Middle Babylonian period

Middle Babylonian period
c. 1595 BC – c. 1155 BC
Babylonia c. 13th century BC
Location	Babylonia
Monarch(s)	Burnaburiash I (first king) Enlil-nadin-ahi (last king)
Key events	Sack of Babylon c. 1595 BC Assyrian and Elamite invasions c. 1158 BC
Chronology Old Babylonian period Old Assyrian period Old Elamite period Isin-Larsa period Neo-Babylonian period Middle Assyrian period Middle Elamite Period Neo-Assyrian period Neo-Elamite Period

The Middle Babylonian period, also known as the Kassite period, in southern Mesopotamia is dated from c. 1595 – c. 1155 BC and began after the Hittites sacked the city of Babylon.^[1][2][3] The Kassites, whose dynasty is synonymous with the period, eventually assumed political control over the region and consolidated their power by subjugating the Sealand dynasty c. 1475 BC.^[4] After the subjugation of the Sealand dynasty, the Kassites unified the region of Babylonia into a single political entity.^[5] At the height of the Middle Babylonian period, the Kassite kings were engaging in commerce, trade, and organising diplomatic marriages with the kings of Egypt and other regional powers.^[1][6] However, after a period of gradual decline, the Middle Babylonian period collapsed with the fall of the Kassite dynasty c. 1155 BC. The collapse came as a result of an Assyrian invasion (c. 1232 – c. 1225 BC), that temporarily displaced the Kassites from their rule over southern Mesopotamia.^[1][4] Finally, the Elamites conducted various raids and eventually invaded Babylonian c. 1158 BC, which brought the Kassite dynasty and Middle Babylonian period to an end.^[1]

There are however differing chronologies of the period proposed by some contemporary scholars, with some suggesting that the Middle Babylonian period only proceeded the collapse of the Kassite period of c. 1150 BC.^[7] While other scholars take the whole period of c. 1595 – c. 626 BC as constituting the Middle Babylonian period.^[8]