Before the decipherment of cuneiform text, knowledge of the history of the ancient Near East was mostly dependent upon classical authorities. This history, however, was scanty and questionable.

Berossus

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, Jerome 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 the Canon of Kings in his Almagest, which prove to have been faithfully recorded:

1. Nabonassar (747 BC) 14 years
2. Nadios (Nabu-nadin-zeri)
3. Khinziros (Nabu-mukin-zeri) and Poros (Pul)
4. Ilulaeos (Ululayu)
5. Mardokempados (Marduk-apal-iddina II) 12
6. Arkeanos (Sargon II)
7. Interregnum
8. Hagisa 1 month
9. Belibos (702 BC) 3 years (Bel-ibni)
10. Assaranadios (Ashur-nadin-shumi)
11. Regebelos- (Nergal-ushezib) ..year
12. Mesesimordakos (Mushezib-Marduk), 4 years
13. Interregnum
14. Asaridinos (Esarhaddon), 13 years
15. Saosdukhinos (Samash-shum-ukin), 20 years
16. Sineladanos (Kandalanu), 22 years

Herodotus

The account of Babylon given by Herodotus is not that of an eye-witness and not very extensive. In his Histories he mentions that he will devote a whole section to the history of Assyria, but this promise is unfulfilled. Herodotus' views are argued against by Ctesias, who, however, has mistaken mythology for history, and Greek romance owed to him its Ninus and Semiramis, its Ninyas and Sardanapalus.

Xenophon

Xenophon's account in the Anabasis gives information on the Achaemenid Empire of his time.

Homer

Some of the peoples mentioned in Homer's epics are thought to correspond to Anatolian groups attested through archaeology. The city of Troy is thought to be the Wilusa in Hittite texts.

Old Testament

Another ancient authority of some value on ancient Near East history, is the Old Testament.

See also

• Modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria

References