Chapter VII

THE KASSITE DYNASTY AND ITS RELATIONS WITH EGYPT AND THE
HITTITE EMPIRE

The Kassite conquest of Babylonia--The Kassites
probably Aryans by race and akin to the later rulers
of Mitanni--Character of their rule in Babylon--Their
introduction of the horse into Western Asia--The
Kassite conquest of the Sea-Country and its annexation
to Babylon--Gap in our knowledge of the Kassite
succession--The letters from Tell el-Amarna and
Boghaz-Keui--Egypt and Western Asia at the close of
the fifteenth century--Diplomacy and the balance of
power--Dynastic marriages and international intercourse of
the period--Amen-hetep III. and Kadashman-Enlil--Akhenaten
and his policy of doles--Babylon's caravans in Syria--The
correspondence of Burna-Buriash and Akhenaten--Egypt's
loss of her Asiatic provinces--Rise of the Hittite
Empire--The Hittites and their civilization--Their capital
of Khatti--Their annexation of Mitanni and the Egyptian
war--The relations of Khattusil with Kadashman-turgu
and Kadashman-Enlil II.--Character of the Hittite
correspondence--The growth of Assyria and her relations
with Babylon--First phase in the long struggle of the two
kingdoms--The later members of the Kassite Dynasty--Its
fall to be traced to Elamite invasion--Economic conditions
in Babylonia under the Kassites--Kudurru-inscriptions or
boundary-stones--Their evidence on the Babylonian system of
land-tenure--Gradual disappearance of tribal proprietorship
as a result of West-Semitic and Kassite policy--Transition
from collective to private ownership