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Chronology and 607 BCE · Claim record

The date 539 BCE for the fall of Babylon comes from the Nabonidus Chronicle together with the last dated tablets of Nabonidus' seventeenth year: the chronicle records that Sippar fell on 11 October, Babylon on 13 October, and that Cyrus entered the city on 29 October 539 BCE.

Claim ID claim-chronology-539-same-evidenceConcerns 1942Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1942 Verified

The date 539 BCE for the fall of Babylon comes from the Nabonidus Chronicle together with the last dated tablets of Nabonidus' seventeenth year: the chronicle records that Sippar fell on 11 October, Babylon on 13 October, and that Cyrus entered the city on 29 October 539 BCE. Babylonian Chronology, 626 B.C. - A.D. 45 (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 24), 1942electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), fragment BM.35382, 2026

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Peer-reviewed / scholarly Verified

Babylonian Chronology, 626 B.C. - A.D. 45 (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 24), “II. Kings' Reigns: Nabunaid and Cyrus”

1942 · p.11 · Richard A. Parker and Waldo H. Dubberstein · Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

“The Nabunaid Chronicle ... iii 14-18 states that Sippar fell to Persian forces VII/14/17 (Oct. 11, 539), that Babylon fell VII/16/17 (Oct. 13), and that Cyrus entered Babylon VIII/3/17 (Oct. 29). This fixes the end of Nabunaid's reign and the beginning of the reign of Cyrus.”

The date 539 BCE for the fall of Babylon is derived here from the Nabonidus Chronicle together with the last dated tablets of Nabonidus' seventeenth year, exactly the same two classes of document that yield 587/586 for the destruction of Jerusalem.

Official source Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Read in the ISAC PDF on 19 September 2026; running head 'KINGS' REIGNS 11'. The page also lists Nabonidus tablets dated from 31 August to 14 October 539.

Scan provenance. Free PDF of the volume published by the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the Oriental Institute), University of Chicago; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; DOI https://doi.org/10.83354/68x5-8f30

Corroborated by. src-chr-e-ebl-bm35382, src-chr-e-w68-0815-absolute-539

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chr-e-pd-1942-p11-nabonidus-cyrus

Peer-reviewed / scholarly Verified

electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), fragment BM.35382, “Catalogue record for the Nabonidus Chronicle”

2026 · Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen

“The Nabonidus Chronicle. S. Smith, BHT, 98-123, pls. XI-XIV; Grayson, TCS 5, Chronicle 7; George, BiOr 53, 379 (new copy of col. iii 24-28).”

The catalogue record for the tablet from which the date of the fall of Babylon is taken. It is held in the British Museum, comes from Babylon, is classified as a chronicle, and carries the CDLI number P388185.

Official source Archived or alternative copy

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. The eBL API record was downloaded and read on 19 September 2026. The eBL edition carries a transliteration but no English translation, so the wording of the fall-of-Babylon entry is cited here from Parker and Dubberstein and from the Watch Tower's own quotation of Ancient Near Eastern Texts.

Corroborated by. src-chr-e-pd-1942-p11-nabonidus-cyrus, src-chr-e-w68-0815-absolute-539

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chr-e-ebl-bm35382

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-chronology-539-same-evidence/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.