The Near East

The period after 1600 BC saw the fertile lands of Mesopotamia and the Levant become the battleground between rival empires: Hittites, Mitannians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Elamites and Egyptians. After 1200 BC, however, these powers collapsed in a dramatic sequence of events that is still not fully understood by historians. The resulting two centuries of upheaval marked the end of the bronze age in the Near East.

Much of the detailed knowledge of the relationships between the warring empires comes from the "Amana letters". This collection of documents written in Akkadian (the international language of diplomacy in this period), consists of correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs Amenophis III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun (1390-1327 BC) and the rulers of the other great powers. The letters reveal the dynastic marriages and gift-giving that typify relations between rulers: the personal and the political were intimately bound together.

The most important new power in the region was the Hittite empire in central Anatolia. The Hittites had been expanding their power from their centre at Hattushash since the reign of Hattusili I (c. 1650-1620 BC), Mursili I (c. 1620-1590 BC) led an expedition that destroyed Aleppo and Babylon, but it was Tudhaliya I (c. 1420-1400 BC) and Suppiluliuma I (1344-1322 BC) who made the Hittites an imperial power. The empire consisted of a large number of small territories governed by client kings who owed their position to the "Great King" who ruled from the capital Hattusa. Client rulers were required to raise troops for the king's campaigns and to provide labour and goods for the central administration. They were often bound to the king by marriage ties.

The Hittites faced frequent  pressure on their borders from Arzawa to the west and the Gasga to the north, but their biggest rivals were Egyp and the kingdom of Mitanni to the south. Mitanni first appears in the historical record in c. 1400 BC, when its ruler Parratarna is described as controlling Aleppo. For the next 140 years Mitanni was a major power, controlling Assyria by 1400 BC. Mutual concern about Hittite power saw an alliance between Mitanni and Egypt, and the last independent ruler of Mitanni, Tushratta, married his daughter to Amenophis IV (Akhenaten). Tushratta was assassinated in c. 1340 BC, and his son Shattiwaza was installed as a vassal of the Hittites. Hostility continued between the Hittites and the Egyptians, leading to the great but inconclusive battle of Kadesh in 1275 BC between the pharaoh Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) and the Hittite king Muwatalli (1295-1271 BC).

Assyrian expansion began under Ashur-uballit I (1353-1318 BC), as Mitanni began to collapse under Hittite pressure. Adad-nirari I (1295-1264 BC) seized what was left of Mitanni from the Hittites, and Assyrian power grew to its greatest extent in the reign of Tikulti-ninurta I (1233-1197 BC), who conquered Babylon and installed a series of puppet rulers. Up until then Mesopotamia had been through a period of stability, ruled from Babylon, which came under the control of the Kassites in c. 1595 BC. Little is known about their origins,  but they were noted for their horses and chariots, and maintained power for four centuries.

The Assyrian attack on Babylon led to counter-attacks from Elam to the southeast. The Elamite kings Kiden-Hutran (c. 1235-1210 BC) and Shrutruk-Nahunte (1185-1155 BC) led campaigns into Mesopotamia, the latter capturing Babylon. Despite a Babylonian revival under Nebuchadnezzar I (1126-1205 BC), the general upheaval that brought an end to the Bronze Age saw both Babylon and Elam more or less disappear from the historical record within a few years.

Around 1200 BC there was a wave of destruction throughout the eastern Mediterranean from Greece to Syria and Palestine. Fifty years later several cities in Mesopotamia were also destroyed. There are reports from the city of Ugarit of attacks from the sea, and the Egyptian pharaohs Merneptah (1213-1203 BC) and Rameses III (11840-1150 BC) describe battles with "sea peoples". Although this obscure group was once considered the cause of widespread destruction it is now thought that they were merely taking advantage of a widespread breakdown in political organization. Earthquakes, draught, interruption to the supply of metals, and many other things, have been suggested as the cause of the collapse. It is likely that no one explanation will suffice, and that  a number of external factors combined with the fragility of the centralized power structures of the Bronze Age kingdoms, led to the dramatic end of the civilizations of the Bronze Age.