Glassner (French National Center for Scientific Research) presents chronicles--lists of events in the sequence they occurred--covering the period from 2200 BCE to 140 BCE, the dates being provisional because of different ways of interpreting the astronomical events the scribes used for dating. He includes transcriptions and translations of the texts, and introductory essays on Mesopotamian historiography and the analysis of the compositions. Chroniques Mésopotamiennes was published in 1993 by Les Belles Lettres, Paris, and was slightly revised for the English translation, by Glassner and Nicolas Wyatt. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)