Kassites

The Kassites (/ˈkæsaɪts/) were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled
Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. Kassite dynasty of the
1155 BC (short chronology). The endonym of the Kassites was probably Galzu,[1] Babylonian Empire
although they have also been referred to by the names Kaššu, Kassi, Kasi or
circa 1600
Kashi.
BC — circa
1155 BC
They gained control ofBabylonia after the Hittite sack of the city in 1595 BC (i.e.
1531 BC per the short chronology), and established a dynasty based in Dur-
Kurigalzu.[2][3] The Kassites were members of a small military aristocracy but
were efficient rulers and not locally unpopular,[4] and their 500-year reign laid an
essential groundwork for the development of subsequent Babylonian culture.[3]
The horse, which the Kassites worshipped, first came into use in Babylonia at this
time.[4]

The Kassite language has not been classified.[3] What is known is that their
language was not related to either the Indo-European language group, nor to
Semitic or other Afro-Asiatic languages, and is most likely to have been a
language isolate (a stand-alone language unrelated to any other), although some
linguists have proposed a link to the Hurro-Urartian languages of Asia Minor.[5] The Babylonian Empire under the
However, several Kassite leaders bore Indo-Aryan names, and they might have Kassites, c. 13th century BC.
had an Indo-Aryan elite similar to the Mitanni, who ruled over the Hurro-
Capital Dur-
Urartian-speaking Hurrians of Asia Minor. Their leaders frequently cited the
Kurigalzu
names of Vedic deities in their official inscriptions, negotiations, treaties, and
other communication.[6][7] Languages Kassite
language
Government Monarchy
King
Contents • ca. 1500 BC Agum II
(first)
History • 1157—1155 BC Enlil-nadin-
Kassite dynasty of Babylon ahi (last)
Culture Historical era Bronze Age
Social life • Established circa 1531
Language BC
Kudurru • Sack of Babylon circa 1531
See also BC
• Invasions by circa 1158
Notes
Assyria and Elam BC
References • Disestablished circa 1155
External links BC

Preceded by Succeeded
by
History First Middle
The original homeland of the Kassites is not well known, but appears to have been Babylonian Assyrian
Dynasty Empire
located in the Zagros Mountains, in what is now the Lorestan Province of Iran.
Elamite
However, the Kassites were—like the Elamites, Gutians and Manneans who Empire
preceded them—linguistically unrelated to the Iranian-speaking peoples who
Today part of Iran
came to dominate the region a millennium later.[8][9] They first appeared in the Iraq
annals of history in the 18th century BC when they attacked
Babylonia in the 9th year of the reign of Samsu-iluna (reigned c.
1749–1712 BC), the son of Hammurabi. Samsu-iluna repelled them,
as did Abi-Eshuh, but they subsequently gained control of Babylonia
c. 1570 BC some 25 years after the fall of Babylon to the Hittites in
c. 1595 BC, and went on to conquer the southern part of
Mesopotamia, roughly corresponding to ancientSumer and known as
the Dynasty of the Sealand by c. 1460 BC. The Hittites had carried
off the idol of the god Marduk, but the Kassite rulers regained Dur-
Kurigalzu Sippar
possession, returned Marduk to Babylon, and made him the equal of Babylon Kish
Nippur
the Kassite Shuqamuna. The circumstances of their rise to power are Isin
Girsu
unknown, due to a lack of documentation from this so-called "Dark Uruk
Ur
Age" period of widespread dislocation. No inscription or document
in the Kassite language has been preserved, an absence that cannot be
purely accidental, suggesting a severe regression of literacy in
official circles. Babylon under Kassite rulers, who renamed the city
Karanduniash, re-emerged as a political and military power in Map of Iraq showing important sites that were
Mesopotamia. A newly built capital city Dur-Kurigalzu was named occupied by the Kassite dynasty (clickable map)
in honour of Kurigalzu I (ca. early 14th century BC).

Their success was built upon the relative political stability that the Kassite monarchs achieved. They ruled Babylonia practically
without interruption for almost four hundred years—the longest rule by any dynasty in Babylonian history
.

The transformation of southern Mesopotamia into a territorial state, rather than a network of allied or combative city states, made
Babylonia an international power, although it was often overshadowed by its northern neighbour, Assyria and by Elam to the east.
Kassite kings established trade and diplomacy with Assyria. Puzur-Ashur III of Assyria and Burna-Buriash I signed a treaty agreeing
the border between the two states in the mid-16th century BC, Egypt, Elam, and the Hittites, and the Kassite royal house intermarried
with their royal families. There were foreign merchants in Babylon and other cities, and Babylonian merchants were active from
Egypt (a major source ofNubian gold) to Assyria and Anatolia. Kassite weights and seals, the packet-identifying and measuring tools
of commerce, have been found in as far afield as Thebes in Greece, in southern Armenia, and even in the Uluburun shipwreck off the
southern coast of today's Turkey.

A further treaty between Kurigalzu I andAshur-bel-nisheshu of Assyria was agreed in the mid-15th century BC. However, Babylonia
found itself under attack and domination from Assyria for much of the next few centuries after the accession of Ashur-uballit I in
1365 BC who made Assyria (along with the Hittites and Egyptians) the major power in the Near East. Babylon was sacked by the
Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I (1365–1330 BC)) in the 1360s after the Kassite king in Babylon who was married to the daughter of
Ashur-uballit was murdered. Ashur-uballit promptly marched into Babylonia and avenged his son-in-law, deposing the king and
installing Kurigalzu II of the royal Kassite line as king there. His successor Enlil-nirari (1330–1319 BC) also attacked Babylonia and
his great grandson Adad-nirari I (1307–1275 BC) annexed Babylonian territory when he became king. Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244–1208
BC) not content with merely dominating Babylonia went further, conquering Babylonia, deposing Kashtiliash IV and ruling there for
eight years in person from 1235 BC to 1227 BC.

The Kassite kings maintained control of their realm through a network of provinces administered by governors. Almost equal with
the royal cities of Babylon and Dur-Kurigalzu, the revived city of Nippur was the most important provincial center. Nippur, the
formerly great city, which had been virtually abandoned c. 1730 BC, was rebuilt in the Kassite period, with temples meticulously re-
built on their old foundations. In fact, under the Kassite government, the governor of Nippur, who took the Sumerian-derived title of
Guennakku, ruled as a sort of secondary and lesser king. The prestige of Nippur was enough for a series of 13th-century BC Kassite
kings to reassume the title 'governor of Nippur' for themselves.
Other important centers during the Kassite period were Larsa, Sippar and Susa. After the Kassite dynasty was overthrown in 1155
BC, the system of provincial administration continued and the country remained united under the succeeding rule, the Second
Dynasty of Isin.

Documentation of the Kassite period depends heavily on the scattered and disarticulated tablets from Nippur, where thousands of
tablets and fragments have been excavated. They include administrative and legal texts, letters, seal inscriptions, kudurrus (land
grants and administrative regulations), private votive inscriptions, and even a literary text (usually identified as a fragment of a
historical epic).

"Kassite rulers in Babylon were also scrupulous to follow existing forms of expression, and the public and private patterns of
behavior "and even went beyond that—as zealous neophytes do, or outsiders, who take up a superior civilization—by favoring an
extremely conservative attitude, at least in palace circles."Oppenheim
( 1964, p. 62).

The Elamites conquered Babylonia in the 12th century BC, thus ending the Kassite state. The last Kassite king, Enlil-nadin-ahi, was
taken to Susa and imprisoned there, where he also died.

The Kassites did briefly regain control over Babylonia with Dynasty V (1025–1004 BC); however, they were deposed once more,
this time by an Aramean dynasty.

Kassites survived as a distinct ethnic group in the mountains of Lorestan (Luristan) long after the Kassite state collapsed. Babylonian
records describe how the Assyrian king Sennacherib on his eastern campaign of 702 BC subdued the Kassites in a battle near
Hulwan, Iran.

Herodotus and other ancient Greek writers sometimes referred to the region around Susa as "Cissia", a variant of the Kassite name.
However, it is not clear if Kassites were actually living in that region so late.

During the later Achaemenid period, the Kassites, referred to as "Kossaei", lived in the mountains to the east of Media and were one
of several "predatory" mountain tribes that regularly extracted "gifts" from the Achaemenid Persians, according to a citation of
Nearchus by Strabo (13.3.6).

But Kassites again fought on the Persian side in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, in which the Persian Empire fell to Alexander
the Great, according to Diodorus Siculus (17.59) (who called them "Kossaei") and Curtius Rufus (4.12) (who called them
"inhabitants of the Cossaean mountains"). According to Strabo's citation of Nearchus, Alexander later separately attacked the
Kassites "in the winter", after which they stopped their tribute-seeking raids.

Strabo also wrote that the "Kossaei" contributed 13,000 archers to the army of Elymais in a war against Susa and Babylon. This
statement is hard to understand, as Babylon had lost importance under Seleucid rule by the time Elymais emerged around 160 BC. If
"Babylon" is understood to mean the Seleucids, then this battle would have occurred sometime between the emergence of Elymais
and Strabo's death around 25 AD. If "Elymais" is understood to mean Elam, then the battle probably occurred in the 6th century BC.
Note that Susa was the capital of Elam and later of Elymais, so Strabo's statement implies that the Kassites intervened to support a
particular group within Elam or Elymais against their own capital, which at that moment was apparently allied with or subject to
Babylon or the Seleucids.

The latest evidence of Kassite culture is a reference by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy, who described "Kossaei" as living in the
Susa region, adjacent to the "Elymeans". This could represent one of many cases where Ptolemy relied on out-of-date sources.

It is believed that the name of the Kassites is preserved in the name of theKashgan River, in Lorestan.

Kassite dynasty of Babylon

(short chronology)

Ruler Reigned Comments

Agum II or Returns Marduk statue to Babylon
Agum-Kakrime
Burnaburiash I c. 1500 BC (short) Treaty with Puzur-Ashur III of Assyria
Kashtiliash III
Ulamburiash c. 1480 BC (short) Conquers the first Sealand Dynasty
Agum III c. 1470 BC (short) possible campaigns Against "The Sealand" and "in Dilmun"
Karaindash c. 1410 BC (short) Treaty with Ashur-bel-nisheshu of Assyria
Kadashman-harbe I c. 1400 BC (short) Campaign against the Sutû
Kurigalzu I c. x-1375 BC (short) Founder of Dur-Kurigalzu and contemporary ofThutmose IV
Kadashman-Enlil I c. 1374—1360 BC (short) Contemporary of Amenophis III of the Egyptian Amarna letters
Burnaburiash II c. 1359—1333 BC (short) Contemporary of Akhenaten and Ashur-uballit I
Kara-hardash c. 1333 BC (short) Grandson of Ashur-uballit I of Assyria
Nazi-Bugash or
c. 1333 BC (short) Usurper “son of a nobody”
Shuzigash
Son of Burnaburiash II, Lost ?Battle of Sugagi with Enlil-nirari
Kurigalzu II c. 1332—1308 BC (short)
of Assyria
Nazi-Maruttash c. 1307—1282 BC (short) Lost territory to Adad-nirari I of Assyria
Kadashman-Turgu c. 1281—1264 BC (short) Contemporary of Hattusili III of the Hittites
Kadashman-Enlil II c. 1263—1255 BC (short) Contemporary of Hattusili III of the Hittites
Kudur-Enlil c. 1254—1246 BC (short) Time of Nippur renaissance
“Non-son of Kudur-Enlil” according toTukulti-Ninurta I of
Shagarakti-Shuriash c. 1245—1233 BC (short)
Assyria
Kashtiliashu IV c. 1232—1225 BC (short) Deposed by Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria
Enlil-nadin-shumi c. 1224 BC (short) Assyrian vassal king
Kadashman-Harbe II c. 1223 BC (short) Assyrian vassal king
Adad-shuma-iddina c. 1222—1217 BC (short) Assyrian vassal king
Sender of rude letter to Aššur-nirari and Ilī-ḫaddâ, the kings of
Adad-shuma-usur c. 1216—1187 BC (short)
Assyria
Correspondence withNinurta-apal-Ekur confirming foundation
Meli-Shipak II c. 1186—1172 BC (short)
of Near East chronology
Marduk-apla-iddina I c. 1171—1159 BC (short)
Zababa-shuma-iddin c. 1158 BC (short) Defeated by Shutruk-Nahhunte of Elam
Enlil-nadin-ahi c. 1157—1155 BC (short) Defeated by Kutir-Nahhunte II ofElam

Culture

Social life
In spite of the fact that some of them took Babylonian names, the Kassites retained their traditional clan and tribal structure, in
contrast to the smaller family unit of the Babylonians. They were proud of their affiliation with their tribal houses, rather than their
[10]
own fathers, preserved their customs of fratriarchal property ownership and inheritance.

Language
The Kassite language has not been classified.[3] However, several Kassite leaders bore Indo-European names, and they might have
had an Indo-European elite similar to the Mitanni.[6][7] Over the centuries, however, the Kassites were absorbed into the Babylonian
population. Eight among the last kings of the Kassite dynasty have Akkadian names, Kudur-Enlil's name is part Elamite and part
Sumerian and Kassite princesses married into the royal family ofAssyria.
Herodotus was almost certainlyreferring to Kassites when he described "Asiatic Ethiopians" in the Persian army that invaded Greece
in 492 BC. Herodotus was presumably repeating an account that had used the name "Cush", or something similar, to describe the
Kassites; the similar name "Kush" was also, purely by coincidence, a name for Ethiopia. A similar confusion of Kassites with
Ethiopians is evident in various ancient Greek accounts of the Trojan war hero Memnon, who was sometimes described as a
"Cissian" and founder of Susa, and other times as Ethiopian. According to Herodotus, the "Asiatic Ethiopians" lived not in Cissia, but
to the north, bordering on the "Paricanians" who in turn bordered on the Medes. The Kassites were not geographically linked to
Kushites and Ethiopians, nor is there any documentation describing them as similar in appearance, and the Kassite language is
regarded as a language isolate, utterly unrelated to any language of Ethiopia or Kush/Nubia,[11] although more recently a possible
relationship to the Hurro-Urartian family of Asia Minor has been proposed.[12] However, the evidence for its genetic affiliation is
meager due to the scarcity of extant texts.

According to the Encyclopædia Iranica:

There is not a single connected text in the Kassite language. The number of Kassite appellatives is restricted (slightly
more than 60 vocables, mostly referring to colors, parts of the chariot, irrigation terms, plants, and titles). About 200
additional lexical elements can be gained by the analysis of the more numerous anthroponyms, toponyms, theonyms,
and horse names used by the Kassites (see Balkan, 1954, passim; Jaritz, 1957 is to be used with caution). As is clear
from this material, the Kassites spoke a language without a genetic relationship to any other known tongue

Kudurru
The most notable Kassite artifacts are their Kudurru steles. Used for marking boundaries and making proclamations, they were also
carved with a high degree of artistic skill; they took a long time to make.

See also
Cities of the ancient Near East
Early Kassite rulers
Kassite Art
Hittites
Hyksos
Kaska
Kassite deities
Mitanni
Philistines
Sea Peoples
Short chronology timeline

Notes
1. Trevor Bryce, 2009, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient W estern Asia: The Near East
from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire
, Abingdon, Routledge, p. 375.
2. "The Old Hittite Kingdom"(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22897/Anatolia/44349/The-Old-Hittite-Kingdo
m). Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Retrieved 8 September 2012.
3. "The Kassites in Babylonia"(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/376828/history-of-Mesopotamia/55446/The
-Kassites-in-Babylonia). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
4. "Kassite (people)" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/313072/Kassite). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
8 September 2012.
5. Schneider, Thomas (2003). "Kassitisch und Hurro-Urartäisch. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag zu möglichen lexikalischen
Isoglossen". Altorientalische Forschungen (in German) (30): 372–381.
 6. "India: Early Vedic period" (http://www.britannica.com/place/India/Early-Vedic-period#ref485125). Encyclopædia
Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Retrieved 8 July 2015.
7. "Iranian art and architecture"(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293553/Iranian-art-and-architecture/3784
8/Median-period). Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Retrieved 8 September 2012.
8. "Lorestan - Facts from the Encyclopedia - Y
ahoo! Education" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130212135352/http://ed
ucation.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Lorestan). Education.yahoo.com. Archived fromthe original (http://
education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/Lorestan)on 2013-02-12. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
9. "History of Iran" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130212132137/http://www .iranologie.com/history/history1.html).
Iranologie.com. 1997-01-01. Archived fromthe original (http://www.iranologie.com/history/history1.html) on 2013-02-
12. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
10. J. Boardman et al. (eds) Cambridge Ancient History V
ol III Pt 1 (2nd Ed) 1982
11. see Balkan, 1954,
12. Schneider, Thomas (2003). "Kassitisch und Hurro-Urartäisch. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag zu möglichen lexikalischen
Isoglossen". Altorientalische Forschungen(in German) (30): 372–381.

References
Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911.
A. Leo Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization
, 1964.
K. Balkan, Die Sprache der Kassiten, (The Language of the Kassites), American Oriental Series, vol. 37, New
Haven, Conn., 1954.

External links
Daniel A. Nevez, 'Provincial administration at Kassite Nippur'abstract of a dissertation gives details of Kassite
Nippur and Babylonia.
Christopher Edens, "Structure, Power and Legitimation in Kassite Babylonia"
Richard Hooker, "The Kassites: 1530-1170 The Kassite Interregnum"
Kassites in Encyclopaedia Britannica
David W. Koeller, "Kassite rule in Mesopotamia"
Kassites in Encyclopedia Iranica by Ran Zadok
Livius.org: Kassites/Cossaeans

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