Short Chronology Timeline

Short Chronology Timeline

The short chronology is one chronology of the Near Eastern Bronze and Early Iron Age, which fixes the reign of Hammurabi to 1728 BC – 1686 BC and the sack of Babylon to 1531 BC.

The absolute 2nd millennium BC dates resulting from this decision have very little support in academia, particularly after more recent research. The middle chronology (reign of Hammurabi 1792 BC – 1750 BC) is still commonly encountered in literature and the most recent work has essentially disproved this short chronology. Use of short chronology dates, however, is currently the standard practice in Wikipedia articles on the Ancient Near East (as discussed on the Ancient Near East project page). Middle chronology dates can be calculated by adding 64 years to the corresponding short chronology date (e.g. 1728 BC in short chronology corresponds to 1792 in middle chronology).

After the so-called "dark age" between the fall of Babylon and the rise of the Kassite dynasty in Babylonia, absolute dating becomes less uncertain . While exact dates are still not agreed upon, the 64-year middle/short chronology dichotomy no longer applies from the beginning of the Third Babylon Dynasty onward.