ABSTRACT
A major beneficiary of the Hittite assault on Mittani was the king of Assur: with his Hurrian overlords losing their grip, Assur-uballit i (1363-1328) asserted Assyrian independence and proceeded to reclaim the rich hinterland of his ancient seat in northern Mesopotamia, the heartland of future empire. The ruler of the rump of the Mittani empire and his capital fell to the Assyrians under Adad-nirai i, who had rebuilt Assur. The extinction of the Hittites and the withdrawal of the Egyptians at the onset of the 'Sea Peoples' left a power vacuum in west Asia for several centuries. The Dark Age obscured much, not least the advent of the peripatetic people who developed their idiosyncratic religion in the land of Canaan, the hilly region to the west of the River Jordan. The tangible evidence of civilization in the Sabea of Makeda and her son's successors is provided by the temples of Yeha and several related sites in the vicinity of Axum.
