Eclectic Chronicle

The Eclectic Chronicle, referred to in earlier literature as the New Babylonian Chronicle, is an ancient Mesopotamian account of the highlights of Babylonian history during the post-Kassite era prior to the 689 BC fall of the city of Babylon. It is an important source of historiography from the period of the early iron-age dark-age with few extant sources to support its telling of events.

Although its provenance is unknown, it is thought to originate from Babylon itself as it is written in standard Babylonian in the late cuneiform script of the region. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1898 and given the accession number 98,0711.124, subsequently the Museum reference BM 27859. Approximately two-thirds of the text has survived with the top part of the tablet broken off, losing the beginning and end of the narrative. The work is written in a single column on a small tablet in the format of an administrative or economic text, suggesting it was for private use, in marked contrast to the official histories that were typically inscribed in two or more columns on a much larger object.

In many respects this chronicle shares the characteristics of Chronicle P, as an episodic and laconic summary of the significant events of Babylonian history, but without the errors of that other work. It seems to have been a continuation, covering the post-Kassite period beginning prior to the reign of Marduk-šāpik-zēri (ca. 1082–1069 BC) through to sometime after that of Salmānu-ašarid V (727–722 BC).

The narrative is divided into twenty two extant sections, each focusing on the events of the reign of a different Babylonian monarch (listed below) in chronological order with only a small number of omissions:

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