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72-529: The name Matiene may be related to Mitanni , the name of a state some 800 years earlier, which was founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class governing the Hurrian population. The name Matiene was applied also to the neighboring Lake Matianus ( Lake Urmia ) located immediately to the east of the Matieni people. The Iranian root "Mati-" meaning "to tower, to stand out" (from the same Indo-European root that gives us

144-538: A different king than Barattarna by M. P. Maidman, Eva von Dassow, and Ian Mladjov. Thutmose III again waged war in Mitanni 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 ( Maskanah ) and then returned home via Mitanni. A hunt for elephants at Lake Nija

216-504: A few successful clashes with the Egyptians over the control of Syria, Mitanni sought peace with them, and an alliance was formed. During the reign of Shuttarna II , in the early 14th century BC, the relationship was very amicable, and he sent his daughter Gilu-Hepa to Egypt for marriage with Pharaoh Amenhotep III . Mitanni was now at its peak of power. However, by the reign of Eriba-Adad I (1390–1366 BC) Mitanni influence over Assyria

288-479: A logogram for Akkadian " rab " having the same meaning; "Ḫani-Rabbat" denoting "the Great Hani". J. A. Knudtzon , and E. A. Speiser after him, supported instead the reading of " gal " on the basis of its alternative spelling with " gal 9 ", which has since become the majority view. There is still a difficulty to explain the suffix " -bat " if the first sign did not end in " b ," or the apparent similarity to

360-615: A part of the XVIII satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire . The land of Matiene was surrounded to the north by Armenia, to the east by Media, to the south by Susiana , and to the west by Assyria. Its chief city was Matiati around Lake Van . It is believed that the population of Matiene were speaking a Hurro-Urartian language. Known descendants of the kings(chieftains) of the matian tribes was Armenian princely (naxarar) family of Amatuni Cimmerians were said to have originated from

432-429: A priest bound to a powerful Mitannian leader." To the east of upper Tigris river, Trans-Tigridian region in northern Iraq, a site now called Bassetki was excavated, which in all likelihood was the ancient town of Mardama with Mitanni layers from 1550 to 1300 BC, as its Phase A9 (in trench T2) may alternatively represent a Middle Bronze/Late Bronze transitional, or Proto-Mitanni occupation within 16th century BC. In

504-463: A strategic partner because of its location. Isputahsu made a treaty with Hittite King Telepinu . Later, Kizzuwatna shifted its allegiance, perhaps because of a new ruling dynasty. The city-state of Alalakh , to the south, expanded under its new vigorous leader, Idrimi , himself a subject of the Mitannian king Barattarna . King Pilliya of Kizzuwatna had to sign a treaty with Idrimi. The treaty

576-606: A subsequent excavation season, the deeper Phase A10 was identified as having a mix of Middle Bronze and Mitanni potteries, considered to be in the turn of the Middle to the Late Bronze Age transitional period (late 17th – early 16th century BC). In 2010, the 3,400-year-old ruins of Kemune , a Bronze Age Mitanni palace on the banks of the Tigris in modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan , were discovered. It became possible to excavate

648-480: A two century abandonment between the MBA destruction and the Mitanni re-occupation. At least since around 1550 BC, at the beginning of Late Bronze age, Painted Nuzi Ware was identified as a characteristic pottery in Mitanni sites. The origin of this decorated pottery is an unsolved question, but a possible previous development as Aegean Kamares Ware has been suggested by Pecorelia (2000); S. Soldi claims that Tell Brak

720-558: Is complicated by there being, according to linguists, three separate dialects of Hurrian, central-western, northern, and eastern. The Egyptians considered the Euphrates River to form the boundary between Syria and Naharain . The Egyptian official astronomer and clockmaker Amenemhet (Amen-hemet) apparently ordered to be written on his tomb that he returned from the "foreign country called Mtn ( Mi-ti-ni )," but Alexandra von Lieven (2016) and Eva von Dassow (2022) consider that

792-599: Is generally believed that Indo-Aryan peoples settled in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria , and established the Kingdom of Mitanni following a period of political vacuum, while also adopting Hurrian. This is considered a part of the Indo-Aryan migrations . Since the late 20th century, the view that the Mitanni kingdom was ruled by royal house and aristocracy of Indo-Aryan origin has been prevalent among

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864-535: The Amanus Mountains encircled it. The centre of the kingdom was the city of Kummanni , in the highlands. The country possessed valuable resources, such as silver mines in the Taurus Mountains . The slopes of the mountain range are still partly covered by woods. Annual winter rains made agriculture possible in the area at a very early date (see Çatalhöyük ). The plains at the lower course of

936-457: The Amorite king Idrimi of Alalakh his vassal, and five generations seems to separate this king (also known as Parattarna) from the rise of Mitanni kingdom. The state of Kizzuwatna in the west also shifted its allegiance to Mitanni, and Assyria in the east had become largely a Mitannian vassal state by the mid-15th century BC. The nation grew stronger during the reign of Shaushtatar , but

1008-482: The Annals of Thutmose III mention Naharin, in particular those of his regnal years 33, 35, and 42. After that time, records become more available from local sources until the empire's end in the mid-13th century BC. The first known use of Indo-Aryan names for Mitanni rulers begins with Shuttarna I who succeeded his father Kirta on the throne. King Barattarna of Mitanni expanded the kingdom west to Aleppo and made

1080-595: The Ceyhan River provided rich cultivated fields. Several ethnic groups coexisted in Kizzuwatna and their culture represents a fusion of Hurrian , Luwian , and Hittite elements. The pre-Indo-European Hurrians predate the Luwians in the area, Hittites probably arrived as part of the imperial expansion under Hattusili I and Mursili I . During the era of the Kingdom of Kizzuwatna, the primary local language

1152-612: The Ilısu Dam in the right bank of upper Tigris , southern Turkey, have shown a very early beginning of Mitanni period, as in the ruins of a temple in Müslümantepe, ritual artefacts and a Mitannian cylinder seal were found, radiocarbon-dated to 1760–1610 BC. Archaeologist Eyyüp Ay, in his (2021) paper, describes the second phase of the temple as an "administrative center, which had craftsmen working in its workshops as well as farmers, gardeners and shepherds, [that] might have been ruled by

1224-594: The Sanskrit verb mith ( मिथ् ; lit.   ' to unite, pair, couple, meet ' ). The name Maitanni thus meant the "united kingdom." Paralleling the evolution of Proto-Indo-Aryan máytʰati , meaning lit.   ' he unites ' , into Sanskrit méthati ( मेथति ), the name Maitanni evolved into the later form Mitanni , where the stem maita- had given way to mita- . Andrea Trameri (15 October 2024), along with Gernot Wilhelm (1997: 290), regards that Maitani means "of M(a)itta,"

1296-486: The rump state of Hanigalbat. Eventually, under Shalmaneser I, that remaining part of the former Mitanni territory came under direct Assyrian control. This continued until the decline of Middle Assyrian power after the death of Tukulti-Ninurta I. While under direct Assyrian control Hanigalbat was ruled by appointed governors such as the Assyrian grand-vizier Ilī-padâ , father of Ninurta-apal-Ekur (1191–1179), who took

1368-451: The 2nd excavation the entire city was mapped and 100 Middle Assyrian tablets were discovered. They were dated to after the city's destruction by earthquake and have not yet been published. The three phases of Mitanni at Kurd Qaburstan , were obtained as c. 1538–1505 BC for Phase three, with Phase two beginning c. 1512–1491 BC and ending c. 1501–1479 BC, and with Phase One beginning c. 1489–1463 BC and ending c. 1475–1435 BC. The data suggests

1440-728: The Assyrians. These names seem to have referred to the same kingdom and were often used interchangeably, according to Michael C. Astour. Hittite annals mention a people called Hurri ( Ḫu-ur-ri ), located in northeastern Syria. A Hittite fragment, probably from the time of Mursili I , mentions a "King of the Hurri," and the Assyro-Akkadian version of the text renders "Hurri" as Hanigalbat . Tushratta, who styles himself "king of Mitanni" in his Akkadian Amarna letters , refers to his kingdom as Hanigalbat. The earliest attestation of

1512-525: The Hittite king Tudhaliya I became more powerful. He concluded a treaty with Sunassura, and took it away from the domination of Mitanni. His adopted son king Arnuwanda I likely continued the policy of his father. The exceedingly rough and unfavourable terrain of the Tarsus Mountains made it likely that to remain in a position of prominence among their Hurrian- and Luwian- speaking neighbours,

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1584-466: The Hittite kingdom, in the Edict of Telipinu , regarding to political problems in the region. One of the earliest direct sources mentioning the name Kizzuwatna is a cretula from Tarsus , stamped with the seal of king Išpudaḫšu . "The seal’s short inscription also mentions the name of his father, Pariyawatri, which raises the question of whether Pariyawatri was king or not." The kings of Kizzuwatna at

1656-689: 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. Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids . However, with the ascent of the Hittite Empire , Mitanni and Egypt struck an alliance to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. After

1728-656: The Indo-Aryan *marya , which means 'man' or 'youth', associated to military affairs and chariots. A concept known as "Dark Age" was applied, until recently, to the archaeological gap between the Middle and Late Bronze Age on Northern Mesopotamian sites, but Costanza Coppini considers it a "transition" instead, which can be called "Late Bronze Age 0," attested from the Tell Leilan's end caused by Samsu-iluna during his 23rd year of reign, c. 1728 BCE [Middle Chronology], to Mitanni's predominance (c. 1600-1550 BCE). These are

1800-460: The Kizzuwatna requested favourable terms for the treaties, and that they were subsequently granted. Kizzuwatna rebelled during the reign of Suppiluliuma I but remained in the Hittite Empire for 200 years. In the famous Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), Kizzuwatna supplied troops to the Hittite king. As master equestrians, some of the first in the areas south of the Caucasus region, they provided

1872-767: The Matiani by Herodotus , moving west into Anatolia along the south shore of the Black Sea . Herodotus also said that later, in Median times, there was a second site called Matiene, along the eastern shore of the Halys river in northwestern Cappadocia across the river from the Phrygians . He stated they wore the same uniform as the Paphlagonians in the Median and Persian armies, meaning their units were combined with

1944-491: The Mitanni are of Indo-Aryan or Proto-Indo-Aryan origins. Starting from Shuttarna I who is the first Mitanni ruler historically attested to have existed, the Mitanni had Indo-Aryan throne names . The Kikkuli 's horse training text includes technical terms of Indo-Aryan origin, and the Indo-Aryan deities Mitra , Varuna , Indra , and Nasatya ( Ashvins ) are listed and invoked in two treaties found in Hattusa , between

2016-840: The Paphlagonians. It is not at all clear whether these western Matieni were descendants of the Cimmerians, a group of Paphlagonians just called by this name, actual (eastern) Matieni who migrated west from Matiene on their own, or a Median military colony on the border with Phrygia and later the Lydian empire. Mitanni Mitanni ( c.  1550 –1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c.  1600 BC ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts,

2088-523: The Semitic feminine ending " -at ," if derived from a Hurrian word. More recently, in 2011, scholar Miguel Valério, then at the New University of Lisbon provided detailed support in favor of the older reading Hani-Rabbat . The re-reading makes an argument on the basis of frequency, where " gal " not " gal 9 ," is far more numerous; the later being the deviation found in six documents, all from

2160-550: The Taurus Mountains (the silver mountains) in the 23rd century BC. However, archaeology has yet to confirm any Akkadian influence in the area. The trade routes from Assyria to the karum in the Anatolian Highlands went through Kizzuwatna by the early 2nd millennium BC. First mentions of the kingdom of Kizzuwatna with the name Adaniya appear at the end of 16th century BC in diplomatic documents of

2232-593: The end of 16th century BC onwards had frequent contact with the Hittites to the north. The earliest Hittite records seem to refer to Kizzuwatna (as Adaniya) along with Arzawa in Western Anatolia, as Luwia. In the power struggle that arose between the Anatolian Hittite kingdom and the northern Mesopotamian Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni , in the 15th and early 14th centuries BC, Kizzuwatna became

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2304-445: The expedition to Mitanni could have taken place in pharaoh Ahmose I 's reign ( c.  1550 –1525 BC), actually by Amenemhet's father. During the reign of pharaoh Thutmose I (1506–1493 BC), the names Mitanni and Naharin are among the reminiscences of several of the pharaoh's officers. One of them, Ahmose si-Abina, wrote: "...His Majesty arrived at Naharin..." Another one, Ahmose pa-Nekhbit, recorded: "...when I captured for him in

2376-670: The first half of 14th century BC, a large region from North-West Syria to the Eastern Tigris was under Mitanni's control. Mitanni, which first rose to power before 1550 BC, presents the following known kings: All dates must be taken with caution since they are worked out only by comparison with the chronology of other ancient Near Eastern nations . King Barattarna is known from a cuneiform tablet in Nuzi and an inscription by Idrimi of Alalakh . He reigned c.  1500 –1480 BC. Egyptian sources do not mention his name; that he

2448-604: The first half of the 16th century BC, and its beginnings date to well before the time of Thutmose I , dating actually to the time of the Hittite sovereigns Hattusili I and Mursili I . Hurrians are mentioned in the private Nuzi texts, in Ugarit , and the Hittite archives in Hattusa ( 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 Hassum , and tablets from Alalakh (layer VII, from

2520-675: The first traces of what, in the Late Bronze Age I, was Mitanni in historical terms, at the emergence of the third phase of Khabur ware . The archaeological core zone of Mitanni is Upper Mesopotamia and the Trans-Tigridian region (Northeastern Iraq). Sites with Mitannian remains were found mainly in three regions of Upper Mesopotamia: Northeastern Syria Jazira Region , Northern Syria, and Southeastern Turkey (Upper Tigris). Mitanni's first phase in Jazira Region features Late Khabur Ware from around 1600 to 1550 BC; this pottery

2592-454: The growing power of the Hittites and Assyrians. The Hittite king Suppiluliuma I invaded the Mitanni 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 Washukanni and installed Shattiwaza , the son of Tushratta, as their vassal king of Mitanni in

2664-471: The high ground and a 40 hectare lower town developed. The Mitanni occupation lasted until the site was destroyed (in two phases) between c.  1300 and 1275 BC, presumably by the Assyrians. Two Mitanni-era tablets were found during the modern excavation. One (TB 6002) mentioned "Artassumara the king, son of Shuttarna the king". Seventeen late period Mitanni tablets were found at Tall Al-Hamidiya . The oldest tablet issued by an unknown Mitannian king

2736-409: The horses, which were later favoured by King Solomon and allowed the more aggressive use of the Hittite chariot than their Egyptian and Assyrian rivals were able. The Kizzuwatna were master craftsman, mining experts and blacksmiths. Being the first to work "black iron", which is understood to have been iron of meteoric origin, into weapons such as maces, swords and warheads for spears. Their location in

2808-520: The kings Sattiwaza of Mitanni and Šuppiluliuma I the Hittite: (treaty KBo I 3) and (treaty KBo I 1 and its duplicates). The toponym of the Mitanni capital of Washukanni is also "unanimously accepted" to have been derived from an Indo-Aryan dialect. Annelies Kammenhuber (1968) suggested that this vocabulary was derived from the still undivided Indo-Iranian language, but Mayrhofer has shown that specifically Indo-Aryan features are present. It

2880-549: The land of Naharin..." After the Battle of Megiddo , an officer of pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), in the pharaoh's 22 regnal year, reported: "That [wretched] enemy of Kadesh has come and has entered into Megiddo. He is [there] at this moment. He has gathered to him the princes of [every] foreign country [which had been] loyal to Egypt, as well as (those) as far as Naharin and M[itanni], them of Hurru, them of Kode, their horses, their armies." In several later military campaigns

2952-403: The late Old Babylonian period , during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa , ( c.  1638 –1618 BC), in low middle chronology. The Mitanni Empire was a strong regional power limited by the Hittites to the north, Egyptians to the west, Kassites to the south, and later by the Assyrians to the east. At its maximum extent Mitanni ranged as far west as Kizzuwatna by the Taurus Mountains , Tunip in

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3024-466: The late 14th century BC. The kingdom had by now been reduced to the Khabur Valley . The Assyrians had not given up their claim on Mitanni, and in the 13th century BC, Shalmaneser I annexed the kingdom. The Mitanni dynasty had ruled over the northern Euphrates-Tigris region between c.  1600 and 1350 BC, but succumbed to Hittite and later Assyrian attacks, and Mitanni was reduced to

3096-704: 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

3168-401: The middle of the 14th century BC, making Assyria once more a great power. At the death of Shuttarna, Mitanni was ravaged by a war of succession. Eventually Tushratta, a son of Shuttarna, ascended the throne, but the kingdom had been weakened considerably and both the Hittite and Assyrian threats increased. At the same time, the diplomatic relationship with Egypt went cold, the Egyptians fearing

3240-609: The mineral-rich Tarsus Range gave them ample materials from which to work. Around 1200 BC, an invasion by the Sea Peoples is believed to have temporarily displaced the people of the Cilician plain, but many among the entourage of the Sea peoples were likely to have been composed of Luwian and Hurrians, possibly to ensure that they had a stake in how the invasions ended for their people, rather than being simple victims of them. After

3312-501: The name of "an individual leader (or clan), and not a territory or population." The Mitanni kingdom was firstly known as Ḫabingalbat before 1600 BC in Babylonia, during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa , attested as ḫa-bi-in-gal-ba-ti-i , and ḫa-bi-in-ga-al-ba-at , in two texts of the late Old Babylonian period . Egyptians referred to it as Naharin and Mitanni , it was Ḫurri to the Hittites, and Ḫanigalbat or Ḫani-Rabbat to

3384-505: The periphery of the Akkadian sphere of influence. It is additionally argued that although they are graphically distinct, there is a high degree of overlap between the two signs, as " gal 9 " denotes " dannum " or ""strong"" opposed to "great", easily being used as synonyms. Both signs also represent correlative readings; alternative readings of " gal 9 " include " rib " and " rip ," just like " gal " being read as " rab ." The situation

3456-419: The region as of the late 3rd millennium BC. A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated c.  2300 BC at Tell Mozan. The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal ( c.  21st century BC ), king of Urkesh . Later on, Hurrians made up the main population of Mitanni, which was firstly known as Ḫabigalbat , at Babylonia, in two texts of

3528-507: The role of Indo-Aryan speakers in establishing its dynasty, have disputed the significance of Indo-Aryan vocabulary in an otherwise Hurrian-speaking state stating that it does not indicate any Indo-Aryan origins for Mitanni kings. According to Alexander Lubotsky (2023), however, the military elite of the Mitanni kingdom (see Maryannu ) was of Aryan descent and their language displays a clear Indo-Aryan character. Jasper Eidem in 2014 reported on Farouk Ismail's earlier study, in reference to

3600-564: The ruins in 2018 and again in 2022 when a drought caused water levels to drop considerably. In the 1st excavation 10 Mitanni-era tablets were found, in Babylonian cuneiform written in Akkadian, bearing Hurrian names, dating to the Middle-Trans-Tigridian IA and IB periods. Middle Trans-Tigridian IA and IB are dated to ( c.  1550 -1350 BC) and ( c.  1350 -1270 BC) respectively by Peter Pfälzner (2007). In

3672-424: The scholars; accordingly, a branch of Indo-Aryans separated from the other Indo-Iranians around the turn of second millennium BCE and migrated into West Asia , hence giving rise to the Mitanni kingdom, while also adopting Hurrian language. Some of the recent studies such as those by Eva von Dassow (2022) and Cotticelli-Kurras and Pisaniello (2023), while noting the modern identification of Mittani as Indo-Aryan and

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3744-495: The site of Tell Fekheriye as recent German archaeological excavations suggest. The city of Taite was also known to be a Mitanni "royal city" whose current location is unknown. The major 3rd millennium urban center of Tell Brak which had dwindled to a minor settlement in Old Babylonian times, saw major development c.  1600 by the Mitanni. Monumental buildings including a palace and temple were constructed on

3816-521: The south, Arraphe in the east, and north to Lake Van . Their sphere of influence is shown in Hurrian place names, personal names and the spread through Syria and the Levant of a distinct pottery type, Nuzi ware . The earliest recorded form of the name of this state is Maitanni , composed of a Hurrian suffix -nni added to the Indo-Aryan stem maita- , meaning "to unite" and comparable with

3888-636: The southern shore of the northern Euphrates region, near the vicinity of Terqa (capital of the Kingdom of Hana ) and the Khabur River. The term developed into more than just a designation for a people group, but also took on a topographic aspect as well. In the Middle Assyrian period , a phrase " 𒌷𒆳𒄩𒉡𒀭𒋫 " " KUR Ḫa-nu AN.TA ," "cities of the Upper Hanu" has suggested that there

3960-457: The sphere of influence of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni . Puduhepa , queen of the Hittite king Hattusili III , came from Kizzuwatna, where she had been a priestess. Their pantheon was also integrated into the Hittite one, and the goddess Hebat of Kizzuwatna became very important in Hittite religion towards the end of the 13th century BC. King Sargon of Akkad claimed to have reached

4032-556: The status of a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire between c.  1350 and 1260 BC. 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 Mesopotamia before the 17th century BC. It was already a powerful kingdom at the end of the 17th century or in

4104-557: The term Ḫanigalbat can be read in Akkadian , along with the Hittite version mentioning "the Hurrian enemy," in a copy from the 13th century BC of the "Annals of Ḫattušili I ," who possibly reigned after 1630 BC. The reading of the Assyrian term Ḫanigalbat has a history of multiple renderings. The first portion has been connected to, " 𒄩𒉡 Ḫa-nu ," "Hanu" or "Hana," first attested in Mari to describe nomadic inhabitants along

4176-495: The title of King of Hanigalbat . He resided in the newly built (over an existing Mitanni tower and residence) Assyrian administrative centre at Tell Sabi Abyad . The Babylonian Kings List A names the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (705–681 BC) and his son Ashur-nadin-shumi (700–694) as being "Dynasty of Ḫabigal". The name Hanigalbat was still in use as late as the later portion of the 1st millennium BC. A number of theonyms, proper names and glosses (technical terminology) of

4248-469: The word marijannu that was found in a letter from Tell Leilan in northeastern Syria dating to a period slightly before 1761 BC, which is the time when the reign of Zimri-Lim ended in the region of Mari . Kroonen et al. (2018) consider this as an early Indo-Aryan linguistic presence in Syria two centuries prior to the formation of the Mitanni realm, as mariannu is generally seen as a Hurrianized form of

4320-674: The word "mountain") might explain the name. The Mannaeans who probably spoke a Hurro-Urartian language, were subdued by the Scytho - Kimmerians during the seventh and eighth centuries BC and assimilated by Matienes. Matiene was ultimately conquered by the Medes in about 609 BCE. Matiene became a satrapy of the Median Empire until the Persian conquest, when along with tribes of Saspires and Alaradians (remnants of Urartians ) it became

4392-411: Was a Hurrian -speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey ) with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences . Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts. The Hurrians were in

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4464-464: Was a continuity from the previous non-Mitannian Old Babylonian period. From around 1550 to 1270 BC, Painted Nuzi Ware (the most characteristic pottery in Mitanni times) developed as a contemporary to Younger Khabur Ware. Mitanni had outposts centred on its capital, Washukanni , whose location has been determined by archaeologists to be on the headwaters of the Khabur River , most likely at

4536-473: Was a distinction between two different Hanu's, likely across each side of the river. This northern side designation spans much of the core territory of Mitanni state. The two signs that have led to variant readings are " 𒃲 gal " and its alternative form " 𒆗 gal 9 ". The first attempts at decipherment in the late 19th century rendered forms interpreting " gal ," meaning "great" in Sumerian, as

4608-522: Was a distinctive Hurrian -influenced dialect of Luwian . However, its first king Išputahšu had a Hittite -derived name and the toponym "Kizzuwatna" itself has been suggested to be a Luwianization of Hittite * kez-udne meaning "land on this side" in relation to the mountains. Though Kizzuwatna Luwian differs from Empire Luwian spoken in the Hittite heartland, incantations written in Kizzuwatna Luwian appear untranslated in Hittite ritual texts. Hurrian culture became more prominent in Kizzuwatna once it entered

4680-425: Was an ancient Anatolian kingdom, attested in written sources from the end of the 16th century BC onwards, but though its origins are still obscure, the Middle Bronze Age in Cilicia (ca. 2000–1550 BC) can be seen as its possible formative period. Kisuwatna was situated mostly in the Cilician Plain of southeastern Anatolia , near the Gulf of İskenderun , in modern-day Turkey . The Central Taurus Mountains and

4752-400: Was for fugitives exchanges between Idrimi and Pilliya. Pilliya also made peace with the Hittite king Zidanta II , signing a parity treaty between the two. On Kizzuwatna's north-eastern border, there also existed the state of Ishuwa during this period, that played a political role in the rivalry between Hittites and the Mitanni. At the time of Kizzuwatna king Shunashura I (Sunassura),

4824-470: Was found in the site of Tell Hammam et-Turkman , dated to c. 1500 BCE. Mitanni period occupation, between 1400 and 1200 BC (radiocarbon) was found at the site of Tell Bazi . Finds included a Mitanni cylinder seal and several ritual bowls. Two cuneiform tablets of the Mitanni period sealed by Mitanni ruler Saushtatar , one by Artatama I were also found. There is also a record of Mitanni governance at Tell Hadidi (Azu). The (2017) salvage excavations at

4896-625: Was important enough to be included in the annals. Victories over Mitanni are recorded from the Egyptian campaigns in Nuhašše (middle part of Syria). Barattarna or his son Shaushtatar controlled the North Mitanni interior up to Nuhašše , and the coastal territories from Kizzuwatna to Alalakh in the kingdom of Mukish 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. Kizzuwatna Kizzuwatna (or Kizzuwadna ; in Ancient Egyptian Kode or Qode )

4968-421: 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). With the final decline of the Mitanni Empire the western portions of its territory came under direct control of the Hittites and the eastern portions came under direct control of the Assyrians. The middle part continued on as

5040-536: Was on the wane. Eriba-Adad I became involved in a dynastic battle between Tushratta and his brother Artatama II and after this his son Shuttarna II , who called himself king of the Hurri while seeking support from the Assyrians. A pro-Hurri/Assyria faction appeared at the royal Mitanni court. Eriba-Adad I had thus loosened Mitanni influence over Assyria, and in turn had now made Assyria an influence over Mitanni affairs. King Ashur-uballit I (1365–1330 BC) of Assyria attacked Shuttarna and annexed Mitanni territory in

5112-407: Was one of the first centers specializing in the production of this Painted Nuzi Ware, and analyses on samples support the assumption that it was produced locally in various centers throughout the Mitanni kingdom. It was particularly appreciated in Upper Mesopotamia , but appears only sporadically in western Syrian cities such as Alalakh and Ugarit . At the height of its power, during the 15th and

5184-406: Was the king of Naharin whom Thutmose III (1479 – 1425 BC) fought against, can only be deduced from assumptions. This king, also known as Parratarna is considered, by J. A. Belmonte-Marin quoting H. Klengel, to have reigned c.  1510 –1490 BC (middle chronology). Parsha(ta)tar, known from another Nuzi inscription (HSS 13 165), an undated inventory list which mentions his death, is considered

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