Limmu from Erishum I's reign to end of dynasty

Limmu was an Assyrian eponym. At the beginning of the reign of an Assyrian king, the limmu, an appointed royal official, would preside over the New Year festival (at the beginning of spring) at the capital. Each year a new limmu would be chosen. Although picked by lot, there was most likely a limited group, such as the men of the most prominent families or perhaps members of the city assembly. The Assyrians used the name of the limmu for that year to designate the year on official documents.

Erishum I 1974-1935

The following is a list of the annually-elected limmu from the first full year of Erishum I's reign until the year of his death c. 1935 BC

 1974 BC Šu-Ištar, son of Abila
1973 BC Šukutum, son of Išuhum
1972 BC Iddin-ilum, son of Kurub-Ištar
1971 BC Šu-Anim, son of Isalia
1970 BC Anah-ili, son of Kiki
1969 BC Suitaya, son of Ir'ibum
1968 BC Daya, son of Išuhum
1967 BC Ili-ellat
1966 BC Šamaš-t.ab
1965 BC Agusa
1964 BC Idnaya, son of Šudaya
1963 BC Quqadum, son of Buzu
1962 BC Puzur-Ištar, son of Bedaki
1961 BC Laqip, son of Bab-idi
1960 BC Šu-Laban, son of Kurub-Ištar
1959 BC Šu-Belum, son of Išuhum
1958 BC Nab-Suen, son of Šu-Ištar
1957 BC Hadaya, son of Elali
1956 BC Ennum-Aššur, son of Begaya
1955 BC Ikunum, son of Šudaya
1954 BC Is.mid-ili, son of Idida
1953 BC Buzutaya, son of Išuhum
1952 BC Šu-Ištar, son of Amaya
1951 BC Iddin-Aššur, son of the priest
1950 BC Puzur-Aššur, the ghee maker
1949 BC Quqadum, son of Buzu
1948 BC Ibni-Adad, son of Susaya
1947 BC Irišum, son of Adad-rabi
1946 BC Minanum, son of Begaya
1945 BC Iddin-Suen, son of Šalim-ahum
1944 BC Puzur-Aššur, son of Idnaya
1943 BC Šuli, son of Uphakum
1942 BC Laqip, son of Zukua
1941 BC Puzur-Ištar, son of Erisua
1940 BC Aguwa, son of Adad-rabi
1939 BC Šu-Suen, son of S.illia
1938 BC Ennum-Aššur, son of Begaya
1937 BC Enna-Suen, son of Pussanum
1936 BC Ennanum, son of Uphakum
1935 BC Buzi, son of Adad-rabi

Ikunum 1920-1905

1920 BC Buzi son of Adad-rabi

1919 BC Šuli son of Šalmah

1918 BC Iddin-Suen son of Šalmah

1917 BC Ikunum son of Šudaya

1916 BC Dan-Wer son of Ahu-ahi

1915 BC Šu-Anum from Nerabtim

1914 BC Il-massu son of Aššur-ṭab

1913 BC Šu-Hubur son of Šuli

1912 BC Idua son of Ṣulili

1911 BC Laqip son of Puzur-Laba

1910 BC Šu-Anum the hapirum

1909 BC Uku son of Bila

1908 BC Aššur-malik son of Panaka

1907 BC Dan-Aššur son of Puzur-Wer

1906 BC Šu-Kubum son of Ahu-ahi

1905 BC Irišum son of Iddin-Aššur

Sargon I 1905-1865

1905 BC Irišum son of Iddin-Aššur
1904 BC Aššur-malik son of Agatum
1903 BC Aššur-malik son of Enania
1902 BC Ibisua son of Suen-nada
1901 BC Bazia son of Bal-Tutu
1900 BC Puzur-Ištar son of Sabasia
1899 BC Pišaḫ-Ili son of Adin
1898 BC Asqudum son of Lapiqum
1897 BC Ili-pilaḫ son of Damqum
1896 BC Qulali
1895 BC Susaya
1894 BC Amaya the Weaponer
1893 BC Ipḫurum son of Ili-ellat
1892 BC Kudanum son of Laqipum
1891 BC Ili-bani son of Ikunum
1890 BC Šu-Kubum son of Susaya
1889 BC Quqidi son of Amur-Aššur
1888 BC Abia son of Nur-Suen
1887 BC Šu-Ištar son of Šukutum
1886 BC Bazia son of Šepa-lim
1885 BC Šu-Ištar son of Ikunum, the starlike (kakkabanum)
1884 BC Abia son of Šu-Dagan
1883 BC Salia son of Šabakuranum
1882 BC Ibni-Adad son of Baqqunum
1881 BC Aḫmarši son of Malkum-išar
1880 BC Sukkalia son of Minanum
1879 BC Iddin-Aššur son of Kubidi
1878 BC Šudaya son of Ennanum
1877 BC Al-ṭab son of Pilaḫ-Aššur
1876 BC Aššur-dammiq son of Abarsisum
1875 BC Puzur-Niraḫ son of Puzur-Suen
1874 BC Amur-Aššur son of Karria
1873 BC Buzuzu son of Ibbi-Suen
1872 BC Šu-Ḫubur son of Elali
1871 BC Ilšu-rabi son of Bazia
1870 BC Alaḫum son of Inaḫ-ili
1869 BC Ṭab-Aššur son of Suḫarum
1868 BC Elali son of Ikunum
1867 BC Iddin-abum son of Narbitum
1866 BC Adad-bani son of Iddin-Aššur
1865 BC Aššur-iddin son of Šuli

Puzur-Ashur II 1865-1857

1865 BC Aššur-iddin son of Šuli
1864 BC Aššur-nada son of Puzur-Ana
1863 BC Kubia son of Karria
1862 BC Ili-dan son of Elali
1861 BC Ṣilulu son of Uku
1860 BC Aššur-nada son of Ili-binanni
1859 BC Ikuppi-Ištar son of Ikua
1858 BC Buzutaya son of Šuli
1857 BC Innaya son of Amuraya

Naram-Sin 1857-1815

1872 BC Shu-Suen, son of Bab-ilum
1871 BC Ashur-malik, son of Alahum
1870 BC Ashur-imitti, son of Ili-bani
1869 BC Enna-Suen, son of Shu-Adhur
1868 BC Akkutum, son of Alahum
1867 BC Mas.i-ili, son of Irishum
1866 BC Iddi-ahum, son of Kudanum
1865 BC Samaya, son of Shu-Balum
1864 BC Ili-Anum, son of Sukkalia
1863 BC Ennam-Anum, son of Adhur-malik
1862 BC Ennum-Ashur, son of Duni-Ea
1861 BC Enna-Suen, son of Shu-Ishtar
1860 BC Hannanarum
1859 BC Dadia
1858 BC Kapatia
1857 BC Ishma-Ashur, son of Ea-dan
1856 BC Ashur-mutappil, son of Azizum
1855 BC Shu-Nirah, son of Azuzaya
1854 BC Iddin-abum
1853 BC Ili-dan, son of Azuza
1852 BC Ashur-imitti, son of Iddin-Ištar
1851 BC Buzia, son of Abia
1850 BC Dadia, son of Shu-Ilabrat
1849 BC Puzur-Ishtar, son of Nur-ilišu
1848 BC Isaya, son of Dagan-malkum
1847 BC Abu-Shalim, son of Ili-Anum
1846 BC Ashur-re'i, son of Ili-emuqi

Source: Wikipedia (various posts)

List of Ancient Texts / Manuscripts

The following list was basically taken from Wikipedia with certain modifications and alterations to formatting. It is intended to define the scope of this blog. All texts/manuscripts are of interest. Those referring to the Old (Hebrew) and New Testaments (Greek) of the Bible excepted – see posts on Ancient and Biblical Studies. Included in the scope of this blog are book reviews, commentaries, essays and word studies (if I could procure interlinear editions, concordances, lexicons – if these types of publications do exist) – example: Arab/English for The Qur’an (609-632CE) the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God through the prophet Muhammad).

(Approximate dates shown in most cases)

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

Bronze Age

Early Bronze Age:

3rd millennium BCE

The earliest written literature dates from about 2600 BCE (classical Sumerian). The earliest literary author known by name is Enheduanna, (2285-2250 BCE). Certain literary texts are difficult to date, such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which was recorded in the Papyrus of Ani around 1240 BCE, but other versions of the book probably date from about the 18th century BCE.

• 2600 Sumerian texts from Abu Salabikh, including the Instructions of Shuruppak and the Kesh temple hymn
• 2400 Egyptian Pyramid Texts, including the Cannibal Hymn
• 2400 Sumerian Code of Urukagina
• 2400 Egyptian Palermo stone
• 2350 Egyptian The Maxims of Ptahhotep
• 2270 Sumerian Enheduanna's Hymns
• 2250-2000 Sumerian Earliest stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
• 2100 Sumerian Curse of Agade
• 2100 Sumerian Debate between Bird and Fish
• 2050 Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu
• 2000 Egyptian Coffin Texts
• 2000 Sumerian Lament for Ur
• 2000 Sumerian Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta

Middle Bronze Age:

ca. 2000 to 1600 BCE

·         1950 Akkadian Laws of Eshnunna

• 1900 Akkadian Legend of Etana
• 1900 Sumerian Code of Lipit-Ishtar
• 1900 Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh
• 1850 Akkadian Kultepe texts
• 1800 Egyptian Story of Sinuhe (in Hieratic)
• 1800 Sumerian Eridu Genesis
• 1800 Akkadian Enûma Eliš
• 1800 Akkadian Atra-Hasis epic
• 1780 Akkadian Code of Hammurabi stele
• 1780 Akkadian Mari letters, including the Epic of Zimri-Lim
• 1750 Hittite Anitta text
• 1700 Egyptian Westcar Papyrus
• 1650 Egyptian Ipuwer Papyrus

Late Bronze Age:

ca. 1600 to 1200 BCE

·         1700-1100 Vedic Sanskrit: approximate date of the composition of the Rigveda. Many of these were not set to writing until later.

• 1600 Hittite Code of the Nesilim
• 1500 Akkadian Poor Man of Nippur
• 1500 Hittite military oath
• 1550 Egyptian Book of the Dead
• 1500 Akkadian Dynasty of Dunnum
• 1400 Akkadian Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal
• 1400 Akkadian Autobiography of Kurigalzu
• 1400 Akkadian Amarna letters
• 1330 Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten
• 1240 Egyptian Papyrus of Ani, Book of the Dead
• 1200-900 Akkadian version and younger stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
• 1200 Akkadian Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
• 1200 Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers

Iron Age:

12th to 8th centuries BCE

• 1200-1100 BCE approximate date of books RV1 and RV10 in the Rigveda
• 1200-800 BCE approximate date of the Vedic Sanskrit Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, Samaveda
• 1100-800 BCE date of the redaction of the extant text of the Rigveda
• 1050 BCE Egyptian Story of Wenamun
• 1050 BCE Akkadian Sakikkū (SA.GIG) “Diagnostic Omens” by Esagil-kin-apli.
• 1050 BCE The Babylonian Theodicy of Šaggil-kīnam-ubbib. Mentioned HERE – paragraph entitled Period Scholarship
• 1000-600 BCE Chinese Classic of Poetry (Shījīng), Classic of Documents (Shūjīng) (authentic portions), Classic of Changes (I Ching)
• 950 BCE date of the Jahwist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis
• 900 BCE AkkCEian Epic of Erra
• 850 BCE date of the Elohist portions of the Torah according to the documentary hypothesis

Classical Antiquity

8th century BCE

• Greek Trojan War cycle, including the Iliad and the Odyssey
• 800-500 BCE: Vedic Sanskrit Brahmanas
• Oldest non-Pentateuchal books of the Hebrew Bible (the Book of Nahum, Book of Hosea, Book of Amos, Book of Isaiah)

7th century BCE

• Vedic Sanskrit
• Aranyakas
• Greek:
• Hesiod: The Theogony and Works and Days
• Archilochus
• Alcman
• Semonides of Amorgos
• Solon
• Mimnermus
• Stesichorus

6th century BCE

• Hebrew Bible: Psalms (according to late dating) Book of Ezekiel, Book of Daniel (according to conservative or early dating)
• Chinese: Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ)
• Vedic Sanskrit:
• Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
• Chandogya Upanishad
• Greek:
• Sappho
• Ibycus
• Alcaeus of Mytilene
• Aesop's Fables

5th century BCE

• Vedic Sanskrit:
• Aitareya Upanishad
• Taittiriya Upanishad
• Kenopanishad
• Avestan: Yasht
• Chinese:
• Spring and Autumn Annals (Chūnqiū) (722–481 BCE, chronicles of the state of Lu)
• Confucius: Analects (Lúnyǔ)
• Classic of Rites (Lǐjì)
• Commentaries of Zuo (Zuǒzhuàn)
• Greek:
• Pindar: Odes
• Herodotus: The Histories of Herodotus
• Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War
• Aeschylus: The Suppliants, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Oresteia
• Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra and other plays
• Euripides: Alcestis, Medea, Heracleidae, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, The Suppliants, Electra, Heracles, Trojan Women, Iphigeneia in Tauris, Ion, Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes, Bacchae, Iphigeneia at Aulis, Cyclops, Rhesus
• Aristophanes: The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace, The Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae, The Frogs, Ecclesiazousae, Plutus
• Hebrew: date of the extant text of the Torah

4th century BCE

• Sanskrit
• Ishopanishad
• Katha Upanishad
• Prashnopanishad
• Mundaka Upanishad
• Māṇḍūkya Upanishad
• Hebrew:

o   Book of Job, beginning of Hebrew wisdom literature

o   Torah, also called the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses with a final redaction between 900-450 BCE. Some give an alternate date of 1320-1280.

•  Chinese:
• Laozi (or Lao Tzu): Tao Te Ching
• Zhuangzi: Zhuangzi (book)
• Mencius: Mencius
• Greek:
• Xenophon: Anabasis, Cyropaedia
• Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics
• Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Theaetetus, Parmenides, Symposium, Phaedrus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Menexenus, Republic, Timaeus
• Euclid: Elements
• Menander: Dyskolos
• Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants

3rd century BCE

• Avestan: Avesta
• Etruscan: Liber Linteus Zagrabiensis (Linen Book of Zagreb)
• Sanskrit:
• Epics: Mahabharata and Ramayana (3rd century BCE to 4th century CE)
• Khaḍgaviṣāna Sūkta (Buddhist)
• Aṣṭaka Varga (Buddhist)
• Pārāyana Varga (Buddhist)
• Tamil:
• 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE: Sangam poems
• Tolkāppiyam (grammar book)
• Hebrew: Ecclesiastes
• Greek:
• Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica
• Callimachus (310/305-240 BCE), lyric poet
• Manetho: Aegyptiaca
• Theocritus, lyric poet
• Latin:
• Lucius Livius Andronicus (c. 280/260 BCE - c. 200 BCE), translator, founder of Roman drama
• Gnaeus Naevius (ca. 264 - 201 BCE), dramatist, epic poet
• Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 - 184 BCE), dramatist, composer of comedies: Poenulus, Miles Gloriosus, and other plays
• Quintus Fabius Pictor (3rd century BCE), historian
• Lucius Cincius Alimentus (3rd century BCE), military historian and antiquarian

2nd century BCE

• Avestan: Vendidad
• Chinese: Sima Qian: Records of the Grand Historian (Shǐjì)
• Aramaic: Book of Daniel
• Hebrew: Sirach
• Greek
• Polybius: The Histories
• Book of Wisdom
• Septuagint
• Latin:
• Terence (195/185 BCE - 159 BCE), comic dramatist: The Brothers, The Girl from Andros, Eunuchus, The Self-Tormentor
• Quintus Ennius (239 BCE - c. 169 BCE), poet
• Marcus Pacuvius (ca. 220 BCE - 130 BCE), tragic dramatist, poet
• Statius Caecilius (220 BCE - 168/166 BCE), comic dramatist
• Marcius Porcius Cato (234 BCE - 149 BCE), generalist, topical writer
• Gaius Acilius (2nd century BCE), historian
• Lucius Accius (170 BCE - c. 86 BCE), tragic dramatist, philologist
• Gaius Lucilius (c. 160's BCE - 103/2 BCE), satirist
• Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd century BCE), public officer, epigrammatist
• Aulus Furius Antias (2nd century BCE), poet
• Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo Vopiscus (130 BCE - 87 BCE), public officer, tragic dramatist
• Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis (2nd century BCE), comic dramatist, satirist
• Lucius Cassius Hemina (2nd century BCE), historian
• Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (2nd century BCE), historian
• Manius Manilius (2nd century BCE), public officer, jurist
• Lucius Coelius Antipater (2nd century BCE), jurist, historian
• Publius Sempronius Asellio (158 BCE - after 91 BCE), military officer, historian
• Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (2nd century BCE), jurist
• Lucius Afranius (2nd & 1st centuries BCE), comic dramatist
• Titus Albucius (2nd & 1st centuries BCE), orator
• Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BCE - after 78 BCE), jurist
• Quintus Lutatius Catulus (2nd &1st centuries BCE), public officer, poet
• Lucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus (154 BCE - 74 BCE), philologist
• Quintus Claudius QuCErigarius (2nd &1st centuries BCE), historian
• Valerius Antias (2nd & 1st centuries BCE), historian
• Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (121 BCE - 67 BCE), soldier, historian
• Quintus Cornificius (2nd & 1st centuries BCE), rhetorician

1st century BCE

• Pali: Tipitaka
• Latin:
• Cicero: Catiline Orations, Pro Caelio, Dream of Scipio
• Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars
• Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid
• Lucretius: On the Nature of Things
• Livy: Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome)

1st century CE

• Chinese: Ban Gu: Book of Han (Hànshū)
• Greek:
• Plutarch: Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
• Josephus: The Jewish War, Antiquities of the Jews, Against Apion
• The books of the New Testament
• Latin:
• Tacitus: Germania
• Ovid: Metamorphoses
• Pliny the Elder: Natural History
• Petronius: Satyricon
• Seneca the Younger: Phaedra, Dialogues

2nd century

• Sanskrit: Aśvaghoṣa: Buddhacharita (Acts of the Buddha)
• Pahlavi:
• Yadegar-e Zariran (Memorial of Zarēr)
• Visperad
• Drakht-i Asurig (The Babylonian Tree)
• Greek:
• Arrian: Anabasis Alexandri
• Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
• Epictetus and Arrian: Enchiridion
• Ptolemy: Almagest
• Athenaeus: The Banquet of the Learned
• Pausanias: Description of Greece
• Longus: Daphnis and Chloe
• Lucian: True History
• Latin:
• Apuleius: The Golden Ass
• Lucius Ampelius: Liber Memorialis
• Suetonius: Lives of the Twelve Caesars

3rd century

• Avestan: Khordeh Avesta (Zoroastrian prayer book)
• Pahlavi: Mani: Shabuhragan (Manichaean holy book)
• Chinese: Chen Shou: Records of Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Zhì)
• Greek: Plotinus: Enneads
• Latin: Distichs of Cato
• Hebrew: Mishnah

Late Antiquity

4th century

• Latin:
• Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, On Christian Doctrine
• Apicius (De re coquinaria, "On the Subject of Cooking")
• Pervigilium Veneris ("Vigil of Venus")
• Syriac: Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian
• Hebrew: Gemara

5th century

• Chinese:
• Bao Zhao: Fu on the Ruined City (蕪城賦, Wú chéng fù)
• Fan Ye: Book of the Later Han (後漢書, Hòuhànshū)
• Sanskrit: Kālidāsa (speculated): Abhijñānaśākuntalam (अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्, "The Recognition of Shakuntala"), Meghadūta (मेघदूत, "Cloud Messenger"), Vikramōrvaśīyam (विक्रमोर्वशीयम्, "Urvashi Won by Valour", play)
• Pahlavi:
• Matigan-i Hazar Datistan (The Thousand Laws of the Magistan)
• Frahang-i Oim-evak (Pahlavi-Avestan dictionary)
• Latin:
• Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus: De Re Militari
• Augustine of Hippo: The City of God
• Paulus Orosius: Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
• Jerome: Vulgate
• Prudentius: Psychomachia
• Consentius's grammar
• Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: De Coelesti Hierarchia (Περὶ τῆς Οὐρανίας Ἱεραρχίας, "On the Celestial Hierarchy"), Mystical Theology
• Socrates of Constantinople: Historia Ecclesiastica

6th century

• Latin: Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae ("The Consolation of Philosophy", 524 CE), widely considered to be the last work of classical philosophy