KASSITE BABYLONIAN GATEWAYThe city Dur-Kurigalzu (see below) is generally considered as the main centre of the
Kassite kingdom. In addition, several other cities have been identified where the
Kassite dynasty made an effort to upgrade (Brinkman 1980 : 468 – 469 ) regions in
order to serve as proper hinterlands or even village communities supporting the overall
‘gateway structure’. Eight Kassite sites have been identified in the Babylonian region,
three in the Hamrin region, one in the Middle Euphrates, one in Susa, as well as
sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. They also restored the temples of Adab, Babylon,
Borsippa, Der, Isin, Larsa, Nippur Sippar, Ur and Uruk (Brinkman 1980 : 468 – 469 ).
This means that they had a large decentralised hinterland which qualified as a special
gateway at least during the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC. Unfortunately
we don’t have enough published texts in this regard in order to describe the different
regions under the control of the governors of the different areas.
Kassite Babylonian archivesAlthough many Babylonian sites have archaeological levels dating to the Kassite
period,^16 they are underneath built up levels of subsequent periods and have therefore
not been examined. Olof Pedersén ( 1998 : 103 – 120 ) made a major contribution by
describing the archives and libraries of some of the sites that can be listed as Kassite
cities, namely, Dur-Kurigalzu, Nippur, Babylon, Ur and Tell Imlihiye. The exact
function of these communities will eventually become clear when the major bulk of
the cuneiform texts from the Kassite period has been published.
Of particular interest is Dur-Kurigalzu^17 (modern ‘Aqar Quf, located about 30 km
west of Baghdad) which was founded by the Kassite king Kurigalzu I at the end of
the fifteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century BC. It was abandoned during
the twelfth century BCand has never been reoccupied. Excavations unearthed two
functional areas, namely the ‘Aqar Quf tell, the religious district, and the closely
related Tell al-Abyad as the palace and administration centre. The ziggurat in the
temple area was devoted to Enlil, the main Babylonian god, but references to the
war god Ninurta and the goddess Ninlil were also found. The palace complex consisted
of several palaces built around inner courtyards with major wall paintings (cf.
Tomabechi 1983 : 123 – 131 ). A treasury area in the eastern section preserved several
sculptures, some glass inlays, gold jewellery and gold ornaments and overlays. One
archive (Dur-Kurigalzu 1 ) consists of administrative records conveying gold and other
precious materials given to goldsmiths, and another archive (Dur-Kurigalzu 2 ) has
administrative lists of various garments received or distributed.
The city of Babylon (about 100 km west of Baghdad) had been the political capital
during the preceding Old Babylonian period. During the Kassite period it became
the ‘leading cultural centre’ (Perdersén 1998 : 107 ). Unfortunately, little excavation
has been done on Kassite levels. The few private archives discovered also remain
mostly unpublished (cf. Perdersén 1998 : 112 ).^18 Legal documents dating to the early
years of the Kassite period were found in a private archive (Babylon 1 ). Other private
archives (Babylon 2 – 5 ) contained administrative documents, omens from the inspection
of animals offerings, god lists, school texts and others relating to the education and
the making of texts, seals and kudurrus (cf. Reuther 1926 ).
— Babylonia and the Levant during the Kassite period —