Dating and Chronology

Unless it is stated otherwise, the dates given in this volume (excluding those in bibliographical citations) are all BC. Each ancient Mesopotamian year has been given a single Julian year equivalent even though the ancient year actually encompassed parts of two Julian years, with the ancient year beginning around the time of the vernal equinox. Thus, for example, the 1st regnal year of Ashurbanipal (the eponymy of Mār-larīm) is indicated to be 668, although it actually ended in early 667 and, thus, events which took place late in the ancient year "668" actually took place early in the Julian year 667.

Texts edited in this volume occasionally mention contemporary dates and the charts in this section are intended to aid the reader in understanding those dates.

The traditional order of the Mesopotamian month names and their modern equivalents are:

I	Nisannu	March–April	VII	Tašrītu	September–October
II	Ayyāru	April–May	VIII	Araḫsamna	October–November
III	Simānu	May–June	IX	Kislīmu	November–December
IV	Duʾūzu	June–July	X	Ṭebētu, Kanūnu	December–January
V	Abu	July–August	XI	Šabāṭu	January–February
VI	Ulūlu	August–September	XII	Addaru	February–March
VI₂	Intercalary Ulūlu		XII₂	Intercalary Addaru

Based on evidence from Babylonia, Intercalary Addaru (XII2) was (sometimes) placed before the "normal" twelfth month, just as it is still done today in the Jewish calendar.^[242] This might have also been the case for Intercalary Ulūlu (VI2). In Assyria, it is unknown if one or both of these inserted months were added prior to, instead of after, Ulūlu (VI) and Addaru (XII). A letter from Mār-Ištar, Esarhaddon's agent in Babylonia,^[243] concerning the interruption of a festival in Ulūlu might provide seventh-century evidence for Intercalary Ulūlu (VI2) coming before the "normal" Ulūlu. The relevant portion of that piece of correspondence reads as follows:

As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "The month Ulūlu (VI) is intercalary; do not perform the ceremonies this month" — Ammu-salām entered Babylon on the evening of the 6th day; the god Nabû had come before him, on the 3rd. The gate was kept open before the gods Bēl and Nabû on the 4th, the 5th and the 6th, and sacrifices were performed. When I saw the king my lord's sealed order, I issued the order: the rest of the ceremonies of Ulūlu (VI) will be performed in the coming month, as the king, my lord, wrote to me.^[244]

Although it is not explicitly stated by Mār-Ištar, one could tentatively assume that an Intercalary Ulūlu was added (last minute) before the "normal" Ulūlu, thereby causing the in-progress festival to be postponed one month so that it could be performed during the "normal" Ulūlu, rather than in the then Intercalary Ulūlu.^[245] Because the festival was to take place during a regularly scheduled month, the king and his advisors were keenly aware of the importance of maintaining the (various) cultic calendar(s), especially during a year in which an intercalary month was added. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assumed that "normal" Ulūlu and Addaru took place immediately before Nisannu (I) and Tašrītu (VII) respectively, rather than being separated from them by an intercalary month. This would seemingly ensure that there were no major disruptions between ceremonies and festivals that were celebrated just before the akītu-festival (New Year's festival). Should this actually have been the case during the (late) Neo-Assyrian Period, then the revised order of the Mesopotamian month names and their modern equivalents should be:

I	Nisannu	March–April	VII	Tašrītu	September–October
II	Ayyāru	April–May	VIII	Araḫsamna	October–November
III	Simānu	May–June	IX	Kislīmu	November–December
IV	Duʾūzu	June–July	X	Ṭebētu, Kanūnu	December–January
V	Abu	July–August	XI	Šabāṭu	January–February
VI₂	Intercalary Ulūlu		XII₂	Intercalary Addaru
VI	Ulūlu	August–September	XII	Addaru	February–March

For a table attempting to precisely convert Assyrian dates to Julian ones for the first twenty-one years of Ashurbanipal's reign and translations of relevant passages in six king lists (including Babylonian King List A, the Uruk King List, and the Ptolemaic Canon), see Novotny and Jeffers, RINAP 5/1 pp. 28–30.

Notes

[242] For details on the presently-available evidence (from the reign of Nabonidus), see Magdalene, Wunsch, and Wells, Fault, Responsibility and Administrative Law pp. 464–465.

[243] For a brief overview of his correspondence, see Baker, PNA 2/2 pp. 739–740 sub Mār-Issār no. 18.

[244] Parpola, SAA 10 p. 295 no. 357. The translation is S. Parpola's, but with a few minor modifications to match RINAP's editorial style.

[245] S. Parpola (LAS 2 pp. 284–285, commentary to no. 287) states the following: "While the intercalation of a second Ulūlu did not alter the name of the month in which the festival took place, it was necessary to postpone part of the ceremonies till the following month since the festival of Ulūlu was originally connected with the New Year's festival of Tašrītu, and it would have been unthinkable to break the sequence of cultic events leading from one festival to the other by a hiatus of a month or more."

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Dating and Chronology', RINAP 5: The Royal Inscriptions of Ashurbanipal, Aššur-etel-ilāni, and Sîn-šarra-iškun, The RINAP/RINAP 5 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2023 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap5/rinap53introduction/datingandchronology/]