Before the decipherment of cuneiform text, knowledge of the history of Babylon and Assyria was mostly dependent upon classical authorites. This history, however, was scanty and questionable. Had the native history of Berossus survived, this may not have been the case; all that is known of the Chaldaean historian's work, however, is derived from quotations in Josephus, Ptolemy, Eusebius and George Syncellus. The authenticity of his list of 10 antediluvian kings who reigned for 120 sari or 432,000 years, has been partially confirmed by the inscriptions; but his 8 postdiluvian dynasties are difficult to reconcile with the monuments, and the numbers attached to them are probably corrupt. It is different with the 7th and 8th dynasties as given by Ptolemy in his Almagest, which prove to have been faithfully recorded:
- Nabonassar (747 BC) 14 years
- Nadios
- Khinziros and Poros (Pul)
- Ilulaeos
- Mardokempados (Merodach-Baladan) 12
- Arkeanos (Saigon)
- Interregnum
- Hagisa 1 month
- Belibos (702 BC) 3 years
- Assaranadios (Assur-nadin-sum)
- Rëgebelos- ..year
- Mesesimordakos . 4 years
- Interregnum
- Asaridinos (Esar-haddon) ....13..
- Saosdukhinos (Savu'l-sum-yukin) . . . . 20 ,,
- Sinëladanos (Assur-bani-pal) ....... 22 ,,
See also: Babylonia and Assyria
This article is based on content originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Update as needed.