What is a chronicle? Who wrote them? Did they develop in the sixth century in the margins of Easter tables or are they an integral part of a tradition that reaches back to the Assyrians and Babylonians? Now for the first time R. W. Burgess and Michael Kulikowski present a diachronic study of chronicles, annals, and consularia from the twenty-fifth century BC to the twelfth century AD, from ancient Egypt to medieval Europe. They examine what chronicles were, who wrote them, why they wrote them, and how the genre changed and developed over the space of three millennia.