The chronology of the reign of Ashurbanipal is still one of the more uncertain areas in Neo-Assyrian history and yet one of the most crucial. Since George Smith's History of Ashurbanipal (1871) three major studies of the subject, by Johns (1902- 1907),1 Streck (1916), 1 and Weissbach (1928), 3 have been presented but in the half century since the last mentioned article a number of new sources and publi­ cations which bear on the chronology have appeared and the time is ripe for a new synthesis.' The problems surrounding Kandalanu and the date of the end of Ashurbanipal's reign belong more to Babylonian than Assyrian history and, since they have been the object of intensive interest in recent years, they may be excluded from this enquiry.
The present article is essentially a synthesis which builds upon the work of many scholars, incorporating new texts and studies in an attempt to reconstruct the best possible chronology of Ashurbanipal's reign on the basis of our current knowledge.8 Emphasis is on military and political affairs although building projects and cultic matters will be mentioned.