Mitanni or Mittani (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; 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 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 at Tell Mozan. The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal (), 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 the late Old Babylonian period, 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.

Etymology

The name "Mitanni"/"Mittani"

The best that can be parsed out of the Hittite text is that some (unnamed) son killed the prior king Tushratta resulting in a succession crisis between Atratama II, brother of Tushratta, Shuttarna III, son of Tusratta, and Shattiwaza. son of Tushratta. The Hittites then made a treaty with Atratama II (still in effect as of the Suppiluliuma-Shattiwaza treaty). Some combination of Atratama II and Shuttarna III made an alliance with the Assyrians to hold power in Mitanni. returning cultic items taken when Mitanni king Shaushtatar sacked Asshur . This resulted in Shattiwaza going to Hittite king Suppiluliuma and declaring vassalage in exchange for Hittite military assistance. This ploy succeeded as the Hittite forces carried the day but the cost, besides becoming a vassal, was the ceding of some Mitanni territory to the Hittites, subsequently ruled by the king's son Piyassili as King of Carchemesh. As part of the agreement Shattiwaza would marry a daughter of Suppiluliuma as Queen and would be allowed ten wives but none of the other wives could be primary and the children from his marriage with the Queen would succeed. The Hittite text does include some tidbits about the war of succession which are hard to interpret. At one point the Hurrian nobles were taken to Taite and "crucified" though that practice was unknown in the ancient Near East until classical times. And at one point Shattiwaza flees to the Kassites with 200 chariots but the Kassites impounded the chariots and tried to kill him, which he mirsculously escapes and finds his way to Suppiluliuma. After presumably ascending the throne of what was left of Mitanni, Shattiwaza is lost to history.

Shattuara I

Shattuara reigned –1285 BC. There is a letter (KBo. 1, 14) from a Hittite king (to probably the Egyptian king) referring to a "King of Hanigalbat" which was possibly Wasašatta.

Shattuara II

According to the royal annals (A.0.77.1) of Assyrian king Shalmaneser I (1270s–1240s) King Shattuara II of Hanigalbat, rebelled against Assyrian control with the help of the Hittites and the nomadic Ahlamu around 1250 BC. Shalmaneser I claimed to have defeated the Hittites and Mitanni slaying 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 restoration of a temple to god Adad in Kahat, a city of Mitanni that must have been occupied as well.

See also

  • Chronology of the ancient Near East
  • List of Mesopotamian dynasties
  • Cities of the ancient Near East
  • History of the Hittites
  • Seven-dots glyph

References

Sources

  • Bryce, Trevor, Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East, Routledge, 2003,
  • 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 12th centuries BC." Texte und Studien zur Orientalistik, 400 (Hildesheim, Olms 1987).
  • [https://www.avasa.it/rapporti/Kelly-Buccellati_2020_Mittani_ceramics%20de%20Martino%20FS.pdf] Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn. "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš (2020): 237–256.
  • Kühne, Cord, "Imperial Mittani. An Attempt at Historical Reconstruction", In David I Owen and Gernot Wilhelm (eds.) Studies in the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians 10, pp. 203–221, 1999 ISBN 9781883053505
  • Kühne, Cord "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.
  • Maidman, Maynard P. "Mittanni Royalty and Empire: How Far Back." Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Journal 11 (2018): 15–28
  • Novák, Mirko: "Mittani Empire and the Question of Absolute Chronology: Some Archaeological Considerations." In: Manfred Bietak/Ernst Czerny (eds.): "The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium BC III"; Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Denkschrift Band XXXVII; Wien, 2007; ; pp. 389–401.
  • Starr, R. F. S. Nuzi (London 1938).
  • von Dassow, E.; David I Owen; Gernot Wilhelm, State and Society in the Late Bronze Age: Alalah under the Mittani Empire, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians 17, ed. David I. Owen and Gernot Wilhelm (Bethesda 2008) ISBN 9781934309148
  • [https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/779/731] von Dassow, Eva. "Alalaḫ between Mittani and Ḫatti." Asia Anteriore Antica. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures 2 (2020): 196–226
  • Weidner, "Assyrien und Hanilgalbat." Ugaritica 6 (1969)
  • Wilhelm, Gernot: The Hurrians, Aris & Philips Warminster 1989. ISBN 9780856684425

Further reading

  • Mitanni (livius.org)
  • Dutch excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad
  • Iraq's drought unveils 3,400-year-old palace of mysterious empire