23. On the other hand

The possibility of determining the interval between dates in a local calendar rests on two premises: the existence of an "official" time scale that was not altered arbitrarily, and a means of linking a local calendar to the time scale.

In Assyria, the Eponym List served as a fixed time scale - one eponym, one year. Numerous vestiges of 2nd millennium BC year-names suggest that a comprehensive list once existed back to c. 2000 BC. Armed with this record, a scribe writing a kings list would have no trouble tallying regnal years. If he erred, the overall chronology would be unaffected, since the miscue would be reversed later on. In such a scheme, the list of year-names constituted a timeline and the accession years of the kings appeared as marks on the line.