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====The Collapse of Bronze Age Babylon====

As the Bronze Age drew to a close in the late thirteenth century BC, Kassite Babylon faced enemies on multiple sides. Just to Babylon’s east was the Kingdom of Elam, which although not in the Great Powers club, became just as prominent in the Late Bronze Age into the early Iron Age. Knowing that the Elamites would be difficult to counter militarily, especially with the threat of the Assyrians in the north, the Kassite kings began marrying Elamite princesses in the early thirteen century BC. <ref> Potts, D.T. “Elamites and Kassites in the Persian Gulf.” <i>Journal of Near Eastern Studies</i> 65 (2006) p. 117</ref> The diplomatic marriages, though, were not enough to stop the covetous desires of the Elamites, or other groups of peoples.

Although the statue of Marduk was returned to Babylon, it would only be there less than 100 years. Around the year 1155 BC, the Elamites attacked Babylon from the southeast, and the Assyrian came from the north in a pincer movement that officially ended the Kassite Dynasty. The Marduk statue was taken to the Elamite capital of Susa and Babylon would be relegated to a second rate city. <ref> Brinkman, p. 277</ref> Babylon passed into Assyrian hands for about five hundred years until the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty brought the city back to its once great stature.

Babylon was one of the greatest cities of the Bronze Age Near East, reaching its peak of influence and power during the Kassite Dynasty. The Kassites accepted most of the previous religious and cultural traditions of Babylon and expanded their reach throughout the region through military and diplomatic endeavors. Eventually, though, Kassite Babylon suffered the same fate that the Hittites did at the end of the Bronze Age. Roving bands of Aramaean raiders, as well as more coordinated attacks by the Assyrians and Elamites ultimately proved to be fatal for Late Bronze Age Babylon.

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[[Category: Ancient History]] [[Category: Ancient Mesopotamian History]] [[Category: Bronze Age History]] [[Category: Late Bronze Age]] [[Category: Babylon]] [[Category:Wikis]]