The Kassite conquest of Babylonia--The Kassites probably Aryans by race and akin to the later rulers of Mitanni--Character of their rule in Babylon--Their introduction of the horse into Western Asia--The Kassite conquest of the Sea-Country and its annexation to Babylon--Gap in our knowledge of the Kassite succession--The letters from Tell el-Amarna and Boghaz-Keui--Egypt and Western Asia at the close of the fifteenth century--Diplomacy and the balance of power--Dynastic marriages and international intercourse of the period--Amen-hetep III. and Kadashman-Enlil--Akhenaten and his policy of doles--Babylon's caravans in Syria--The correspondence of Burna-Buriash and Akhenaten--Egypt's loss of her Asiatic provinces--Rise of the Hittite Empire--The Hittites and their civilization--Their capital of Khatti--Their annexation of Mitanni and the Egyptian war--The relations of Khattusil with Kadashman-turgu and Kadashman-Enlil II.--Character of the Hittite correspondence--The growth of Assyria and her relations with Babylon--First phase in the long struggle of the two kingdoms--The later members of the Kassite Dynasty--Its fall to be traced to Elamite invasion--Economic conditions in Babylonia under the Kassites--Kudurru-inscriptions or boundary-stones--Their evidence on the Babylonian system of land-tenure--Gradual disappearance of tribal proprietorship as a result of West-Semitic and Kassite policy--Transition from collective to private ownership CHAPTER VIII THE LATER DYNASTIES AND THE ASSYRIAN DOMINATION Spoils at Susa from the Elamite invasion--Recovery of her territory by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar I.--Renewal of conflicts and treaties with Assyria--The devastation of Babylonia by the Sutû--Ephemeral Babylonian dynasties--The state of Sippar typical of the condition of the country--Renaissance of Assyria--The conquests of Ashur-uasir-pal and Babylon's abortive opposition--Babylonian art in the ninth century--Intervention of Shalmaneser III. in Babylonian politics--His campaign in Chaldea--The kingdom of Urartu and its effect on Assyrian expansion--Independence of provincial governments during a relaxation of central control--Temporary recovery of Babylon under Nabonassar--Gradual tightening of Assyria's grasp upon the southern kingdom--Character of her later empire--Tiglath-pileser IV.'s policy of deportation and its inherent weakness--The disappearance of Erartu as a buffer state--Sargon and Merodach-baladan--Sennacherib's attempt to destroy Babylon--Esarhaddon's reversal of his father's policy--The Assyrian conquest of Egypt--Ashur-bani-pal and the revolt of Shamash-shum-ukîn--The sack of Susa--Babylon under the Sargonids--The policies of encouragement and coercion--Effect of their alternation CHAPTER IX