Long periods of the history of the Middle East in antiquity cannot be dated by an absolute chronology or according to a modern system of reckoning. The \\\'Sumerian King List\\\' gives a succession of rulers to the end of the dynasty of Isin, about 1790 BC, but it is quite unreliable for dates prior to the dynasty of Akkad, about 2340 BC. A relative chronology is well established for the era from the beginning of the dynasty of Akkad to the end of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon, about 1595 BC. This period, however, is followed by an obscure period of more than 700 years, during which dates are only approximate. Scholars follow at least three chronological systems for the ancient Middle East: high, middle, or low, depending upon whether the date assigned to the first year of the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon is 1848, 1792, or 1728 BC. The dates in this article and in that on Sumer follow the so-called middle chronology and date the first year of Hammurabi\\\\\\\'s reign to 1792 BC.
The......
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