Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

Why Did Babylon Collapse in the Late Bronze Age

162 bytes added, 18:42, 21 December 2018
The Expansion of Kassite Power
===The Expansion of Kassite Power===
[[File: Amarnamap.png|300px|thumbnail|left|Map of the Most Powerful Near East Kingdom in the Late Bronze Age]]
As the Kassites pursued a policy of cultural continuity in Babylon, they embarked on an aggressive campaign of conquest throughout the rest of Mesopotamia. The Kassites actively consolidated their control of Mesopotamia through a combination of alliances, threats, and outright conquest if the first two methods were not effectiveineffective. The conquest of the Babylonia region was complete by 1460 BC, but began sometime toward the end of Burnaburiash I’s rule (reigned ca. 1530-1500 BC) after the Kassite king concluded a treaty with Puzur-Ashur III of Assyria. The Kassites then went on to conquer the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, known as the Sealand, during the reigns of Kashtiliashu III (ca. 1490 BC) and Agum III (ca. 1465 BC), <ref>Brinkman, p. 274</ref> which That left only the northernmost part of Mesopotamia – Assyria – out of their direct control. Once the Kassites had established control over most of Mesopotamia, they opened trade routes and diplomatic channels with the other great Near Eastern kingdoms.
Modern scholars consider Kassite Babylon to be one of the founding members of the Late Bronze Age “Great Powers of the Near East” club, which also included Egypt, Hatti, Mitanni, and after Mitanni collapsed, Assyria. From 1340-1230 BC most of Kassite Babylon’s major interactions were with the Hittites (Hatti), Assyrians, and Hurrians (Mitanni). The relationships between the Great Powers would ebb and flow, with enemies quickly turning to friends and vice versa. For instance, the Kassites usually had cordial trade relations with the faraway Egyptians, but perhaps sensing an opening, the Babylonian King Kadashman-Turgu (ruled ca. 1281-1264) offered to send Kassite troops to aid the Hittites in a war against the Egyptians. <ref>Brinkman, p. 276</ref> But Kassite Babylon’s biggest threat would always come from the north. Mitanni was in control of the region of Assyria for most of the fifteenth century BC, but in the fourteenth century the Assyrians rose up with the help of the Hittites and toppled the Kingdom of Mitanni for good. <ref> Brinkman, p. 275</ref> The Assyrians would prove to be a problem for all of the other kingdoms in the Near East, but non none more so than Kassite Babylon.
===The Collapse of Bronze Age Babylon===

Navigation menu