2000-1000 BC Middle and Late Bronze Age

During the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), the Amorites dominated much of Syria and north Mesopotamia. Many existing large sites were fortified and city-states such as Mari and Aleppo dominated the Syrian plains. Merchants, particularly from the northern Mesopotamian city of Ashur, established colonies on the Anatolian plateau to trade for precious metals. Around 1800 BC Shamshi-Adad I united much of northern Mesopotamia, from Ashur on the River Tigris to Mari on the River Euphrates. His death allowed Hammurabi (about 1792-1750 BC), king of Babylon, to expand his control of the south and unify much of Mesopotamia. The Babylonian Empire declined under succeeding kings and was brought to an end in a raid by the Hittites from Anatolia around 1595 BC.

In the Late Bronze Age the Hurrians established the Mitannian Empire across north Mesopotamia, while in the south, the Kassites came to control Babylonia. By around 1550 BC, the emerging powers of the Hittites in Anatolia and the Assyrians in northern Mesopotamia brought an end to Mitanni’s power. The Assyrians briefly expanded their control over Babylonia and Syria. Towards the end of the period, a number of sites were violently destroyed. The Hittite Empire and numerous city-states in Syria and the Levant collapsed, while Mesopotamia suffered a decline.