Kingdom of Mitanni(roughly corresponding to
Kurdistan)
'Mitanni' (
cuneiform
KUR URU''Mi-it-ta-ni'', also 'Mittani' ''Mi-ta-an-ni'',
in
Assyrian sources ''Hanigalbat, Khanigalbat'' cuneiform ''Ḫa-ni-gal-bat'' ) was a
Hurrian kingdom in northern
Mesopotamia from ca.
1500 BC, at the height of its power, during the
14th century BC, encompassing what is today southeastern
Turkey, northern
Syria and northern
Iraq (roughly corresponding to
Kurdistan), centered around the capital
Washshukanni in today's
Al Hasakah Governorate of northern Syria.
In
Neo-Assyrian times, the name was used as a geographical term for the area between the
Khabur river and
Euphrates rivers.
The Mitanni kingdom is thought to have been a
feudal state led by a warrior nobility of
Indo-Aryan descent, invading the region at some point during the 17th century BC in the course of the
Indo-Aryan migration that separated the Middle Bronze Age. The spread to Syria of a distinct pottery type associated with the
Kura-Araxes culture has been connected with this movement, although its date is somewhat too early.
[1] Mitanni is often associated with the
Armenians and
Kurds [2].
Geography
Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia extended from
Nuzi (modern
Kirkuk) and the river
Tigris in the east, to
Aleppo and middle Syria (''Nuhashshe'') in the west. Its centre was in the
Khabur river valley, with two capitals:
Taite and
Washshukanni, called ''Taidu'' and ''Ushshukana'' respectively in Assyrian sources. (''Vasu-khani'' would mean "mine of wealth" in
Sanskrit, but cf.
Luwian ''vasu-'' "good", ''Bashkani'' in modern
Kurdish: ''good water source'') The whole area allows agriculture without artificial irrigation; cattle, sheep and goats were raised. It is very similar to Assyria in climate, and was settled by both indigenous
Hurrian and
Amoritic-speaking (''Amurru'') populations.
Hurri, Mitanni/Maitani, and Hanigalbat
"Mitanni" seems to have been the native term; this entity may also have been the Biblical
Harran, though this is contested. We may assume a
Hurrian population with an
Indo-Aryan aristocracy.
Hittite annals mention a people called "Khurri", located in north-eastern Syria. A Hittite fragment, probably from the time of
Mursili I, mentions a "King of the Khurri," or "Hurrians." Probably, the original form of the name was "Hurla". The
Assyro-Akkadian version of the text renders "Hurri" as ''Hanigalbat''. The Assyrians used the term "Mitanni" as a synonym only after the end of the political entity.
Egyptian sources call Mitanni "''nhrn''," which is usually pronounced as "Nahrin"
[3] from the Akkadian word for 'river', cf. ''
Aram-Naharaim''. The name ''Mitanni'' or ''Maitani'' is first found in the "memoirs" of the Syrian wars (ca. 1480) of the officier Amememhet, who lived at the time of
Amenhotep I (1525 - 1504 BC) and maybe his two successors.
People
The ethnicity of the people of Mitanni is difficult to ascertain. The names of the Mitanni aristocracy may reveal an Indo-Aryan origin, but it is specifically their deities which betray Indic roots, though they are probably more immediately related to the
Kassites.
[4] The common peoples' language, the agglutinative
Hurrian language is neither
Indo-European nor Semitic.
[5] Hurrian, and thus the Hurrians, are relatives of
Urartu, but nothing more can be deduced from current evidence.
[6] A Hurrian passage in the
Amarna letters - usually composed in Akkadian, the ''lingua franca'' of the day - indicates that the royal family of Mitanni was by then speaking Hurrian as well.
Bearers of names in the
Hurrian language are attested in wide areas of Syria and the northern Levant that are clearly outside the area of the political entity known to Assyria as ''Hanilgalbat''. There is no indication that these persons owed allegiance to the political entity of Mitanni; although the
German term ''Auslandshurriter'' ("Hurrian expatriates") has been used by some authors. In the 14th century BC numerous city-states in northern Syria and Canaan were ruled by persons with Hurrian names. If this can be taken to mean that the population of these states was Hurrian as well, then it is possible that these entities were a part of a larger polity with a shared Hurrian identity. This is often assumed, but without a critical examination of the sources. Differences in dialect and regionally different pantheons (''Hepat/Shawushka, Sharruma/Tilla'' etc.) point to the existence of several groups of Hurrian speakers.
History
No native sources for the history of Mitanni (i.e. ''Hanilgalbat'') have been found so far. The account is mainly based on Assyrian, Hittite and
Egyptian sources, as well as inscriptions from nearby places in Syria. Often it is not even possible to establish synchronicity between the rulers of different countries and cities, let alone give uncontested absolute dates. The definition and history of Mitanni is further beset by a lack of differentiation between linguistic, ethnic and political groups.
Summary
It is believed that the warring Hurrian tribes and city states became united under one dynasty after the collapse of
Babylon due to the Hittite sack by
Mursili I and the
Kassite invasion. The Hittite conquest of Aleppo (
Yamhad), the weak middle Assyrian kings, and the internal strifes of the Hittites had created a power vacuum in upper Mesopotamia. This led to the formation of the kingdom of Mitanni.
King 'Barattarna' of Mitanni expanded the kingdom west to Halab (Aleppo) and made Idrimi of Alalakh his vassal. The state of
Kizzuwatna in the west also shifted its allegiance to Mitanni and
Arrapha and
Assyria in the east had become Mitannian vassal states by the mid-fifteenth century BC. The nation grew stronger during the reign of 'Shaushtatar' but the Hurrians were keen to keep the Hittites inside the Anatolian highland.
Kizzuwatna in the west and
Ishuwa in the north were important allies against the hostile
Hittites.
After a few clashes with the Pharaohs over the control of Syria Mitanni sought peace with Egypt and an alliance was formed. During the reign of 'Shuttarna' in the early fourteenth century BC the relationship was very amicable, and he sent his daughter Gilukheppa to Egypt for a marriage with Pharaoh
Amenhotep III. Mitanni was now at its peak of power.
At the death of Shuttarna Mitanni was ravaged by fights among different claimants of the throne. Eventually 'Tushratta', a son of Shuttarna, ascended the throne. Mitanni had however weakened considerably and the Hittites moved closer to its borders. At the same time the diplomatic relationship with Egypt went cold, and the Assyrians threw off the Mitannian yoke. The Hittite king
Suppiluliuma I invaded the Mitannian vassal states in northern Syria and replaced them with loyal subjects.
In the capital
Washukanni a new power struggle broke out. The Hittites and the Assyrians supported different pretenders to the throne. Finally a Hittite army conquered the capital Washukkanni and installed 'Shattiwaza', the son of Tushratta, as their vassal king of Mitanni in the late fourteenth century BC. The kingdom had by now been reduced to the
Khabur river valley. The Assyrians had however not given up their claim on Mitanni. In the thirteenth century BC Assyria defeated and annexed the kingdom of Mitanni, or Hanigalbat as it was known by them.
Early kingdom
As early as
Akkadian times, Hurrians are known to have lived east of the river Tigris on the northern rim of Mesopotamia, and in the Khabur valley. The group which became Mitanni gradually moved south into Mesopotami sometime before the 17th century BC.
Eusebius, writing in the early 4th century, quoted fragments of
Eupolemus, a now-lost
Jewish historian of the 2nd century BC, as saying that "around the time of Abraham, the
Armenians invaded the Syrians". This may correspond approximately to the arrival of the Mitanni, since Abraham is traditionally assumed at around the 17th century BC. The ''Hurri''-Mitanni
[7] presumably entered northern
Mesopotamia from
Armenia. Hurrians are mentioned in the private
Nuzi texts, in
Ugarit, and the Hittite archives in
Hattushsha (
Boğazköy).
Cuneiform texts from
Mari mention rulers of city-states in upper Mesopotamia with both ''Amurru'' (Amorite) and Hurrian names. Rulers with Hurrian names are also attested for Urshum and Hashshum, and tablets from
Alalakh (layer VII, from the later part of the old-
Babylonian period) mention people with Hurrian names at the mouth of the
Orontes. There is no evidence for any invasion from the North-east. Generally, these
onomastic sources have been taken as evidence for a Hurrian expansion to the South and the West.
A Hittite fragment, probably from the time of
Mursili I, mentions a "King of the Hurrians" (''LUGAL ERÍN.MEŠ Hurri''). This terminology was last used for King Tushratta of Mitanni, in a letter in the
Amarna archives. The normal title of the king was 'King of the Hurri-men' (without the determinative ''KUR'' indicating a country).
It is believed that the warring Hurrian tribes and city states became united under one dynasty after the collapse of
Babylon due to the Hittite sack by
Mursili I and the
Kassite invasion. The Hittite conquest of Aleppo (
Yamkhad), the weak middle Assyrian kings, and the internal strifes of the Hittites had created a power vacuum in upper Mesopotamia. This led to the formation of the kingdom of Mitanni. The legendary founder of the Mitannian dynasty was a king called
Kirta, who was followed by a king
Shuttarna. Nothing is known about these early kings.
Barattarna / Parsha(ta)tar
King Barattarna is known from a cuneiform tablet in Nuzi and an inscription by
Idrimi of
Alalakh.
[1] Egyptian sources do not mention his name; that he was the king of Naharin whom
Thutmose III fought against in the fifteenth century BC can only be deduced from assumptions. Whether Parsha(ta)tar, known from another Nuzi inscription, is the same as Barattarna, or a different king, is debated.
Under the rule of
Thutmose III, Egyptian troops crossed the Euphrates and entered the core lands of Mitanni. At
Megiddo, he fought an alliance of 330 Syrian princes and tribal leaders under the ruler of
Kadesh. See
Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC). Mitanni had sent troops as well. Whether this was done because of existing treaties, or only in reaction to a common threat, remains open to debate. The Egyptian victory opened the way north.
Thutmose III again waged war in Syria in the 33rd year of his rule. The Egyptian army crossed the Euphrates at
Carchemish and reached a town called Iryn (maybe present day Erin, 20 km northwest of Aleppo.) They sailed down the Euphrates to
Emar (Meskene) and then returned home via Syria. A hunt for elephants at Lake Nija was important enough to be included in the annals. This was impressive PR, but did not lead to any permanent rule. Only the area at the
middle Orontes and
Phoenicia became part of Egyptian territory.
Victories over Mitanni are recorded from the Egyptian campaigns in ''Nuhashshe'' (middle part of Syria). Again, this did not lead to permanent territorial gains. Barattarna or his son Shaushtatar controlled the North Syrian interior up to ''Nuhashshe'', and the coastal territories from
Kizzuwatna to
Alalakh in the kingdom of Muksih at the mouth of the Orontes. Idrimi of Alalakh, returning from Egyptian exile, could only ascend his throne with Barattarna's consent. While he got to rule Mukish and Ama'u,
Aleppo remained with Mitanni.
Shaushtatar
Royal seal of Shaushtatar (late 15th century)
, king of Mitanni, sacked
Assur some time in the 15th century, and
took the silver and golden doors of the royal palace to
Washshukanni. This is known from a later Hittite document, the Suppililiuma-Shattiwaza treaty. After the sack of Assur, Assyria may have paid tribute to Mitanni up to the time of
Ashur-uballit I (1365-1330 BC). There is no trace of that in the Assyrian king lists; therefore it is probable that Assur was ruled by a native Assyrian dynasty owing allegiance to the house of Shaushtatar. While a vassal of Mitanni, the temple of
Sin and
Shamash was built in Assur.
Aleppo,
Nuzi, and
Arrapha seem to have been incorporated into Mitanni under Shaushtatar as well. The palace of the
crown prince, the governor of
Arrapha has been excavated. A letter from Shaushtatar was discovered in the house of Shilwe-Teshup. His
seal shows heroes and winged geniuses fighting lions and other animals, as well as a
winged sun. This style, with a multitude of figures distributed over the whole of the available space, is taken as typically Hurrian. A second seal, belonging to Shuttarna I, but used by Shaushtatar, found in
Alalakh, shows a more traditional
Akkadian style.
The military superiority of Mitanni was probably based on the use of two-wheeled war-chariots, driven by the 'Marjannu' people. A text on the training of war-horses, written by a certain "
Kikkuli the Mitannian" has been found in the archives recovered at
Hattusa. More speculative is the attribution of the introduction of the chariot in Mesopotamia to early Mitanni.
Under the Egyptian Pharaoh
Amenhotep II, Mitanni seems to have regained influence in the middle Orontes valley that had been conquered by Thutmose III. Amenhotep fought in Syria in 1425, presumably against Mitanni as well, but did not reach the Euphrates.
Artatama I and Shuttarna II
Later on, Egypt and Mitanni became allies, and King
Shuttarna II himself was received at the Egyptian court. Amicable letters, sumptuous gifts, and letters asking for sumptuous gifts were exchanged. Mitanni was especially interested in Egyptian gold. This culminated in a number of royal marriages: the daughter of King
Artatama I was married to
Thutmose IV. Kilu-Hepa, or
Gilukhipa, the daughter of Shuttarna II, was married to Pharaoh
Amenhotep III, who ruled in the early fourteenth century BC. In a later royal marriage Tadu-Hepa, or
Tadukhipa, the daughter of Tushratta, was sent to Egypt.
When
Amenhotep III fell ill, the king of Mitanni sent him a statue of the goddess Shaushka (
Ishtar) of
Niniveh that was reputed to cure diseases. A more or less permanent border between Egypt and Mitanni seems to have existed near
Qatna on the Orontes River;
Ugarit was part of Egyptian territory.
The reason Mitanni sought peace with Egypt may have been trouble with the Hittites. A Hittite ruler called
Tudhaliya conducted campaigns against
Kizzuwatna,
Arzawa,
Ishuwa,
Aleppo, and maybe against Mitanni itself. Kizzuwatna may have fallen to the Hittites at that time.
Artashumara and Tushratta
Artashumara followed his father Shuttarna II on the throne, but was murdered by a certain UD-hi, or Uthi. It is uncertain what intrigues that followed, but UD-hi then placed
Tushratta, another son of Shuttarna, on the throne. Probably, he was quite young at the time and was intended to serve as a figurehead only. However, he managed to dispose of the murderer, possibly with the help of his Egyptian father-in-law, but this is sheer speculation.
The Egyptians may have suspected the mighty days of Mitanni were about to end. In order to protect their Syrian border zone the new Pharaoh
Akhenaten instead received envoys from the Hittites and Assyria; the former Mitannian vassal state. From the
Amarna letters we know how Tushratta's desperate claim for a gold statue from Akhenaten developed into a major diplomatic crisis.
The unrest weakened the Mitannian control of their vassal states, and
Aziru of
Amurru seized the opportunity and made a secret deal with the Hittite king
Suppiluliuma I.
Kizzuwatna, which had seceded from the Hittites, was reconquered by Suppiluliuma. In what has been called his first Syrian campaign, Suppiluliuma then invaded the western Euphrates valley, and conquered the ''Amurru'' and ''Nuhashshe'' in Mitanni.
According to the later Suppiluliuma-Shattiwaza treaty, Suppiluliuma had made a treaty with
Artatama II, a rival of Tushratta. Nothing is known of this Artatama's previous life or connection, if any, to the royal family. He is called "king of the Hurri", while Tushratta went by the title "King of Mitanni". This must have disagreed with Tushratta. Suppiluliuma began to plunder the lands on the west bank of the Euphrates, and annexed
Mount Lebanon. Tushratta threatened to raid beyond the Euphrates if even a single lamb or kid was stolen.
Suppiluliuma then recounts how the land of
Ishuwa on the upper Euphrates had seceded in the time of his grandfather. Attempts to conquer it had failed. In the time of his father, other cities had rebelled. Suppiluliuma claims to have defeated them, but the survivors had fled to the territory of Ishuwa, that must have been part of Mitanni. A clause to return fugitives is part of many treaties between sovereign states and between rulers and vassal states, so perhaps the harbouring of fugitives by Ishuwa formed the pretext for the Hittite invasion.
A Hittite army crossed the border, entered Ishuwa and returned the fugitives (or deserters or exile governments) to Hittite rule. "I freed the lands that I captured; they dwelt in their places. All the people whom I released rejoined their peoples, and Hatti incorporated their territories."
The Hittite army then marched through various districts towards
Washukanni. Suppiluliuma claims to have plundered the area, and to have brought loot, captives, cattle, sheep and horses back to Hatti. He also claims that Tushratta fled, though obviously he failed to capture the capital. While the campaign weakened Mitanni, it did not endanger its existence.
In a second campaign, the Hittites again crossed the Euphrates and subdued
Halab,
Mukish,
Niya,
Arahati,
Apina, and Qatna, as well as some cities whose names have not been preserved. The booty from Arahati included charioteers, who were brought to Hatti together with all their possessions. While it was common practice to incorporate enemy soldiers in the army, this might point to a Hittite attempt to counter the most potent weapon of Mitanni, the war-chariots, by building up or strengthening their own chariot forces.
All in all, Suppiluliuma claims to have conquered the lands "from Mount Lebanon and from the far bank of the Euphrates". But Hittite governors or vassal rulers are mentioned only for some cities and kingdoms. While the Hittites made some territorial gains in western Syria, it seems unlikely that they established a permanent rule east of the Euphrates.
Shattiwaza
A son of Tushratta conspired with his subjects, and killed his father in order to become king. His brother
Shattiwaza was forced to flee. In the unrest that followed, the Assyrians asserted their independence under Ashur-uballit, and with the
Alsheans invaded the country; and the pretender Artatama/Atratama II gained ascendancy, followed by his son Shuttarna. Suppiluliuma claims that "the entire land of Mittanni went to ruin, and the land of Assyria and the land of Alshi divided it between them", but this sounds more like wishful thinking. This Shuttarna maintained good relations with Assyria, and returned to it the palace doors of Asshur, that had been taken by Shaushtatar. Such booty formed a powerful political symbol in ancient Mesopotamia.
The fugitive Shattiwaza may have gone to Babylon first, but eventually ended up at the court of the Hittite king, who married him to one of his daughters. The treaty between Suppiluliuma of Hatti and Shattiwaza of Mitanni has been preserved and is one of the main sources on this period. After the conclusion of the Suppiluliuma-Shattiwaza treaty,
Piyashshili, a son of Suppiluliuma, led a Hittite army into Mitanni. According to Hittite sources, Piyashshili and Shattiwaza crossed the Euphrates at Carchemish, then marched against
Irridu in Hurrite territory. They sent messengers from the west bank of the Euphrates and seemed to have expected a friendly welcome, but the people were loyal to their new ruler, influenced, as Suppiluliuma claims, by the riches of Tushratta. “Why are you coming? If you are coming for battle, come, but you shall not return to the land of the Great King!” they taunted. Shuttarna had sent men to strengthen the troops and chariots of the district of Irridu, but the Hittite army won the battle, and the people of Irridu sued for peace.
Meanwhile, an Assyrian army "led by a single charioteer" marched on Washshukanni. It seems that Shuttarna had sought Assyrian aid in the face of the Hittite threat. Possibly the force sent did not meet his expectations, or he changed his mind. In any case, the Assyrian army was refused entrance, and set instead to besiege the capital. This seems to have turned the mood against Shuttarna; perhaps the majority of the inhabitants of Washshukanni decided they were better off with the Hittite Empire than with their former subjects. Anyway, a messenger was sent to Piyashshili and Shattiwaza at Irridu, who delivered his message in public, at the city gate. Piyashshili and Shattiwaza marched on Washukanni, and the cities of Harran and Pakarripa seem to have surrendered to them.
While at Pakarripa, a desolate country where the troops suffered hunger, they received word of an Assyrian advance, but the enemy never materialised. The allies pursued the retreating Assyrian troops to Nilap_ini but could not force a confrontation. The Assyrians seem to have retreated home in the face of the superior force of the Hittites.
Shattiwaza became king of Mitanni, but after Suppililiuma had taken Carchemish and the land west of the Euphrates, that were governed by his son Piyashshili, Mitanni was restricted to the
Khabur river and
Balikh River valleys, and became more and more dependent on their allies in Hatti. Some scholars speak of a Hittite puppet kingdom, a buffer-state against Assyria.
Assyria under Ashur-uballit I began to infringe on Mitanni as well. Its vassal state of Nuzi east of the Tigris was conquered and destroyed.
Shattuara I
The royal inscriptions of
Adad-nirari I (c. 1307-1275) relate how King
Shattuara of Mitanni rebelled and committed hostile acts against Assyria. How this Shattuara was related to the dynasty of Partatama is unclear. Some scholars think that he was the second son of Artatama II, and the brother of Shattiwazza's one-time rival Shuttarna. Adad-nirari claims to have captured King Shattuara and brought him to Asshur, where he took an oath as a vassal. Afterwards, he was allowed to return to Mitanni, where he paid Adad-nirari regular tribute. This must have happened during the reign of the Hittite King
Mursili II, but there is no exact date.
Wasashatta
Despite Assyrian strength, Shattuara's son
Wasashatta rebelled. He sought Hittite help, but that kingdom was preoccupied with internal struggles, possibly connected with the usurpation of
Hattusili III, who had driven his nephew
Urhi-Teshup into exile. The Hittites took Wasashatta's money but did not help, as Adad-nirari's inscriptions gleefully note.
The Assyrians conquered the royal city of Taidu, and took Washshukannu, Amasakku, Kahat, Shuru, Nabula, Hurra and Shuduhu as well. They conquered Irridu, destroyed it utterly and sowed salt over it.
The wife, sons and daughters of Wasashatta were taken to Asshur, together with lots of loot and other prisoners. As Wasashatta himself is not mentioned, he must have escaped capture. There are letters of Wasashatta in the Hittite archives. Some scholars think he became ruler of a reduced Mitanni state called
Shubria.
While Adad-nirari I conquered the Mitanni heartland between the Balikh and the Khabur, he does not seem to have crossed the Euphrates, and Carchemish remained part of the Hittite kingdom. With his victory over Mitanni, Adad-nirari claimed the title of Great King (''sharru rabû'') in letters to the Hittite rulers, who still did not consider him as an equal.
Shattuara II
In the reign of
Shalmaneser I (1270s-1240s) King
Shattuara of Mitanni, a son or nephew of Wasahatta, rebelled against the Assyrian yoke with the help of the Hittites and the nomadic
Ahlamu around 1250 BC. His army was well prepared; they had occupied all the mountain passes and waterholes, so that the Assyrian army suffered from thirst during their advance.
Nevertheless, Shalmaneser won a crushing victory. He claims to have slain 14,400 men; the rest were blinded and carried away. His inscriptions mention the conquest of nine fortified temples; 180 Hurrian cities were "turned into rubble mounds", and Shalmaneser "…slaughtered like sheep the armies of the Hittites and the Ahlamu his allies…". The cities from Taidu to Irridu were captured, as well as all of mount Kashiar to Eluhat and the fortresses of Sudu and Harranu to Carchemish on the Euphrates. Another inscription mentions the construction of a temple to
Adad in Kahat, a city of Mitanni that must have been occupied as well.
Hanigalbat as an Assyrian Province
A part of the population was deported and served as cheap labour. Administrative documents mention barley allotted to "uprooted men", deportees from Mitanni. For example, the governor of the city Nahur, Meli-Sah received barley to be distributed to deported persons from
Shuduhu "as seed, food for their oxen and for themselves".
The Assyrians built a line of frontier fortifications against the
Hittites on the
Balikh River.
Mitanni was now ruled by the Assyrian grand-vizier
Ili-ippada, a member of the Royal family, who took the title of king (''sharru'') of Hanilgalbat. He resided in the newly built Assyrian administrative centre at
Tell Sabi Abyad, governed by the Assyrian steward Tammitte. Assyrians maintained not only military and political control, but seem to have dominated trade as well, as no Hurrian names appear in private records of Shalmaneser's time.
Under
Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1243-1207) there were again numerous deportations from Hanilgalbat (Mitanni) to Assur, probably in connection with the construction of a new palace. As the royal inscriptions mention an invasion of Hanilgalbat by a Hittite king, there may have been a new rebellion, or at least native support of a Hittite invasion. The Assyrian towns may have been sacked at this time, as destruction levels have been found in some excavations that cannot be dated with precision, however.
Tell Sabi Abyad, seat of the Assyrian government in the times of Shalmaneser, was deserted sometime between 1200 and 1150 B.C.
In the time of
Assur-nirari III, the
Mushku and other tribes invaded Hanilgalbat and it was lost to Assyrian rule. The Hurrians still held Katmuhu and Paphu.
Neo-Assyrian times
Within a few centuries of the fall of Washshukanni to Assyria, Mitanni became fully
Aramaized, and use of the Hurrian language began to be discouraged throughout the Assyrian Empire. However, a dialect closely related to Hurrian seems to have survived in the "new" state of
Urartu, in the mountainous areas to the north. In the inscriptions of
Adad-nirari II,
Assurbanipal II and
Shalmaneser III, ''Hanigalbat'' is still used as a geographical term, probably as a conscious archaism.
Indo-Aryan superstrate
Main articles: Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni
Some theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni exhibit an
Indo-Aryan superstrate, suggesting that an
Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the
Hurrian population in the course of the
Indo-Aryan expansion. In a treaty between the
Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities
Mitra,
Varuna,
Indra, and
Nasatya (
Ashvins) are invoked.
Kikkuli's horse training text includes technical terms such as ''aika'' (''eka'', one), ''tera'' (''tri'', three), ''panza'' (''pancha'', five), ''satta'' (''sapta'', seven), ''na'' (''nava'', nine), ''vartana'' (''vartana'', round). Another text has ''babru'' (''babhru'', brown), ''parita'' (''palita'', grey), and ''pinkara'' (''pingala'', red). Their chief festival was the celebration of the
solstice (''vishuva'') which was common in most cultures in the ancient world. The Mitanni warriors were called ''marya'', the term for warrior in
Sanskrit as well.
Sanskritic interpretations of Mitanni royal names render Shuttarna as ''Sutarna'' ("good sun"), Baratarna as ''Paratarna'' ("great sun"), Parsatatar as ''Parashukshatra'' ("ruler with axe"), Saustatar as ''Saukshatra'' ("son of ''Sukshatra'', the good ruler"), ''Artatama''
[8] as "most righteous", Tushratta as ''Dasharatha'' ("having ten chariots"?), and, finally, Mattivaza as ''Mativaja'' ("whose wealth is prayer"). Some scholars believe that not only the kings had Indo-Aryan names; a large number of other names resembling Sanskrit have been unearthed in records from the area.
It has been widely conjectured that this original Mitanni aristocracy who bore Indo-Aryan names, had emigrated from the north and imposed themselves upon the indigenous Hurrians of Syria who were not Indo-Aryan, although historical clues are scarce. Some scholars think that Mitanni is likely to have been the originators
of the
Kurdish language [9]. Some Kurdish scholars believe that one of their clans, the ''Mattini'' which live in the same geographical region, preserves the name of Mitanni
[2].
The best records of the Mitanni is found at a city named Nagar (In
sanskrit, "nagar" means city) in Syria. For more information, see
Nagar, Syria.
Mitanni rulers
★
Kirta 1500 BC–
1490 BC
★
Shuttarna I, son of Kirta
1490 BC–
1470 BC
★
Barattarna, P/Barat(t)ama
1470 BC–
1450 BC
★
Parshatatar, (may be identical with Barattarna)
1450 BC–
1440 BC
★
Shaushtatar (son of Parsha(ta) tar)
1440 BC–
1410 BC
★
Artatama I 1410 BC–
1400 BC
★
Shuttarna II 1400 BC–
1385 BC
★
Artashumara 1385 BC–
1380 BC
★
Tushratta 1380 BC–
1350 BC
★
Shuttarna III 1350 BC, son of an usurper
Artatama II
★
Shattiwaza or Mattivaza, son of Tushratta
1350 BC–
1320 BC
★
Shattuara I 1320 BC–
1300 BC
★
Wasashatta, son of Shattuara
1300 BC–
1280 BC
★
Shattuara II, son or nephew of Wasashatta
1280 BC–
1270 BC, or maybe the same king as Shattuara I.
All dates must be taken with caution since they are worked out only by comparison with the
chronology of other ancient Near Eastern nations.
Sources
★ Gaal, E. "The economic role of Hanilgalbat at the beginning of the Neo-Assyrian expansion." In: Hans-Jörg Nissen/Johannes Renger (eds.), ''Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn. Politische und kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen im Alten Orient vom 4. bis 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.'' Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 1 (Berlin, Reimer 1982), 349-354.
★ Harrak, Amir "Assyria and Hanilgalbat. A historical reconstruction of the bilateral relations from the middle of the 14th to the end of the 12 centuries BC." ''Studien zur Orientalistik'' (Hildesheim, Olms 1987).
★ Kühne, C. "Politische Szenerie und internationale Beziehungen Vorderasiens um die Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends vor Chr. (zugleich ein Konzept der Kurzchronologie). Mit einer Zeittafel." In: Hans-Jörg Nissen/Johannes Renger (eds.), ''Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn. Politische und kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen im Alten Orient vom 4. bis 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.'' Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 1 (Berlin, Reimer 1982), 203-264.
★ Starr, R. F. S. ''Nuzi'' (London 1938).
★ Weidner, "Assyrien und Hanilgalbat". ''Ugaritica'' 6 (1969)
★ Thieme, P. , ''The 'Aryan Gods' of the Mitanni Treaties'', Journal of the American Oriental Society 80, 301-317 (1960)
★ Wilhelm, Gernot: ''The Hurrians'', Aris & Philips Warminster 1989.
Further reading
★ Von Dassow, Eva Melita. ''Social Stratification of Alalah Under the Mittani Empire''. [S.l: s.n.], 1997.
See also
★
Nagar, Syria
★
Hurrians
★
History of the Hittites
References
1. T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov, ''The Early History of Indo-European (aka Aryan) Languages'', Scientific American, March 1990; James P. Mallory, "Kuro-Araxes Culture", ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture,'' Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
2. Royal Scottish Geographical Society - 1999, Published 1999, p:12
3. Faulkner, Raymond O. ''A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian.'' p. 135. Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1962
4. Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq,'' p. 229. Penguin Books, 1966.
5. Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq,'' p. 234. Penguin Books, 1966.
6. Speiser, E.A., ''Introduction to Hurrian,'' p. 10. American Schools of Oriental Research, New Haven. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Vol. 20. 1941.
7. Vahan Kurkjian, "History of Armenia," Michigan, 1968, [1] "The Hurri-Mitanni kingdom of Armenia kept close contact with its western neighbor, Hittite or Hatti land. Masses of population were often transplanted from one country to the other.; The great Indo-European and ancient Near East scholar Vyacheslav Ivanov. [2]; "Jacquetta Hawkes, "The First Great Civilizations" "Yet the Hurrians did not disappear from history. Away to the North in their Armenian homeland, they entrenched themselves and build up the kingdom of Urartu."; M. Chahin, "The Kingdom of Armenia," "The new kingdom of Urartu, which proved to be the stronghold of the Hurrian race."
8. Artak Movsisyan, "Sacred Highland: Armenia in the spiritual conception of the Near East," Yerevan, 2000; ''Artak reveals the Mitanni kings IE names are in Armenian''
9. Arnold Joseph Toynbee, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, page: 601, Published 2000, Gomidas Institute, ISBN 0953519155
External links
★
The Hurrian Culture
★
Vyacheslav Ivanov
★
[3] Vahan Kurkjian, "History of Armenia," Michigan, 1968
★
Dutch excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad
★
Excerpts from the text of the Shuppililiuma-Shattiwazza treaty
★
Mitanni Simple article.
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