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canals. Iasmah-Adad and Zimri-Lim after him both conducted a census among the nomads.
Hammurabi died about 1806 BC and was succeeded by his son, Samsu-iluna who ruled until
about 1768, but he had to handle numerous revolts. In the south Larsa rebelled for two years, and
then Iluma-ilu claimed the independence of Sumer south of Nippur, fighting a bloody war
against Babylon in which several cities including Ur were burned down. The northern Assyrians
regained their independence under Adasi. Samsu-iluna was also attacked by Kassites, Amorites,
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SUMER, BABYLON, AND HITTITES
21
Sutaeans, and Elamites. Although he fought them off, his empire was reduced to Akkad. The
next four rulers of Babylon held on to this area as Kassites were moving in and settling.
Ammisaduqa, who ruled Babylon for twenty years from 1702 BC, left us an edict indicating he
tried to reform economic conditions by decreeing justice for the land, ordering the cancellation
of most debts and back taxes. Officials who had collected by constraint had to give refunds or
die, as could creditors who sued for payment of a loan on a house, though merchants still had to
keep commercial agreements. Governors who gave barley, silver, or wool for forced labor were
.
to die, and the workers could keep what they had been given. Those who were in service because
of debts they could not pay were released to freedom by the king's edict. It is not known how
these orders were carried out, but as with Urukagina the intent to correct past injustices is clear.
Kassites, Hurrians, and Assyria
Babylon was invaded and captured by the Hittite king Mursilis in about 1650 BC, but he soon
left Babylon and returned to Hattusas. The Kassite ruler, Agum II, filled this power void
establishing the Kassite dynasty in Mesopotamia that was to last until about 1157 BC. Agum II
continued Babylonian traditions, and 24 years after the Hittites had carried it off he brought back
and restored the statue of Marduk in his temple. The Kassites had been settling in the Babylonian
area from the time of Hammurabi. Since little conflict is recorded during most of the Kassite
period, it is likely that they were relatively peaceful as they adopted Babylonian traditions.
The Kassites may also have absorbed some Aryan influence earlier, since some of their gods'
names resemble Vedic deities such as Surya and Marut.
In the early fifteenth century BC King Ulamburiash defeated Ea-gamil, King of the Sealand
(Persian Gulf), recovering Sumer for Babylon. Kassite king Burnaburiash I made peace with
Assyria in 1490 BC which separated the two kingdoms around Samarra, and it was re-affirmed
75 years later. The Kassites restored the ancient temples of Nippur, Larsa, Ur, and Uruk, while
their scholars were preserving the literature in Akkadian, the standard language of the Near East
for a millennium.
For several centuries Hurrians had been moving south into northern Syria. Like the Kassites,
they made extensive use of horses with faster chariots and wagons, affecting warfare and
commercial transportation. In the sixteenth century BC the Hurrians established themselves from
Alalakh through the kingdom of Mitanni north of the Euphrates River across the Tigris to
Arraphka. Shortly after 1500 BC Idrimi, the son of an Aleppo king, wandered among the Sutu
Bedouins and the Habiru in Canaan. Eventually he became king of Alalakh and reigned for thirty
years of prosperity, showing particular concern for the nomadic Sutu in his realm, though Idrimi
himself was probably a vassal to the Mitannian king Parattarna.
For more than a century after this, Assyrian kings were also vassals of Mitanni. When Egyptian
king Thutmose III crossed the Euphrates and defeated the Mitannians, their large empire was
reduced somewhat; but the two powers became friendly, as several Mitannian princesses married
Egyptian pharaohs. Amenhotep III and Akhenaten married Kassite princesses as well, sending
gold and gifts to Babylon. About 1370 BC the Hittite Suppiluliumas plundered the Mitanni
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SUMER, BABYLON, AND HITTITES
22
capital of Wassukkanni and conquered the western region of Aleppo and Kadesh, which had
been at the northern edge of the Egyptian empire.
Mitanni was suffering a civil war between Tushratta and his brothers. Artatama and his son
Shutarna II gave gifts and concessions to the Assyrians for their help. About 1360 BC Tushratta
was murdered by a conspiracy that included his son Kurtiwaza, as the "trial before Teshub"
(supreme God of the Hurrians) between Tushratta and Artatama as rightful Hurrian ruler had
been decided. Kurtizawa fled to Babylon where Burnaburiash II refused him asylum, and he
ended up at the Hittite court. Ashur-uballit I declared himself Great King of Assyria, called
Akhenaten his brother, and gave his daughter to Burnaburiash; but the grandson of this match
was murdered in Babylon, causing a civil war and Ashur-uballit's intervention, resulting in
Kurigalzu II becoming king of Babylon; he later attacked Elam. The strain of the cooperation
between Assyria and Babylon in fighting off Sutu and Aramaean tribes was eventually resented
in Babylon and led to continued rivalry and frequent battles between the two kingdoms.
Suppiluliumas returned to north Syria, making his sons kings in Aleppo and Carchemish to
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