Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites 1

Alexa Bartelmus, Katja Sternitzke

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781501503481
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire du Moyen-Orient

Karduniaš, as the kingdom of the Kassites in Babylonia was called in ancient times, was the neighbor and rival of great powers such as Egypt, the Hittites, and Assyria. But while our knowledge of the latter kingdoms has made huge progress in the last decades, the Kassites have until recently been largely ignored by modern scholarship. Recently a number of scholars have embarked on research into different aspects of Late Bronze Age Babylonia. The desire to share the results of these new investigations resulted in an international conference, which was held at Munich University in July 2011. The presentations given at this meeting have been revised for publication in the current volume.
This book gives an overview of current research on the Kassites and is the first larger survey of their culture ever. An invaluable introduction by Kassite expert Professor John A. Brinkman is followed by seventeen specialist contributions investigating different aspects of the Kassites. These include detailed historical, social, cultural, archaeological, and art historical studies concerning the Kassites from their first arrival in Mesopotamia, during the period when a Kassite Dynasty ruled Babylonia (c. 1595-1155 BC), and in the subsequent aftermath. Concentrating on southern Mesopotamia the contributions also discuss Kassite relations and presence in neighboring regions.
The book is completed by a substantial bibliography and a detailed index.

J. A. Brinkman

1Babylonia under the Kassites: Some Aspects for Consideration1

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago

For Veronica

March 23, 2012

Outline
I.		Introduction
II.		A History of Babylonia under the Kassites
II.	A	An Early History of the Kassites (before 1415 B.C.)
II.	B	The Middle Kassite Period (1415–1225 B.C.)
II.	B.1	The International Scene
II.	B.2	The Land of Babylonia
II.	B.3	Fragments of a Political History
II.	C	The Final Years of the Kassite Dynasty (1225–1155 B.C.)
III.		Quaestiones Disputatae: A Selection of Historical and Historiographical Problems
IV.		Conclusion
V.		Chronological Table
VI.		Abbreviations
VII.		Bibliography

I Introduction

The history of independent Babylon and its kingdom can be traced for more than thirteen centuries, from 1894 to 539 B.C.2 Over this time span, its political history can be divided into the following phases:

A.1894–1595: the First Dynasty of Babylon (or Old Babylonian period, best-known figure: Hammurabi)

B.1595–1155: the Kassite dynasty

C.1155–729: sundry, mostly short-lived dynasties (Post-Kassite period)

D.729–626: the period of Assyrian domination

E.626–539: the Neo-Babylonian dynasty (best-known figure: Nebuchadnezzar II).

Periods A, D, and E have an abundance of primary documentation and have been studied intensively; up-to-date book-length treatments on their major features are available.3 In contrast, the intervening periods (B and C), though they occupy more than eight and a half centuries and constitute a major portion (64 %) of the overall time span,4 are less well known. Period C has been studied in detail,5 but has little textual coverage; so any reconstruction of its history is inevitably sketchy. The time of the Kassite dynasty (B) has left a plethora of documents; but it remains inadequately investigated, in part because so much of the pertinent material has remained unpublished.

It is the earlier of these two lesser-known eras, the Kassite period, with which this conference is concerned. But we should bear in mind that two minor dynasties in the following period, the Second Dynasty of the Sealand (1025–1005) and the Bāzi Dynasty (1004–985) had at least nominal affiliation with Kassites.6 Could these dynasties reflect a Kassite revival or a nostalgia for past glory? There is little contemporary evidence from which to judge; but this possibility should not be summarily dismissed, even though we shall not be considering it further here. Under this interpretation, the Kassites could be seen as holding power from roughly the sixteenth century until 985 B.C., with the Second Dynasty of Isin (1157–1026) viewed as an interrupting interlude. Even under the Isin dynasty, persons with Kassite names continued to serve in high office and exercise influence in the land.7

Scholars who wish to investigate the history of the Kassites have a wide range of Babylonian sources available, both archeological and textual. The excavated archeological materials come principally from four cities: Babylon, Dūr-Kurigalzu, Ur, and Nippur (with Nippur providing by far the most abundant yield); but Larsa, Isin, Uruk, and small sites in the Diyala region provide additional evidence, as do supplementary material from Bahrain and spoils from Susa. Archeological surface surveys have covered less than one-third of the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia, but they provide useful information on patterns of settlement and watercourses in this period. There is a small body of evidence for the study of architecture, fine arts, and craftwork.8 The written records, both contemporary and later, offer an abundance of materials. More than fifteen thousand texts are known from Babylonia during the time of the dynasty itself: royal commemorative, votive, and possession inscriptions, correspondence (international and domestic), legal and administrative documents, and scholarly materials (literary, lexical, scientific, omens, etc.). The domestic correspondence and the legal and administrative documentation, when well dated, tend to cluster in time and place, with Nippur c. 1360–1223 furnishing the overwhelming majority of the presently available evidence. Later texts—chronological, historiographic, literary, and lexical, as well as putative copies of earlier Kassite texts—help by providing the name of the dynasty, a basic chronological framework, some rudiments of the political and military history, and literary interpretations of moments of crisis.

This presentation is composed of two principal parts. The first part (numbered II) offers a general summary of what is known about the history of Babylonia under the Kassites—a selective and idiosyncratic sketch,9 trying to minimize overlap with other papers in this conference and pointing out some promising areas for future investigation. The second part (III) calls attention to some historical and historiographical questions facing scholars concerned with this period and discusses a few opportunities for research that would advance our understanding within this underdeveloped field.

IIA History of Babylonia under the Kassites

II.AAn Early History of the Kassites (before 1415 B.C.)

The earliest history of the Kassites as presently known can be divided into two chronological segments: (a) the latter half of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and (b) the period from the end of that dynasty until the accession of Kara-indaš (c. 1415).10 The first of these segments has a generally accepted length of approximately 145–147 years, from late in the first decade of the reign of Samsu-iluna (1742 or 1741 according to the chronology employed here) down to the end of the reign of Samsu-ditāna (c. 1595 or perhaps slightly earlier). No matter which chronology (high/middle/ low or another variant) one postulates for the Old Babylonian dynasty, the relative length of the later Old Babylonian kings’ reigns has not been convincingly contested. The length of the second chronological segment remains the subject of serious dispute, depending on the absolute dates assigned to the fall of the Old Babylonian dynasty on the one hand and the beginning of the reign of Kara-indaš11 on the other. Current scholarship would estimate the length of this time span at anywhere from a few decades to two and a half centuries, with the middle chronology setting it at about 180 years. This is a considerable range and obviously affects historical scenarios proposed for this period.

In this section then, I shall discuss the early Kassites in an essentially chronological framework: (1) attestations dating clearly before the end of the Babylon I dynasty (1595), (2) attestations that cannot be dated precisely, but which could fall either before or after 1595, and (3) attestations that fall most probably after 1595 and before 1415. Within each of these subdivisions, the subject order will be roughly geographical, beginning with Babylonia proper and then spreading out in an approximate west, north, east, south sequence—where evidence is available. I shall conclude the section with a brief treatment of the political history of the early Kassites.

We begin then with evidence from the First Dynasty of Babylon from lower Mesopotamia itself. The earliest reliable contemporary reference to Kassites occurs in the date formula “year (in which) Samsu-iluna ripped out the foundation of the Kassite army at Kikalla,” a name assigned to the ninth year of Samsu-iluna (1741),12 referring to an event which took place either early in that year or in the preceding year (1742).13 This military statement contrasts sharply with the earlier peaceful year names employed by Samsu-iluna since the beginning of his reign, describing—after the customary throne-accession and debt-alleviation commemorations—primarily canal construction or temple benefactions. This entry sets the tone for the following year names (years 10–14), which reflect conflict and dissatisfaction with the rule of Babylon among many major cities. One can speculate about possible connections, if any, between the disruption caused by the newly emergent Kassites and the more or less contemporary widespread rebellion across lower Mesopotamia.14 In any case, these challenges to Samsu-iluna’s authority, even if in some instances temporarily reversed, le...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titelseite
• Impressum
• Inhalt
• Vorwort
• Karten
• 1 Babylonia under the Kassites: Some Aspects for Consideration
• 2 The Early Kassite Period
• 3 Political Interactions between Kassite Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt and Ḫatti during the Amarna Age
• 4 Of Kings, Princesses, and Messengers: Babylonia’s International Relations during the 13th Century BC
• 5 Die Kassiten, das mittelbabylonische Reich und der Zagros
• 6 Kassite and Elamite Kings
• 7 Kaššû: Cultural Labels and Identity in Ancient Mesopotamia
• 8 A Servile Population in Kassite Nippur: A Brief Overview
• 9 Zur Standardisierung und Serialisierung von Texten während der Kassitenzeit am Beispiel der Opferschau-Omina
• 10 The Babylonian Kudurru Inscriptions and their Legal and Sociohistorical Implications
• 11 Die Götter der Kassitenzeit. Eine Analyse ihres Vorkommens in zeitgenössischen Textquellen