1.  D.J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings, 1955.  This publication provides a transliteration and translation of British Museum tablets B.M. 25127, 21901, 22047, 21946 and 25124, with commentary by Wiseman.  Only tablets 21901, 22047, and 21946 are quoted in this chapter.

2.  Ibid., p. 18.

3.  Ibid., pp. 18-19.

4.  The reference here is to Ashuruballit II.  The possibility remains open that texts previously attributed to his namesake Ashuruballit I may belong to the reign of Ashuruballit II.

5.  All quotations from the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, are taken from the New International Version (1973) unless otherwise stated.

6.  Cf. Comments in chapter 8.

7.  The spelling Nebuchadnezzar has been used as the book title in view of its public familiarity.  It is also maintained when used within quoted material.   For technical accuracy the spelling Nebuchadrezzar is consistently used elsewhere.

8.  Up to this point we have not distinguished between lines on the obverse and lines on the reverse of the respective tablets, this because Wiseman numbers those lines consecutively from front to back.  For tablet BM 21946 he independently numbers the lines on the front and on the back.    Unqualified numbers previously referenced for this tablet are those on the obverse.

9.  Cf. comments in chapter 9.

10. According to K.A. Kitchen, "although Nebuchadrezzar II duly marched against Egypt as prophesied by Jeremiah (46:13ff.), and attested by a Babyloninan text, he perhaps came to some agreement with the new king Amasis (Ahmose II) who had displaced Hophra." ZPEB 2:246;  Cf. James Henry Breasted in his classic History of Egypt (1905), p. 592-93 and H.R. Hall, CAH 2nd 3:304.

11. The highlighted portion is my own translation.

12. If Cambyses was crowned in 524 B.C., as is likely, then the exile last precisely 40 years.

13. Cf. K.S. Freedy and D.B. Redford, "The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources," JAOS 90 (1970) 462-485; and Jack Finegan, "The Chronology of Ezekiel," JBL 69 (1950) 61-66.

14. G.A. Cooke  The Book of Ezekiel  The International Critical Commentary, 1936.  p. 287.

15. Ibid., p. 288.

16. The nature of the illness is irrelevant.   Nebuchadrezzar lived in seclusion and was unable to effectively govern the country.  We will argue in chapter 4 that Taharka took advantage of this incapacity of the Babylonian king to encroach on Babylonian territory at least as far as the Armenian highlands and the vicinity of Ashur.

17.  Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs (1961), p. 366

18.  This stela is discussed in detail in chapter 5.

19. We will demonstrate in chapter 5 that the rule of Taharka extended briefly into his 27th year.  Regardless, he reigned a full 26 years and, on the assumption he died in 664 B.C., his reign must begin in 690 B.C.

20.  Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, p. 450, n.3.   Gardiner, for unexplained reasons, begins the dynasty in 689 B.C. rather than 690 B.C.   We adopt the 690 B.C. date along with most scholars, especially in view of the comments in the previous note.

21. Apart from the 690 B.C. date for the beginning of Taharka's reign, the dates in this table are taken verbatim from Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, p. 450-452.    Since we argue later that Ankhkanre Psamtik III does not belong where positioned in the traditional history it follows that the dates in the few years at the close of the 5th century will be slightly altered in this revision.  The changes will be slight.