uring the early Kassite Age the caravans from Babylon had to pass
through the area controlled by Mitanni, which was therefore able to
impose heavy duties and fill its coffers with Babylonian gold. Nor did
the situation improve when the influence of Mitanni suffered decline
in southern Mesopotamia. Indeed the difficulties under which traders
operated were then still further increased, for the caravan roads were
infested by plundering bands of "Suti", to whom references are made in
the Tell-el-Amarna letters. These bandits defied all the great powers,
and became so powerful that even the messengers sent from one king to
another were liable to be robbed and murdered without discrimination.
When war broke out between powerful States they harried live stock and
sacked towns in those areas which were left unprotected.

The "Suti" were Arabians of Aramaean stock. What is known as the
"Third Semitic Migration" was in progress during this period. The
nomads gave trouble to Babylonia and Assyria, and, penetrating
Mesopotamia and Syria, sapped the power of Mitanni, until it was
unable to resist the onslaughts of the Assyrians and the Hittites.

The Aramaean tribes are referred to, at various periods and by various
peoples, not only as the "Suti", but also as the "Achlame", the
"Arimi", and the "Khabiri". Ultimately they were designated simply as
"Syrians", and under that name became the hereditary enemies of the
Hebrews, although Jacob was regarded as being of their stock: "A
Syrian ready to perish", runs a Biblical reference, "was my father
(ancestor), and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a
few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous".[408]

An heroic attempt was made by one of the Kassite kings of Babylonia to
afford protection to traders by stamping out brigandage between Arabia
and Mesopotamia, and opening up a new and direct caravan road to Egypt
across the Arabian desert. The monarch in question was
Kadashman-Kharbe, the grandson of Ashur-uballit of Assyria. As we have
seen, he combined forces with his distinguished and powerful kinsman,
and laid a heavy hand on the "Suti". Then he dug wells and erected a
chain of fortifications, like "block-houses", so that caravans might
come and go without interruption, and merchants be freed from the
imposts of petty kings whose territory they had to penetrate when
travelling by the Haran route.

This bold scheme, however, was foredoomed to failure. It