PTOLEMY'S CANON OF KINGS
Astronomer-geographer Claudius Ptolemy [90 – 168 AD], who lived in the second century AD and worked at the Alexandria Library compiled a list of the kings of Babylon and Alexandria, Egypt, probably relying on earlier lists from the, at that time, still existing at that great library. The complete chart is much longer but I have included only those rulers who lived up to the birth of Christ. Ptolemy began his list with the Babylonian conqueror of Egypt, Nabonassar on February 26, 747BC (according to our calendar) and numbered the reigns of all succeeding kings from Nabonassar's reign. When a copy of Ptolemy's list was rediscovered in Greek manuscripts in the early 17th century AD it quickly became the chronological tool that became the foundation of before Christ chronology for more than 300 years. Ptolemy's list only had three columns: Ruler, the number of years reigned, and the years from Nabonassar's reign but I have included a fourth column, the historical period.
| PERIOD | RULER |
NUMBER of YEARS REIGNED |
DATED FROM NABONASSAR'S REIGN |
|
Assyrian Period |
Nabonassar | 14 | 14 |
| Nabu-nadin-zeri (Nadinu) | 2 | 16 | |
| Mukin-zeri and Pul | 5 | 21 | |
| Ululayu | 5 | 26 | |
| Merodach-baladan | 12 | 38 | |
| Sargon II | 5 | 43 | |
| Kingless period | 2 | 45 | |
| Bel-ibni | 3 | 48 | |
| Ashur-nadin-shumi | 6 | 54 | |
| Nergal-ushezib | 1 | 55 | |
| Mushezib-Marduk | 4 | 59 | |
| Kingless period | 8 | 67 | |
| Esarhaddon | 13 | 100 | |
| Shamash-shuma-ukin | 20 | 100 | |
| Kandalanu | 22 | 122 | |
|
Neo-Babylonian Period |
Nabonpolassar | 21 | 143 |
| Nebuchadnezzar | 43 | 186 | |
| Amel-Marduk | 2 | 188 | |
| Neriglissar | 4 | 192 | |
| Nabonidus | 17 | 209 | |
|
Persian Period |
Cyrus | 9 | 218 |
| Cambyses | 8 | 226 | |
| Darius I | 36 | 262 | |
|
Xerxes I (Biblical = Ahazarus) |
21 | 283 | |
| Artaxerxes I | 41 | 324 | |
| Darius II | 19 | 343 | |
| Artaxerxes II | 46 | 389 | |
| Artaxerxes III | 21 | 410 | |
| Arses | 2 | 412 | |
| Darius III | 4 | 416 | |
|
Greek Period |
Alexander the Great | 8 | 424 |
| Philip Arrhidaeus | 7 | 431 | |
| Alexander IV | 12 | 443 | |
|
(Greek) Ptolemaic Period |
Ptolemy I Soter | 20 | 463 |
| Ptolemy II Philadelphus | 38 | 501 | |
| Ptolemy III Euergetes | 25 | 526 | |
| Ptolemy IV Philopator | 17 | 543 | |
| Ptolemy V Epiphanes | 24 | 567 | |
| Ptolemy VI Philometor | 35 | 602 | |
| Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II | 29 | 631 | |
| Ptolemy IX Soter II | 36 | 667 | |
| Ptolemy XII Nero Dionysus | 29 | 696 | |
| Cleopatra VII Philopator | 22 | 718 | |
| Roman Period | Augustus Caesar | 43 | 761 |
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2007 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.