The Watchtower 1971

The 1971 article 'Testimony of the Nabonidus Chronicle' seems to retract the previous statements that the Nabonidus chronicle can be used to fix 539 BC as the year of Babylon's fall to Cyrus II [1, p. 316].

But does the Nabonidus Chronicle of itself provide the basis for establishing the year for this event? No. This inscription shows that Babylon fell to the army of Cyrus on the sixteenth day of Tishri (corresponding to October 11/12 [Julian calendar] or October 5/6 [Gregorian calendar] of the year 539 B.C.E.) but reference to the “seventeenth year” of Nabonidus (which year historians believe fell in 539 B.C.E.) has been inserted by translators. There being no extant cuneiform tablets dated beyond Nabonidus’ seventeenth year, it has been assumed that the fall of Babylon must have come in that year and that, if the tablet were not partially effaced, those words would appear in the space now damaged. (It may also be noted that the Jewish historian Josephus [quoting Babylonian priest Berossus (of the third century B.C.E.)] reports that Cyrus took Babylon in the seventeenth year of Nabonidus’ reign.) —Against Apion, Book I, par. 20.
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Though the year is not found in the Nabonidus Chronicle itself, the available evidence is nevertheless sufficient for accepting 539 B.C.E. as the date for Babylon’s fall. Of course, this factor does lessen the value of the Nabonidus Chronicle in determining the time for the event.

It should be noted that the reference to the 17th year inserted by translators was in no way misleading; the square bracket notation is clearly explained in the introduction to the cited translation [2, p. xxii], and is the standard practice when translating cuneiform texts.

Alternative Sources

In place of the Nabonidus chronicle a couple of other sources are given [1, p. 316]:

Also other sources, including Ptolemy’s canon, point to the year 539 B.C.E. as the date for Babylon’s fall. For example, ancient historians such as Diodorus, Africanus and Eusebius show that Cyrus’ first year as king of Persia corresponded to Olympiad 55, year 1 (560/59 B.C.E.), while Cyrus’ last year is placed at Olympiad 62, year 2 (531/30 B.C.E.). (The years of the olympiads ran from approximately July 1 to the following June 30.) Cuneiform tablets give Cyrus a rule of nine years over Babylon. This would harmonize with the accepted date for the start of his rule over Babylon in 539 B.C.E.

However, as already shown Ptolemy's canon dates Nebuchadnezzar's first year to 604 BC and is therefore incompatible with the Watch Tower's chronology in the absence of further explanation.

And as noted in Reign of Cyrus II the dates given by these ancient historians in terms of Olypiad numbers contradict other aspects of the Watch Tower's chronology.

References