Primary sourceDocumentc. 550-400 BC (recording events of 605-594 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle

Babylonian scribes · c. 550-400 BC (recording events of 605-594 BC)

A Babylonian clay tablet recording the first eleven years of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, including the battle of Carchemish and the capture of Jerusalem.

This official Babylonian record documents Nebuchadnezzar's military campaigns and his capture of Jerusalem in his own government's words.

Ask Nebuchadnezzar II about this source View the original

Photo of a reddish-brown clay tablet covered in rows of cuneiform wedge-shaped writing, displayed on small clear plastic stands against a pale background. The tablet is broken into several pieces. — Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, Neo-Babylonian clay tablet, c. 550-400 BC (recording events of 605-594 BC). British Museum.

About this source

What it is

This clay tablet, known as the Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle or Jerusalem Chronicle, is one of the Babylonian Chronicles. It describes military campaigns of Nebuchadnezzar II, including his victory over the Egyptian army at Carchemish and his siege of 'the city of Judah', understood to be Jerusalem, ending with the capture of its king. The tablet was bought from an antiquities dealer in 1896 and is held in the British Museum.

Why it matters

The Chronicle is a contemporary Babylonian record that matches events described in the Hebrew Bible, giving historians an outside confirmation of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns and helping fix the dates of the biblical narrative.

Look closer

Why might a government keep detailed written records of military campaigns?
How does having two different sources describing the same event (Babylonian and biblical) help historians?
What does the tablet leave unsaid about what happened to the people of Jerusalem?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Nebuchadnezzar II on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.