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.