Editing Mesopotamia in Classical literature

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{{one source|date=February 2012}}

Before the [[decipherment]] of [[Cuneiform (script)|cuneiform]] text, knowledge of the history of the ancient [[Mesopotamia]] was mostly dependent upon classical authorities and the [[Hebrew Bible]]. These testimonies were scanty and confused for times predating the 7th century BCE. 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]], [[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Eusebius]], [[Chronicon (Jerome)|Jerome]]  and [[George Syncellus]].<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Babylonia and Assyria |volume=3 |pages=99–112 |inline=1}}</ref>

==Classical Greece==
The account of Babylon given by [[Herodotus]] is not that of an eye-witness<ref name=EB1911/> and not very extensive.  In his ''Histories'' he mentions that he will devote a whole section to the history of Assyria, but this promise was unfulfilled, or perhaps the book has been lost.  Herodotus' opinions are disputed by [[Ctesias]], who, however, has mistaken mythology for history, and Greek romance owed to him its [[Ninus]] and [[Semiramis]], its Ninyas and [[Sardanapalus]].<ref name=EB1911/> [[Xenophon]]'s account in the [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]] gives information on the [[Achaemenid Empire]] of his time.

==Hellenistic era==

===Berossus===
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 associated with 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 recorded faithfully:<ref name=EB1911/>

# [[Nabonassar]] (747 BC) 14 years
# Nadios ([[Nabu-nadin-zeri]])
# Khinziros ([[Nabu-mukin-zeri]]) and Poros ([[Tiglath-Pileser III|Pul]])
# Ilulaeos ([[Shalmaneser V|Ululayu]])
# Mardokempados ([[Marduk-apal-iddina II]]) 12
# Arkeanos ([[Sargon II]])
# ''Interregnum''
# Hagisa 1 month
# Belibos (702 BC) 3 years ([[Bel-ibni]])
# Assaranadios ([[Ashur-nadin-shumi]])
# Regebelos- ([[Nergal-ushezib]]) ..year
# Mesesimordakos ([[Mushezib-Marduk]]), 4 years
# ''Interregnum''
# Asaridinos ([[Esarhaddon]]), 13 years
# Saosdukhinos ([[Shamash-shum-ukin]]), 20 years
# Sineladanos ([[Kandalanu]]), 22 years

==Roman era==
{{main|Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon (Jerome)|Josephus|Ptolemy}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Asia}}
*[[Assyriology]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Near East]]