Pharaoh. Burna-buryas in B.C. 1400 writes affectionately to his
"brother" of Egypt, begging for some of the gold which in Egypt he
declares is as abundant "as the dust," and which he needs for his
buildings at home. He tells the Egyptian king how his father Kuri-galzu
had refused to listen to the Canaanites when they had offered to betray
their country to him, and he calls Khu-n-Aten to account for treating
the Assyrians as an independent nation and not as the vassals of
Babylonia.

The Assyrians, however, did not take the same view as the Babylonian
king. They had been steadily growing in power, and had intermarried into
the royal family of Babylonia. Assur-yuballidh, one of whose letters to
the Pharaoh has been found at Tel el-Amarna, had married his daughter to
the uncle and predecessor of Burna-buryas, and his grandson became king
of Babylon. A revolt on the part of the Kassite troops gave the
Assyrians an excuse for interfering in the affairs of Babylonia, and
from this time forward their eyes were turned covetously towards the
kingdom of the south.

As Assyria grew stronger, Babylonia became weaker. Calah, now _Nimrud_,
was founded about B.C. 1300 by Shalmaneser I., and his son and successor
Tiglath-Ninip threw off all disguise and marched boldly into Babylonia
in the fifth year of his reign. Babylon was taken, the treasures of its
temple sent to Assur, and Assyrian governors set over the country, while
a special seal was made for the use of the conqueror. For seven years
the Assyrian domination lasted. Then Tiglath-Ninip was driven back to
Assyria, where he was imprisoned and murdered by his son, and the old
line of Kassite princes was restored in the person of Rimmon-sum-uzur.
But it continued only four reigns longer. A new dynasty from the town of
Isin seized the throne, and ruled for 132 years and six months.