• It is certiinlv no fortuit<>iis circumstance tbat in Egypt, abont tbe same pei-iod, an Arabian dynasty, the so-called Uylisos, held rule.
years Samsu-iluna ' H5(son of former) Abishu'a . . 25 ,,
Ammi-satana 2.5 ,,
Ammi-zaduga 22 ,,
Samsu-satana 31 ,,
BABYLONIA
BABYLONIA
227
From the time of Kliaiiimurabi onwards, the city of Babel (Jiab-ili, "pate of God,' Sumer. Ka- dinyirra and Tin-tir, the huter='seal of life') con- tinued to be the residence of the Bab. monarchs. Altlioush the above-named kinj; was of Arabian descent, yet the Babylonians, down to the latest generations, considered him, on account of his ex- pulsion of the Klamites ami his canal works, to be the real founder of the Bab. kint;ilom, which from his time onwards was inseparably associated in men's u)inds with the metropolis Babel. The pros- perity of the countrj' under his rule and that of his successors is witnessed to by a number of contract- tablets. In one of the latter, dating from the reign of Ai)il-Sin, we encounter Abi-nXmu as a per- sonal name, as the father indeed of one Sha-raartu ; showing that the biblical name Abraham was current in Babylonia even two generations earlier than Khamuuirabi. Nearly about the same date falls also the founding of the Assyrian empire (see AssVHi.v). This took its rise probably from Nisin, for Hesen of Gn lO^^ is the same name as Nisin (cf. I'nuk with Uruk, Erech), and the royal name, Ishmi-Dagan, meets us botli at Nisin and at Assur, and that too at the earliest i)eriod, c. B.i'. 1800.
The Arabian dynasty (A in kings' list) was in all probability succeeded immediately by the so-called Kassite dynasty (C of list.c. li.c. 1 580-1 i80), which derives it.s name from the ancient designation Kash for Klam. This explanation is to be pre- ferred to that which derives the epithet from Koffffaioi, the wild mountaineers who were subdued by Sennacherib, and who by him are certainly called Ka.s.<u. The founders of the Kassite dynasty were natives rather of the extreme south of Baby- lonia, bordering upon Klam, the region which was called Kardunias, i.e. land of the Kardu (dialecti- cally Kasdu) or Kaldu. In the lime of the Kassite dyna.sty this name was extended to designate the whole of Babylonia.
The first king of this dynasty was Gnddash (in kings' list Gandish), who styles him.sclf 'king of the four quarters of the world, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of Babalain.' We have no very e.\acl details till we come to the seventh king, A'ju-knk-rimi (also called simply Agu), the son of Ir-Ziguruvash. He calls hini.self ' king of the Ka.s.sites and .\kka<lians. Icing of the wide land of Babel, who causes luinierons peoples to .settle in the land of Ashnunnak, king of I'adan (Mesopotamia, cf. the ()T ' I'addan-aram ') and Alman (the district E. of Mesopotamia and S. of As.syria), king of the land of (iuti, widely extended peoples, the king who rules the four quarters of the world.' He records how he brought back from the land of Kliani (N. Syria) the images of Merodach and Zarpanit, which had formerly been carried off. Khani (also called Akhilnu, lakhanu, and Khiana) is the region between Carchemish and 'Azaz, hav- ing Arpad for its capital. The juoper home of the Hillitcs was Khani-rabbat, the 'great Kheta-land ' of the Egyp. inscriptions, to the N. of the above region, between Mar'ash and Malatiyeh. As the territorial name Khattu w;is ))robably originally Klianlu, an invasion of Babylonia by the llitliles must have taken place shortly before the reign of Aiin-kak-rimi. Now the accession of the latter nnist be dated c. B.C. 1500, and this mention of predatory incursions of the llittites into Babylonia thus tallies pretty well with the first mention of the llittites in the Egyp. inscriptions under Talmtmes in. (iic. 150:{-l"4-lfl).
With the third or fourth successor of Agu-kak- rimi begin the relations of Babylonia with the aspiring empire of Assyria. (The details have already been fully given in article Assvi:i.\, hence in what follows we shall notice only what has no connexion with Assyr. history.) The first kings
about whom we again possess detailed information are those who had diplomatic relations with the Pharaohs Amenhotep III. and IV., and whose letters have been recovered through the famous ' find ' of clay tablets at Tel el-.\marna (see above, p. ii2.'!"). The circumstance that at that period (shortly before and after I! ( . 1400) Babylonian was the language used for official communications all over W. Asia, is now readily explained as the con- sequence of the hegemony of Babylon over the western land, which endured for centuries (from the time of the younger kings of Ur till c. B.C. 1600).
From the correspondence between Kallimnia- Sin of Kardunias and Nimmuria (Amenhotep III.) of Egypt, we gather that the father of Kallininia- Sin (probably Kurigalzu I.) had formerly given his daughter in marriage to Amenhotep III., and that a daughter of Kallirama-Sin's is now to be sent to the harem of Amenhotep. The same subject, that of marriage and gifts, is discussed in the letters of king Burnaliurii'.<i II. (B.C. 1410-1380?) to Nap- khuraria (Amenhotep IV.) the son of Nimmuria. Burnaburias speaks of hini.self as the son of Kuri- galzu, and of the latter ;us the contemporary and friend of Amenhotep III.; presumably, tlierefore, B. w.as a younger brother of Kallimma-Sin, who must have died young. Of the Assyrians B. speaks as his own subjects, but of the land of Kinahhu (Canaan) as an Egyp. province through which his ambassadors have to pass. It is also mentioned that the friendly relations between Egypt and Babylonia date from the time of the Bab. king Kara-indas, i.e. the fourth or fifth predeces.sc u- of Burnaburias II. Burnaburias II. was probably succeeded liy Kndur-Bel (who reigned at leitst eight years) ; theii came Kara-k-lianlan, the son-in-law of the Assyr. king Assur-uballit, who reigned but a .short time, and'was .succeeded by his son luiiliis/imaii-k-liarhi I. The latter conquered the Snla'an nomads, and constructed fortresses for defence against them in the land of Amurrfi (Coele-Syria). On account of his relationship, however, to the Assyr. king, he was not regarded as a gemiine Kassite, and was assassinated. Shuzig<as (or, ace. to another account, Nazibugas) was placed upon the throne, but was immediately deposed by the Assyrians, who in- stalled in his place Assur-uballit's gi'andson, Kuri- gal-vu II. (i:!(!4-i;i:;0 ?) who was still in his minor- it}'. It is impo.ssible to say for certain whether the previously mentioned (p. iLM") Shaijardktihnrias, the son of Kudur-Uel, was a rival king (perhaps during the minorily of Knrig.alzu II.), or whether he directly followed Kudur-Bel. The first, how- ever, appears the more likely. In a recently-dis- covered passage of the synchronistic history (IW, new series, v. 108) there is nfcrence to internal complications during part of the reign of Kuri- galzu II. The latter, the 'king without an equal,' was a powerful monarch ; he conquered the city of .Shfisha in Elam, i.e. the well-known ,Susa, and .assumed the title of 'king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four (|uarters of the world.' The name of the Elamite king whom he conciuered was Khurba-tila. Kurigalzu II. was succeeded by \a:i-miiniddaii (i;J20- 1206), Juida/lman-liiriiii (1204-1278), Kadasmait-huria.s (1277-1276), an un- named king (1275-1270), Skdi/iirakti-.iunas (l2(i'.i- 1257), Bihiiia.i (1250-l'24i0, 'Hel-Si(m-idiiHl (1248- VHl),Kad,ishman-khiirbi //. (1247-124()),and 7i''/»i- mUn-Sum-idiiui (124(1-1240). See AssviUA. Under the last three Babylonia had uuich to suffer from the inroads of the Elamite king Kidin-khutrutas. An upward movement, however, again took place during the .'iO years' reign of HammClnium-iKur (12;i»-1200) and the reigns of his son Meli-Siiuik (1208-1194) and his grandson ^fa)■duk-|)al■idilla (110;!-11S|). To the time of these three kings