ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c.1370-1300 B.C. - Recovery in Western Asia - Chapter XVIII

Sep 28, 2026

This chapter recounts the historical “dark age” that limited earlier knowledge of Assyria and Babylonia after the reigns of Shamshi-Adad I and Ishme-Dagan and the end of Hammurabi’s last successor. It explains how invasions and absorbing cultures—Hyksos in Egypt, Hurrians (Mitanni and Khanigalbat) in Syria and Mesopotamia, and Kassites in Babylonia—shaped Western Asia. The narrative then focuses on the recovery of Western Asia, showing how foreign domination and shifting regional control affected Assyrian kingship and administration.

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CHAPTER XVIII

ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, C.1370-1300 B.C.

I. RECOVERY IN WESTERN ASIA

THE CAMBRIDGEANCIENT HISTORY # REVISED EDITION OFVOLUMES I &II CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 9ll 边a5 Z-人 +10 OC6 0419 # ASSYRIA ANDBABYLON c.1370-1300 B.C.BY ## C.J.GADD,D.LITT. Professor Emeritus of Ancient Semitic Languages and CivilizationsSchool of Oriental and African StudiesUniversity of London VOLUME IICHAPTER XVIII CAMBRIDGE ni-tavAT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1965 PU BLISHED BYTHE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRI DGE UNIVERSI TY PRESS Bentley House,200 Euston Road,London,N.W.IAmerican Branch:32 East 57th Street,New York,N.Y.10022West African Office:P.O.Box 33,Ibadan,Nigeria CAMBRI DGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Printed in Great Britain at the University Printing House,Cambridge(Brooke Crutchley,University Printer) ## CHAPTER XVIII ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, C.I370-I300 B.C. ## I.RECOVERY IN WESTERN ASIA THE pages of this history have had little to tell about Assyria orBabylonia since the reigns of Shamshi-Adad I and of his sonIshme-Dagan in the former,and since the end of Hammurabi'slast successor in the latter.The intervening space of nearly threecenturies was occupied by the invasions and retarding influenceswhich affected the whole of Western Asia and Egypt as well,andhad produced a similar dimness in the view of all that vast area.In Egypt the invaders were the Hyksos,l in Syria,Mesopotamia,and eastward the Hurrians,in Babylonia the Kassites;all of thempeoples of origins as obscure as their cultural levels were generallylow,and all alike destined to lose their individuality,partly byconquest,but mostly by absorption,before they had attained adistinctive civilization or much history of their own.For thisdark age modern research has therefore to depend partly uponsurvivals and intermittent gleams of the old.The point nowreached in the story is that where the gloom is everywhere reced-ing—it had been dispelled from Egypt with the ejection of theHyksos and the counter-invasion of Syria by the kings of theEighteenth Dynasty,but these had never approached nearenough to the old seats of the Babylonian culture to exercise adirect infuence there or to break (if such had been the effect)thedeadening spell which still overpowered them.The greatest ofEgyptian conquerors,Tuthmosis III,was indeed able,at thefarthest point of his penetration into Syria,to include among thespoils of his campaign a tribute from Ashur,which his fame ifnot his armies had reached.2 Little affected by this distantintruder,and not at all by his successors,the Assyrian nation hadfar more to fear and to suffer from the nearer oppression of theHurrians,represented by kings of the states called Mitanni andKhanigalbat,whose history up to the present point has beenrelated in the foregoing chapters.3 The Kassites had begun to 4 ASSYRIA AND BABYLON,c.1370-1300 B.C. raid and settle in Babylonia under the son of Hammurabi,andhad at length established themselves in the capital,filling the voidleft after the Hittite raid which ended the Amorite Dynasty there.Yet despite violent interferences the two lands had lost little oftheir respective identities.Throughout all these years the line ofAssyrian kings was never broken,and the invaders of Babyloniahad come,like so many of their forerunners,to be accepted asmerely a new dynasty in a country seemingly gifted with aninexhaustible capacity of absorbing the most intractable elementsand reshaping them in its own mould. In Assyria the line of kings is preserved unbroken to us onlyby lists of their names and reigns.2 Of the thirty-six countedbetween Ishme-Dagan I and Ashur-uballit several occupied anuneasy throne for a moment only,and the rest have left no morethan a few records of local building activity in the city of Ashur,³coupled with a genealogical notice.Their inscriptions occupy nothalf-a-dozen pages in modern books,and where they have toldnothing of themselves it is not surprising that the outside worldhas told,in general,no more.There is no doubt that most ofthese reigns were passed under th

FAQs

What historical gap affects knowledge of Assyria and Babylonia in this chapter?

The chapter explains that after Shamshi-Adad I and his son Ishme-Dagan, and after Hammurabi’s last successor ended, nearly three centuries passed with invasions and regional influences that obscured events across Western Asia and Egypt.

Which foreign groups are described as shaping Western Asia during this period?

The text identifies Hyksos in Egypt, Hurrians (including Mitanni and Khanigalbat rulers) in Syria and Mesopotamia, and Kassites in Babylonia, emphasizing that these peoples were later absorbed and reshaped by surrounding cultures.

How does the chapter characterize Assyrian kingship during foreign pressure?

It states that the line of Assyrian kings was preserved mainly through name and reign lists, and that many reigns likely unfolded under foreign domination, with Hurrian rulers exerting power and occupying districts more naturally belonging to Assyria.

Sep 28, 2026

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