orial forms.

IV. _Chronology._[1] The later chronology of Assyria has long been fixed,
thanks to the lists of _limmi_, or archons, who gave their names in
succession to their years of office. Several copies of these lists from the
library of Nineveh are in existence, the earliest of which goes back to 911
B.C., while the latest comes down to the middle of the reign of
Assur-bani-pal. The beginning of a king's reign is noted in the lists, and
in some of them the chief events of the year are added to the name of its
archon. Assyrian chronology is, therefore, certain from 911 B.C. to 666,
and an eclipse of the sun which is stated to have been visible in the month
Sivan, 763 B.C., is one that has been calculated to have taken place on the
15th of June of that year. The system of reckoning time by _limmi_ was of
Assyrian origin, and recent discoveries have made it clear that it went
back to the first days of the monarchy. Even in the distant colony at Kara
Euyuk near Kaisariyeh (Caesarea) in Cappadocia cuneiform tablets show that
the Assyrian settlers used it in the 15th century B.C. In Babylonia a
different system was adopted. Here the years were dated by the chief events
that distinguished them, as was also the case in Egypt in the epoch of the
Old Empire. What the event should be was determined by the government and
notified to all its officials; one of these notices, sent to the Babylonian
officials in Canaan in the reign of Samsu-iluna, the son of Khammurabi, has
been found in the Lebanon. A careful register of the dates was kept,
divided into reigns, from which dynastic lists were afterwards compiled,
giving the duration of each king's reign as well as that of the several
dynasties. Two of these dynastic compilations have been discovered,
unfortunately in an imperfect state.[2] In addition to the chronological
tables, works of a more ambitious and literary character were also
attempted of the nature of chronicles. One of these is the so-called
"Synchronous History of Assyria and Babylonia," consisting of brief
notices, written by an Assyrian, of the occasions on which the kings of the
two countries had entered into relation, hostile or otherwise, with one
another; a second is the _Babylonian Chronicle_ discovered by Dr Th. G.
Pinches, which gave a synopsis of Babylonian history from a Babylonian
point of view, and was compiled in the reign of Darius. It is interesting
to note that its author says of the battle of Khalul