1. Hittites, Kassites, & Mitanni

2. Hittites Anatolian people – 1600 B.C. Asia Minor Present day Turkey

3. Key Military advantages 1 st people to master iron working (strong tools and weapons Chariot – wheeled, horse-drawn cart used in battle -allowed them to move more quickly - fired arrows at the enemy

5. smelting Heating iron ore, hammer out the impurities, cool quickly Passed on to other military empires… Assyrians

6. Conquests 1595 B.C. – conquered Babylon 1282 B.C. – reached height

7. Decline After conquest of Babylon, rule did not last long Hittite king killed by an assassin

9. Kassites 1531 B.C. – 1155 B.C. Allies to Hittites

12. Geography 1800 B.C. – settled in western Iran Captured the city of Babylon Capital - Dur-Kurigalzu Ruled southern Mesopotamia (Hittites – Northern) Middle Babylonian period Ruled 400 years

13. Kassites Not as literate as those in Mesopotamia Mesopotamia entered a Dark Age Used language that was not written (Unlike others) polytheistic

14. Decline Foreign attacks “sea people”

15. Contributions Kudurru – boundary stones Used for marking boundaries and making proclamations

16. Mitanni Founded in 1550 1475-1275 B.C. Indo-Iranians Conquered by Assyrians