tary, economic, and cultural power under the Kassite kings. It
was oft en at war with Assyria to its north, but it was allied by
ties of marriage with the ruling house of Elam to its east, with
the Hittites to the north, and with the distant Egyptians in a
web of diplomatic relations. In about 1154 b.c.e. the Elamite
king, feeling that he was the rightful successor (through mar-
riage and his Kassite mother’s lineage) overthrew the Kassite
Dynasty when his petition to ascend the Kassite throne was
rudely rejected. Th e Elamites carried to Susa, a large site in
southwestern Iran, the statues of Babylon’s chief god Marduk,
symbolizing Babylon’s loss of independence.
A king of the Second Dynasty of Isin (ca. 1158–ca. 1027
b.c.e.), Nebuchadnezzar I (r. ca. 1124–ca. 1103 b.c.e.), drove
the Elamites out of Babylonia. Isin was a city to the southeast
of the city of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar I conquered Susa
and brought the Marduk statue back to Babylon, which was
once again the seat of government. Nebuchadnezzar I was a
patron of the arts and commissioned many literary works,
especially ones about himself. His eff orts to expand Babylo-
nian control to cities in northern Mesopotamia led to retali-
ation by the Assyrians, who destroyed a few of the cities in
Babylonia.
Th e Second Dynasty of Sealand (ca. 1026–1006 b.c.e.)
in Babylon was begun by a former member of the Assyrian
army. Little is known about Babylon from 1026 to 732 b.c.e.
Apparently, a new dynasty arose, perhaps in 979 b.c.e. Its
kings occasionally tried to break the dominance of Assyria.
In 689 b.c.e., aft er King Marduk-apla-iddina II (r. ca. 700–690
b.c.e.) tried to break away from Assyria, the Assyrians sacked
the city of Babylon. Marduk-apla-iddina II was a Chaldean,
a Semitic tribe that had settled near the southern Euphrates
River. Aft er his defeat, Babylonians waged a guerrilla war
against the Assyrians. From 654 to 648 b.c.e. Shamash-shum-
ukin, the Assyrian governor of Babylonia, waged war against
his rival brother, Assyria’s king Ashurbanipal. Aft er defeat-
ing the revolt, Assyria appointed a puppet, King Kandalanu
(r. 648–627 b.c.e.), to rule Babylon.
NEO-BABYLONIAN DYNASTY
(CA. 625–539 B.C.E.)
A Chaldean leader, Nabopolassar (r. ca. 625–605 b.c.e.), led a
successful revolt against Assyria. He expanded the Babylonian
Empire, and in 605 b.c.e. he sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to
lead an army against Egyptian forces in Palestine. He died
that year, and the ascension of his son Nebuchadnezzar II (r.
605–562 b.c.e.) marked the beginning of the Neo-Babylonian
Empire. Nebuchadnezzar II successfully took control of most
of Palestine, yet the Egyptians defeated him when he tried
to invade Egypt in 601 b.c.e. When the kingdom of Judah
in Palestine rebelled against Babylon in 587 b.c.e., the forces
of Nebuchadnezzar II sacked Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar II
repaired and rebuilt ziggurats and other public structures in
his empire and built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, sup-
posedly to please his wife, who missed the Median mountains
(in western Iran) where she had grown up.
Nebuchadnezzar II’s fi rst three successors had trouble
keeping control of the throne. Th e last of them was assassi-
nated. A commoner named Nabonidus (r. 556–ca. 539 b.c.e.)
became king but was unpopular, and he went into exile in
about 539 b.c.e. His son Belshazzar (r. ca. 539 b.c.e.) replaced
him but was not fully accepted as king because his father was
regarded as still king. In 539 b.c.e. Cyrus the Great invaded
and put an end to the Babylonian Empire.ELAMITE DYNASTIES (CA. 2900–539 B.C.E.)
Th e history of Elam is customarily divided into three eras:
Old Elamite Period (ca. 2900–ca. 1500 b.c.e.), Middle Elamite
Period (ca. 1500–1000 b.c.e.), and Neo-Elamite Period (1000–
539 b.c.e.). During the third millennium b.c.e. the Elamites
established towns in what is now southwestern Iran. Th eir
kings ruled from the city of Susa. Elam was a vassal state of
the Ak kadian and later Ur III empires, but in 2004 b.c.e. Kin-
dattu of Elam sacked Ur. In 1764 b.c.e. Hammurabi of Baby-
lon conquered Elam, but Elam successfully rebelled against
Hammurabi’s son Samsuiluna.
In 1154 b.c.e. the Elamites conquered Babylon, but in
about 1126 b.c.e. King Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon con-
quered Elam. In the 700s and early 600s b.c.e. Elam sup-
ported Babylonian rebellions against Assyria. In about 646
b.c.e. Assyria destroyed Elam’s capital city, Susa, but despite
its destruction a late Neo-Elamite kingdom arose, and it was
in this context that Cyrus the Great, called “king of Anshan”
(the name of an ancient Elamite city and region near modern
Shiraz) arose and fi nally claimed Babylonia in 539 b.c.e.OLD ASSYRIAN PERIOD
(CA. 1900–CA. 1700 B.C.E.)
Assyria was a region of northern Mesopotamia, centered on
the area of modern-day Mosul along the Tigris River. Th e
fi rst notable Assyrian king was Shamshi-Adad (r. ca. 1813–
1781 b.c.e.), who built an empire partly by war and partly by
diplomacy. Weaker kings of city-states voluntarily submit-
ted to his rule in the hope that he would use his power to
protect them. He left in place those kings who submitted to
him, allowing them to run their territories and practice their
own customs just as long as they paid their taxes to him. Th is
made for a weak administration, and he had to constantly
patrol his lands to keep them in order. His capital city was
Shubat-Enlil. His sons Yasmah-Addu and Ishme-Dagan, who
divided Shamshi-Adad’s kingdom between them, failed to
keep a strong presence in their territories, and the empire col-
lapsed when Hammurabi of Babylon invaded it. Assyria then
became a vassal state of Babylon.MIDDLE ASSYRIAN PERIOD
(CA. 1390–CA. 1076 B.C.E.)
In about 1500 b.c.e. the shadowy kingdom of Mitanni was the
dominant power in northern Mesopotamia, with its territory
extending from the northern reaches of the Tigris River to the
Mediterranean Sea; aft er the sack of Babylon by the Hittites398 empires and dynasties: The Middle East