Ptolemy's Canon

The Canon of Ptolemy, Ptolemy's Canon or simply the Canon, derives its name from the astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria. He used the old reginal dating system and fused it with astronomical events to create a list of kings in Babylonia and the Near East with corelating and dates of their reign from Assyrian times through to the successors of Alexander: yet it is critical to note that the purpose of the Canon was not to date kings, but rather to date astronomica phenomena.

Accuracy

While the Canon is considered to be one of the main and essential texts regarding the history of this period, its accuracy is known to not be absolutely perfect.

This was because to Ptolemy the important information was the passage to the years/time in which to record his list of astronomica phenomena. Thus he merged the established form of reginal time that people were familiar with and could relate to and populated that time data with his astronomical records; in short Ptolemy of Alexander never had any intention of creating a historically accurate king list. For example (but not limited to), it does not contain:

• Neriglissar's accepted successor Labashi-Marduk who may have only reigned one to three months at most (which is on on the Uruk King List)
• the debated Cyaxares II (which is not on the Uruk King List)
• the accepted Magi False Smerdis (which is not on the Uruk King List).
• the known Marduk-zakir-Å¡umi and Marduk-bêl-iddin as they were not recognized by the Babylonians
• Sennacherib, who had destroyed Babylon.

Therefore regarding the accuracy of Ptolemy's Canon:

1. It is now commonly accepted that the Canon excludes "kings who reigned for less than one year". For example, kings who died somewhere during the year were generally allowed to give their regency to the entirety of the calander year with the next king who may have ascended in July to nominally begin their reign on the first day of the following year: Labashi-Marduk is a great example of this principle as he is lost to the more dominant reigns of both Neriglissar and Nabonidas.

2. But its listing choices can be politically motivated such as regarding Sennacherib (line 12) whom the authors simply chose not to even put on the list despite their dominance for eight years. In effect the author of the Canon said: "Now, the year 688 BC... who shall we attribute this year to? Ah, we are simply going to say that Babylon "without a king" for eight years as we didn't like him."

3. The years of reign can be rounded, but the number of years in rulership remains more accurate. For example: Nebuchadnezzar II is attributed as ruling from 604 to 562 BC, when in reality he reigned from August of 605 BC till his death which is attributed as the 7th of October 562 BC; Meanwhile Ptolemy's Canon records the 43 years as head of state, but rounds the years down to 42.

4. The document while of immesurable value and "the backbone" of the regions chronology, it must be taken with a large grain of salt as it is not a 'king list' as such, but rather what it always claimed to be: a record of Astronomical Events.

Ptolemy's effective king List

a full table is inbound, but for now such a table may be found at:

https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/ptolemys-canon/

Kings of the Assyrian / First Babylonian Empire

No.	Name	Name (Modern)	Regnal Years	Simplified Dates
01	Nabonassaros	Nabû-Nasir	14	747-734
02	Nadios	Nabû-nadin-zer	02	733-732
03	Chinzer and Poro	Tiglath-Pileser III	05	731-727
04	Iloulaios	Å almaneser V	05	726-722
05	Mardokempados	Marduk-apla-iddina II	12	721-710
06	Arkeanos	Sargon II	06	709-704
07	Without kings	(Marduk-zakir-šumi and Marduk-bêl-iddin were not recognized by the Babylonians)	02	704-703
08	Bilibos	Bêl-ipni	03	702-700
09	Aparanadios	AÅ¡Å¡ur-nadin-Å¡umni	06	699-694
10	Rhegebelos	Nergal-ušezib	01	693
11	Mesesimordakos	Mušezib-Marduk	04	692-689
12	Without kings	Sennacherib, who had destroyed Babylon, was not recognized	08	688-681
13	Asaradinos	Esarhaddon	13	680-668
14	Saosdouchinos	Šamaš-šuma-ukin	20	667-648
15	Kineladanos	Kandalanu	22	647-626

Kings of the Second or Neo-Babylonian Empire

16	Nabopolassaros	Nabopolassar	21	625-605
17	Nabokolassaros	Nebuchadnezzar II	43	604-562
18	Illoaroudamos	Amel-Marduk	02	561-560
19	Nerigasolassaros	Neriglissar	04	559-556
20	Nabonadios	Nabonidus	17	555-539

Kings of the Medo-Persian Empire

21	Kyros	Cyrus II the Great	09	538-530
22	Kambysos	Cambyses II	08	529-522
23	Dareios the First	Darius I the Great	36	521-486
24	Xerxes	Xerxes I the Great	21	485-465
25	Artaxerxes I	Artaxerxes I Makrocheir	41	464-424
26	Dareios the Second	Darius II Nothus	19	423-405
27	Artaxerxes the Second	Artaxerxes II Mnemon	46	404-359
28	Ochos	Artaxerxes III Ochus	21	358-338
29	Arogos	Artaxerxes IV Arses	02	337-336
30	Dareios the Third	Darius III Codomannus	04	335-332

Kingdom of Alexander the Great

31	Alexandros the Macedonian	Alexander the Great	08	331-324
32	Philippos	Philip III Arridaeus	07	323-317
33	The other Alexandros	Alexander IV	12	316-305

Kingdom of the Ptolemies in Egypt

34	Ptolemaios, son of Lagos	Ptolemy I Soter	20	304-285
35	Philadelphos	Ptolemy II Philadelphus	38	284-247
36	Philadelphos	Ptolemy III Euergetes	25	246-222
37	Philopator	Ptolemy IV Philopator	17	221-205
38	Epiphanes	Ptolemy V Epiphanes	24	204-181
39	Philometor	Ptolemy VI Philometor	35	180-146
40	Euergetes the Second	Ptolemy VIII Euergetes	29	145-117
41	Soter	Ptolemy IX Soter	36	116-81
42	Dionysos Neos	Ptolemy XII Auletes	29	80-52
43	Kleopatra	Cleopatra VII Philopator	11	51-30

External Links

Ptolemy's Canon, https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/ptolemys-canon/

Uruk King List, https://www.livius.org/sources/content/uruk-king-list/