Chapter 4 Outline ? The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000?500 B.C.E. The Mediterranean and Middle East,? 2000?500?b.c.e. I.????? The Cosmopolitan Middle East, 1700?1100 b.c.e. Western Asia In the southern portion of western Asia, the Kassites ruled Babylonia during this period. Babylonia did not pursue territorial conquest. In the north, the Assyrians had their origins in the northern Tigris area. They were involved in trade in tin and silver. The Hittites had their capital in Anatolia, used horse-drawn chariots, and had access to important copper, silver, and iron deposits. During the second millennium b.c.e. Mesopotamian political and cultural concepts spread across much of western Asia. New Kingdom Egypt