CHAPTER V
THE KASSITE INTERLUDE
It has been rightly stated that few conquerors left so great an impression of their power upon Babylonian peoples as did the Kassites, though we know little of their earlier history.[1] Fortunately, some idea of their linguistic connections may be gained from a list of Kassite words compiled by Babylonian scribes, who gave also their corresponding Akkadian translations.[2] Most of the preserved words, as well as the majority of the personal names,[3] demonstrate that the common people among the Kassites spoke a Caucasian language which was perhaps a near neighbor of Elamite.[4] Another list, which turns the names of Kassite rulers into Akkadian, adds further light on the question of their deities em-
- ↑ A. T. Olmstead, "Kashshites, Assyrians, and the Balance of Power," AJSL, XXXVI (1919/20), 120.
- ↑ Friedrich Delitzsch, Die Sprache der Kossäer (Leipzig, 1884), pp. 25 f.; T. G. Pinches, "The Language of the Kassites," JRAS, 1917, pp. 102–5.
- ↑ A. T. Clay, Personal Names from Cuneiform Inscriptions of the Cassite Period ("Yale Oriental Series," Vol. I). Many Kassite names occur in the Nuzi documents now awaiting publication.
- ↑ The studies of Georg Hüsing on this subject, though of doubtful value, are often stimulating; cf. Memnon, IV (1910), 22–30; OLZ, 1917, cols. 106–9, 178–81, and 205–9; OLZ, 1918, cols. 43–48 and 264–72.
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