Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History

by Moudhy Al-Rashid

After their capital city Babylon was sacked in 1595 BCE, the Amorites fade from the upper echelons of Babylonian society to be replaced by another foreign tribe, the Kassites (who kick off the Kassite period). Little is known of their native language and origin, as they seem to have quickly assimilated into the local culture, perhaps to peacefully assume power, which they retained for over 400 years. After that, a new Babylonian dynasty rises to power in 626 BCE in what we call the Neo-Babylonian period, meaning Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna was a ‘Neo-Babylonian’ in our understanding.12 This last era of independent Babylonian rule lasted until the princess’s father, King Nabonidus, was defeated by Cyrus the Great’s Persian army in 539 BCE. The once mighty Ur was abandoned just a century later when the languid but life-giving Euphrates wandered too far off course to allow for irrigation and the desert reasserted itself.