-iškun |
| Obv. 6') | 21 year(s) | Nabopolassar |
| Obv. 7') | 43 [ye]ar(s) | Nebuchadnezzar (II) |
| Obv. 8') | 2 [ye]ar(s) | Amēl-Marduk |
| Obv. 9') | 3 [years], 8 month(s) | Neriglissar |
| Obv. 10') | [(...)] 3 month(s) | Lâbâši-Marduk |
| Obv. 11') | 17 [year(s)] | Nabonidus |
| Obv. 12') | [N year(s)] | [C]yrus (II) |
| Obv. 13') | [N year(s)] | [Cambyse]s (II) |
| Obv. 14') | [N year(s)] | [Dari]us (I) |
| Lacuna | ||
| Rev. 1') | (his) other [n]a[m]e (is) | Nidin-B[ēl] |
| Rev. 2') | 5 [ye]ar(s) | Dariu[s] (III) |
| Rev. 3') | 7 year(s) | Alexander (II of Macedon) |
| Rev. 4') | 6 years | Philip (III Arrhidaeus) |
| Rev. 5') | 6 years | Antigonus [the One-eyed] |
| Rev. 6') | 31 year(s) | Seleucus (I Nicator) |
| Rev. 7') | 22 year(s) | Antiochus (I Soter) |
| Rev. 8') | 15 year(s) | Antiochus (II Theos) |
| Rev. 9') | 20 [year(s)] | Seleuc[us] (II Callinicus) |
| Lacuna |
Selected Bibliography
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, p. 97 §3.5.
van Dijk, J.J.A., 'Die Inschriftenfunde,' in: H.J. Lenzen (ed.), 18. vorläufiger Bericht über die von dem Deutschen Archäologischen Institut und der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft aus Mitteln der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft unternommenen Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka (Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 7), Berlin: Mann, 1962, pp. 53-60 and pls. 27-28a.
Jamie Novotny
Jamie Novotny, 'Uruk King List (W 20030/105; IM 065066)', The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2025 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/KingLists/UrukKingList/]