ABSTRACT
Following the crisis of the twelfth century bc, the lands west of the Euphrates experienced a phase of reformation. Throughout this period, Mesopotamia continued to endure its slow decline and its traditional conflicts. From as early as the fourteenth century bc, the Kassite, Middle Assyrian, and Middle Elamite kingdoms were competing in a sort of ‘power triangle’ (Table 27.1). This complex interaction was marked by sudden changes within a generally stable balance of power, and by the difficult position of Babylonia, caught between its two fierce rivals. Since these powers remained unaffected by what was going on in the west, this ‘triangle’ continued to exist well after the twelfth century bc. Moreover, the end of the Kassite dynasty and the rise of the Second Dynasty of Isin were more a consequence of this ‘power triangle’, than a mark of new turmoils. Similarly, although the Aramean infiltrations in Upper Mesopotamia and Babylonia brought new internal disorders, they did not bring about the rise of new political powers.
