What is Kassite dynasty?
[[Image:Kassite Babylonia EN.svg|right|300px|thumb|The Babylonian Empire under the Kassites.]] The '''Kassite dynasty''' was ruled by the Kassites. They were an obscure mountain tribe who came to power in [[Babylon]] after the collapse of the First Dynasty of Babylon in 1595 <small>BC</small> following a Hittite sack of the city, and became rulers of northern [[Babylonia]]. == The Kassites == The '''Kassites''' ([[Persian language|Persian]]: کاسی‌ها) were an [[Ancient history|ancient]] people from [[Zagros mountains]]. Kassites were a federation of several nomadic tribes living in the [[Zagros mountains]], in modern [[Loristan]] ([[Iran]]). In the 18th century BCE, the Kassites started to infiltrate [[Mesopotamia]], which was ruled by the successors of the famous king [[Hammurabi]] of [[Babylon]] (1792–1750). Kassites threatened Babylonia, which they captured in 1750 BC. The Kassite dynasty dominated Mesopotamia from the 16th to the 12th century BC. == Importance of this empire == By turning southern [[Mesopotamia]] into a state, instead of a group of temple-cities, the Kassites made Babylonia an international power. They ruled Babylonia almost without interruption for about four hundred years — the longest rule by any dynasty in Babylonian history.<ref>Boardman J. et al. (eds) 1982. ''Cambridge Ancient History'', vol III Pt 1 (2nd Ed). [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> Kassite kings established trade and diplomacy with [[Assyria]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Elam]] and the [[Hittites]]. The Kassite royal house intermarried with their royal families. There were foreign merchants in Babylon and other cities. Babylonian merchants traded from Egypt (a source of [[Nubia]]n gold) to Assyria and Anatolia. Kassite weights and seals, the tools of trade, have been found in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] in Greece, in southern [[Armenia]], and even in a shipwreck off the southern coast of today's Turkey. The Kassite kings set up a network of provinces administered by governors. [[Nippur]], a formerly great city, had