Editing Akkadian literature (section)

===Annals, chronicles and historical epics===
The Assyrian dialect of Akkadian is particularly rich in royal inscriptions from the end of the 14th century BC onward, for example the epics of [[Adad-nirari I#The Adad-nārārī epic|Adad-nārārī]], [[Tukulti-Ninurta Epic|Tukulti-Ninurta]], and [[Shalmaneser III|Šulmānu-ašarēdu III]] and the annals which catalogued the campaigns of the neo-Assyrian monarchs. The earliest historical royal epic is, however, that of [[Zimrilim|Zimri-Lim]] ({{Circa|1710}}–1698 BC [[Short chronology timeline|short]]) of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]]. Similar literature of the middle Babylonian period is rather poorly preserved with a fragmentary epic of the [[Kassites|Kassite]] period, that of [[Adad-shuma-usur|Adad-šuma-uṣur]] and of [[Nebuchadnezzar I|Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur I]] and [[Marduk]].<ref>{{ cite book | title = Companion to Ancient Epic | chapter = Comparative Observations on the Near Eastern Epic Traditions | author = Jack M. Sasson | editor = John M. Foley | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell | year = 2005 | page = 221 }}</ref>

The chronicle traditional is first attested in the compositions of the early Iron Age which hark back to earlier times, such as the ''Chronicle of Early Kings'', the ''[[Dynastic Chronicle]]'', ''[[Chronicle P]]'' and the Assyrian ''Synchronistic History''. A series of fifteen neo to late [[Babylonian Chronicles]] have been recovered which narrate the period spanning [[Nabu-nasir|Nabû-nasir]] (747–734 BC) to [[Seleucus III Ceraunus]] (243–223 BC) and were derived from the political events described in [[Babylonian astronomical diaries]].