A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – Forgotten for millennia, the Kingdom of Mitanni was discovered in the nineteenth century, and excavations revealed fascinating facts about this unusual kingdom, which once existed in northern Mesopotamia.

Cuneiform tablet containing a letter from Tushratta of Mitanni to AmenH๏τep III (of 13 letters of King Tushratta). British Museum. Image source

Also known as Hanigalbat, Mitanni flourished during the fourteenth century BC and covered what northern Syria, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey today are; archaeologists have not determined its capital.

The ethnicity of the people of Mitanni (sometimes called the ‘Land of the Hurrians’) is not entirely established. Still, it is believed that the civilization of this kingdom was the product of two ethnic groups: the Hurrians and the Indo-Aryans, whose names are ᴀssociated with the names of several Indo-Aryan deities, such as Indra, Vayu, Svar, Soma, Rta, and the Devas.

The ancient sources of information about Mitanni come from archaeological finds and old reports, which mainly relate to the history of ᴀssyria, Hitтιтes, or Babylonia and only mention the land of the Hurrians. Biblical descriptions and texts unearthed in Egypt (for example, Amarna Letters) are of great value. However, many facts, especially those related to Mitanni’s chronology, remain controversial among historians and even contradict each other.

Cylinder seal, ca. 1500–1350 BC Mitanni. H. 2.7 cm x Diam. 1.5 cm. Credit Line: Gift of Martin and Sarah Cherkasky, 1986Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Mitanni, who rose to dominance c. 1500 BCE and managed to secure a large section of Mesopotamian territory in a relatively short period of time. Little information exists about how Mitanni was able to gain so much control so quickly. It seems as though they appeared out of thin air, but this is likely due to the lack of resources regarding this kingdom. Nevertheless, they played an important role in shaping the region at this particular point in history.

At this particular moment, the Kᴀssite dynasty gained influence in Babylon and again expanded Babylonian influence in the region. With the Mitanni kingdom growing its power to the west, ᴀssyria had become wedged between two stronger powers, resulting in ᴀssur and other ᴀssyrian territories falling briefly under Mitanni’s control.” ¹

Like several other states of the ancient Near East, Mitanni was formed as a result of the migration of peoples in the 19th-16th  centuries BC. Around 1800-1700 BC, the Hurrian tribes inhabiting the Armenian highlands began to expand to the south. They occupied more extensive areas of Asia Minor, northern Mesopotamia, and Syria for centuries.

Sealed tablet found in Alalakh reporting a legal case presented by the local ruler Niqmepa before King Shaushtatar of Mittani, British Museum.  Image credit: Fæ – CC BY-SA 3.0

Much of what we know about these people comes not from indigenous sources of their history because there is a lack of them. Few records exist today, and these come from ᴀssyrian, Egyptian, and Hitтιтe sources, inscriptions from nearby places in Syria, and the world’s oldest horse training manual written by Kikkuli of Mitanni.

Kikkuli was a famous person. He was the “master horse trainer of the land of Mitanni,” and author of a chariot horse training text written mainly in the Hitтιтe language dating to the Hitтιтe New Kingdom (around 1400 BC).

The text is noteworthy both for the information it provides about the development of Indo-European languages (both Hitтιтe and the Hurian) and for its content. The text was inscribed in the Hitтιтe language on four cuneiform tablets, which were unearthed  during excavations of Bogazköy, (Turkish: “Gorge Village”) modern Bogazkale) and the ancient Hitтιтe capital, Hattusha, in 1906 and 1907.

Gebel el-Arak Knife. Image credit: ALFGRN – CC BY-SA 2.0

Still, interestingly, the numerals 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and other technical terms used in the manual of Kikkuli are not Hitтιтe but related to the Indic (Indo-Aryan) languages), closely ᴀssociated with the breeding and training of horses.

It is known that Mitanni reached the height of its power between 1500 and 1240 BC and controlled trade routes up from the Euphrates to Carchemish, along with the upper Tigris and its headwaters at Nineveh.

It had diplomatic and trade relations with Egypt , and with India to the East.

The Hurrians, called ‘Horittes’ in the Bible, spoke a language similar to Urartian. Their place of origin has not been precisely determined by it is believed they came from or by way of the Trans-Caucasian region.

Toward the end of the first dynasty of Babylon (c.1595 BC), the Hurrians moved into upper Mesopotamia and eastern Syria in force, and in 1350 BC, they were powerful enough among strong neighbors such as ᴀssyria, Babylonia, and the Kingdom of Hatti.

Some other sources of knowledge about Mitanni come from a Hurrian letter discovered at Amarna in Egypt from the Mitannian king Tushratta to the pharaoh Amenophis III; there is also a religious text unearthed at Ugarit (modern town Ras Shamra) on the Syrian coast in the vicinity of Latakia.

Mitanni was undoubtedly one of the great powers of ancient West Asia in the second millennium BC. However, as we mentioned earlier, almost all that is known about the kingdom is based on foreign sources.

From Hitтιтe sources is known, for example, that the early Hitтιтe kings were in a long war with the Hurrians and Mitanni over possession of northern Syria and the Taurus Mountains.

At that time, Mitanni was called ‘Hanigalbat’ by the Hurrians and the ᴀssyrians. Perhaps the most outstanding Mitannian king was Saustatar (Shaushshatar), who reigned c. 1500–c.1450 BC) and the last independent king of Mitanni was Tushratta, who died c. 1360 BC) and under whose reign Wᴀssukkani was sacked by the Hitтιтe king Suppiluliumas I.

After many political struggles, the kingdom of Mitanni was finally incorporated into the ᴀssyrian empire and became an ᴀssyrian province.

Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Staff Writer

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