itle "Shar Kishshati", "king of the world", and
had a prosperous reign of fifteen years. He was succeeded by
Marduk-aplu-iddin I, who presided over the destinies of Babylonia for
about thirteen years. Thereafter the glory of the Kassite Dynasty
passed away. King Zamama-shum-iddin followed with a twelvemonth's
reign, during which his kingdom was successfully invaded from the
north by the Assyrians under King Ashur-dan I, and from the east by
the Elamites under a king whose name has not been traced. Several
towns were captured and pillaged, and rich booty was carried off to
Asshur and Susa.

Bel-shum-iddin succeeded Zamama-shum-iddin, but three years afterwards
he was deposed by a king of Isin. So ended the Kassite Dynasty of
Babylonia, which had endured for a period of 576 years and nine
months.

Babylonia was called Karduniash during the Kassite Dynasty. This name
was originally applied to the district at the river mouths, where the
alien rulers appear to have first achieved ascendancy. Apparently they
were strongly supported by the non-Semitic elements in the population,
and represented a popular revolt against the political supremacy of
the city of Babylon and its god Merodach. It is significant to find in
this connection that the early Kassite kings showed a preference for
Nippur as their capital and promoted the worship of Enlil, the elder
Bel, who was probably identified with their own god of fertility and
battle. Their sun god, Sachi, appears to have been merged in Shamash.
In time, however, the kings followed the example of Hammurabi by
exalting Merodach.

The Kassite language added to the "Babel of tongues" among the common
people, but was never used in inscriptions. At an early period the
alien rulers became thoroughly Babylonianized, and as they held sway
for nearly six centuries it cannot be assumed that they were
unpopular. They allowed their mountain homeland, or earliest area of
settlement in the east, to be seized and governed by Assyria, and
probably maintained as slight a connection with it after settlement in
Babylonia as did the Saxons of England with their Continental area of
origin.

Although Babylonia was not so great a world power under the Kassites
as it had been during the Hammurabi Dynasty, it prospered greatly as
an industrial, agricultural, and trading country. The Babylonian
language was used throughout western Asia as the language of diplomacy
and commerce, and the city of Babylon was