the most important
commercial metropolis of the ancient world. Its merchants traded
directly and indirectly with far-distant countries. They imported
cobalt--which was used for colouring glass a vivid blue--from China,
and may have occasionally met Chinese traders who came westward with
their caravans, while a brisk trade in marble and limestone was
conducted with and through Elam. Egypt was the chief source of the
gold supply, which was obtained from the Nubian mines; and in exchange
for this precious metal the Babylonians supplied the Nilotic merchants
with lapis-lazuli from Bactria, enamel, and their own wonderful
coloured glass, which was not unlike the later Venetian, as well as
chariots and horses. The Kassites were great horse breeders, and the
battle steeds from the Babylonian province of Namar were everywhere in
great demand. They also promoted the cattle trade. Cattle rearing was
confined chiefly to the marshy districts at the head of the Persian
Gulf, and the extensive steppes on the borders of the Arabian desert,
so well known to Abraham and his ancestors, which provided excellent
grazing. Agriculture also flourished; as in Egypt it constituted the
basis of national and commercial prosperity.

It is evident that great wealth accumulated in Karduniash during the
Kassite period. When the images of Merodach and Zerpanitu^m were taken
back to Babylon, from Assyria, they were clad, as has been recorded,
in garments embroidered with gold and sparkling with gems, while
E-sagila was redecorated on a lavish scale with priceless works of
art.

Assyria presented a sharp contrast to Babylonia, the mother land, from
which its culture was derived. As a separate kingdom it had to develop
along different lines. In fact, it was unable to exist as a world
power without the enforced co-operation of neighbouring States.
Babylonia, on the other hand, could have flourished in comparative
isolation, like Egypt during the Old Kingdom period, because it was
able to feed itself and maintain a large population so long as its
rich alluvial plain was irrigated during its dry season, which
extended over about eight months in the year.

The region north of Baghdad was of different geographical formation to
the southern plain, and therefore less suitable for the birth and
growth of a great independent civilization. Assyria embraced a chalk
plateau of the later Mesozoic period, with tertiary deposits, and had
an extremely limited area