centuries (892 B. C. to 666 B. C., near the close of the Assyrian empire). But the question arises: How are these dates determined? And how are they identified with each respective annual eponym? Fortunately we possess, in addition to the mere lists of eponym officers, other lists of the same individual names, coupled with memoranda, recording in brief some event, as a campaign, revolt, or pestilence, which occurred in a particular year. Now one of these brief memoranda is of quite unique importance, since it enables us to settle the chronological sequence and identify the eponym year. This brief memorandum runs thus in the translation : Insurrection 'Pur-(ilu-)Sagali of the land Gozan. in the city Ashur. In the month Sivan the sun was eclipsed.' Now this eclipse has been calculated by the English astronomer Mr. Hird to be that which took place on June 15, 763 B.C. It was a remarkable total eclipse which passed over Nineveh and Western Asia. Not improbably the prophet Amos, who was an attentive observer of natural phenomena (Amos v. 8, viii. 8, ix. 6), makes a subtle allusion to it in viii. 9. The importance of this identification of the eponymate of Pur-il-Sagali with the year 763 B. C. is at once obvious. The entire unbroken series of annual eponyms with their accompanying events can now be determined with as much chronological precision as any event of modern times. It must be remembered that these clay tablets are contemporary or nearly so with the events to which they refer, unlike the biblical documents, which were not only often redacted, but were also in many cases drawn up long after the events to which they refer. On the other hand, the Assyrians, like the Babylonians, were very careful in the marking of events. We frequently meet with such expressions as 'in my fifth campaign' or 'in the eponymate of N. N.' in the royal Assyrian annals. Accordingly by comparing these notes of time with the Eponym canon we can absolutely fix nearly every occurrence into the chronology of the period. But this is not all. These events are contemporary, sometimes identical, with those which are recorded in the Bible, e. g. the capture of Samaria, the invasion of Palestine by Sennacherib, &c. Now on a previous page we have shown how frequently errors have crept into the biblical chronology. Consequently we have in the Assyrian Eponym canon an invaluable corrective which, in conjunction with the other Assyrian records, enables us to reduce the Hebrew chronology to something approaching exactness. To illustrate this we cite the Eponym lists for 734 and 733 B. C. Thus in the lists of Eponyms we read, on the reverse col. v, the following names for these two years: [734 B. C.] Bêl-dan-an. [733 B. C.] Ashur-dan-in-an-ni. but in the lists with additional memoranda we read in these years: [734 B. C.] Bel-dan-an of the city Kalaḥ-To the land Pilista (Palestine). [733 B. C.] Ashur-dan-in-an-ni of the city Mazamûa— To the land Damascus. The year 734 was the year in which Tiglath-Pileser's armies invaded Palestine and overthrew Pekaḥ. In the following year he overthrew Rezin of Damascus. APPENDIX II HEBREW CHRONOLOGY. The Hebrew chronology of the eighth century B. C. is, as we have already seen, encompassed with difficulties, especially in the latter half of that century. In order to bring the chronology of the Israelite kings from the days of Menahem to those of Pekaḥ and of the contemporary G 734-2. Invasion of Ephraimite kingdom by Tiglath- | Pekah, 735-732. Pileser III and conquest of its northern pro- 722. Capture of Samaria by Sargon. 720. Battle of Raphia and defeat of Sevel (Shabi) by Sargon. 711. Conquest of Ashdod by Sargon. 704. Embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah. 701. Invasion of Judah by Sennacherib. 625. Beginning of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry. 607. Destruction of Nineveh. 593. Beginning of Ezekiel's prophetic ministry. Hoshea, 7301-722. Close of the history of the northern kingdom with capture of Sama. ria, 722-1. 1 Note the two years interregnum, 732-30 (comp. Hos. x. 3). Probably it was some time before Hoshea, Assyria's nominee, was accepted by Israel as their king. 31 Judaean kings into harmony with the results of Assyriology, it became necessary to compress the reign of Pekaḥ from twenty years to about three or four. Fortunately the researches of Winckler, based on the discovery of the Senjirli inscription, have rendered it probable that the Azariah mentioned in the mutilated inscriptions of TiglathPileser as leader of the confederacy of Hamathite states is not to be identified with the biblical Azariah (Uzziah). Consequently it becomes no longer necessary to assume that he was an active ruler in 738 B.C. This considerably relieves the chronological tension which formerly ensued in Judaean history from which Kamphausen's scheme and that adopted by the present writer (in Schrader, COT., ii. p. 320 foll.) suffered. In the scheme now appended we have adopted the conclusions of Winckler and Rost (KAT., p. 320) so far as they affect the reigns extending from the accession of Amaziah to that of Aḥaz, 798-735, and the contemporary period in the northern kingdom. But, as we have already indicated, we differ from Winckler's conclusions respecting the chronology of the reigns of Aḥaz and Hezekiah. We also differ from that chronology in the regal period preceding the reign of Amaziah given in KAT.”, ibid. |