Assyria, kingdom of northern Mesopotamia that became the centre of one of the great empires of theancient Middle East. It was located in what is now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. A brief treatment of Assyria follows. For full treatment, see Mesopotamia, history of: The Rise of Assyria.
Assyria was a dependency of Babylonia and later of the Mitanni kingdom during most of the 2nd millennium bce. It emerged as an independent state in the 14th century bce, and in the subsequent period it became a major power in Mesopotamia, Armenia, and sometimes in northern Syria. Assyrian power declined after the death of Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1208 bce). It was restored briefly in the 11th century bce by Tiglath-pileser I, but during the following period both Assyria and its rivals were preoccupied with the incursions of the seminomadic Aramaeans. The Assyrian kings began a new period of expansion in the 9th century bce, and from the mid-8th to the late 7th century bce, a series of strong Assyrian kings—among them Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon—united most of the Middle East, from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, under Assyrian rule. The last great Assyrian ruler was Ashurbanipal, but his last years and the period following his death, in 627 bce, are obscure. The state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean-Median coalition in 612–609 bce. Famous for their cruelty and fighting prowess, the Assyrians were also monumental builders, as shown by archaeological sites at Nineveh, Ashur, and Nimrūd.
The Kingdom of Mittani, known to the people of the land, and the Assyrians, as Hanigalbat and to the Egyptians as Naharin andMetani, once stretched from present-day northern Iraq, down through Syria and into Turkey and was considered a great nation. Few records of the people themselves exist today but correspondence between kings of Mitanni and those of Assyriaand Egypt, as well as the world’s oldest horse training manual, give evidence of a prosperous nation which thrived between 1500 and 1240 BCE. In the year 1350 BCE Mitanni was powerful enough to be included in the 'Great Powers Club' along with Egypt, the Kingdom of the Hatti, Babylonia and Assyria.
THE PEOPLE OF MITANNI
The Mitanni dynasty ruled over the northern Euphrates-Tigris region between c. 1475 BCE and c. 1275 BCE. While the Mitanni kings were Indo-Iranians, they used the language of the local people which was at that time a non Indo-Iranian language, Hurrian (and so the land is sometimes referred to in ancient records as the Land of the Hurrians). The historian Leick writes, "The population of Mitanni was predominantly Hurrian, but the ruling elites were Indo-European warriors who called themselves Mariannu and who worshipped deities with Vedic names such as Indar, Uruwana, and the collective Devas. This elite was to intermarry with the local population, as the names of their children testify" (120). The capital of Mitanni was Wassukanni, located on the headwaters of the River Habur, a tributary of the Euphrates.
The name Washukanni is similar to the Kurdish word 'bashkani', 'bash' meaning good and 'kanî' meaning well or source, and so is translated as 'source of good' but also as 'source of wealth'. Some scholars have claimed that the ancient city of Sikan was built on the site of Washukanni, and that its ruins may be located under the mound of Tell el Fakhariya near Gozan in Syria.
The name Washukanni is similar to the Kurdish word 'bashkani', 'bash' meaning good and 'kanî' meaning well or source, and so is translated as 'source of good' but also as 'source of wealth'. Some scholars have claimed that the ancient city of Sikan was built on the site of Washukanni, and that its ruins may be located under the mound of Tell el Fakhariya near Gozan in Syria.
AT ITS HEIGHT, THE MITANNI DYNASTY CONTROLLED TRADEROUTES DOWN THE HABUR TO MARI AND UP THE EUPHRATES FROM TO CARCHEMISH.
THE GREAT KINGDOM
At its height, the Mitanni Dynasty controlled trade routes down the Habur to Mari and up the Euphrates from to Carchemish. They also controlled the upper Tigris and its headwaters atNineveh. Their allies included Kizuwatna in south easternAnatolia, Mukish, which stretched between Ugarit and Quatna west of the Orontes to the sea, and the Niya which controlled the east bank of the Orontes from Alalah down through Aleppo, Ebla and Hama to Quatna and Kadesh. To the east the Mitanni had good relations with the Hurrian-speaking Kassites whose territory corresponds to present-day Kurdistan. The lands of the Mitanni in northern Syria bordered eastern Anatolia to its west and extended east as far as Nuzi (present-day Kirkuk) and the river Tigris in the east. In the south it extended from Aleppo across to Mari on the Euphrates in the East. The entire region allowedagriculture without artificial irrigation. Herds of cattle, sheep, horses and goats were raised and the Mitanni were famed horsemen and charioteers. It is recorded that they were the innovators who spearheaded the development of the light war chariot with wheels that used spokes rather than the solid wood wheels, such as those used by theSumerians, so that the chariots were faster and easier to maneuver. Excavations of the Hittite archives of Hattusa, near present-day Boğazkale (Turkey), found the oldest surviving horse training manual in the world. The work was written in 1345 BCE on four tablets and contains 1080 lines by a Mitanni horse trainer named Kikkuli, beginning with the words, "Thus speaks Kikkuli, master horse trainer of the land of Mitanni” and exhaustively describes the proper methods of training horses.
KING TUSHRATTA & THE COMING OF THE HITTITES
Little is known of the early kings of Mitanni owing to the later destruction of the culture by the Assyrians but the names of the early rulers are known through the correspondences with other countries. In the 16th century BCE the most prominent kings seem to have been Kirta, Shuttarna, and Barratarna. King Shaushtatar (ruled c. 1430) extended the boundaries of Mitanni through the conquest of Alalakh, Nuzi, Assur, and Kizzuwatna. Egypt, under Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BCE), defeated the Mitanni at Aleppo after a long period of contention over control of the region of Syria. Later Egyptian dynasties entered into pacts and treaties with Mitanni and the daughter of the Mitanni King Tushratta, the princess Taduhepa, was given in marriage to Amenhotep III (1391-1353 BCE) as part of a treaty which balanced power between the two nations.This treaty was put to the test during a power struggle in Washukanni between Tushratta and a relative of the previous king, Shuttarna, known as Artatama II. Egypt backed Tushratta in this conflict while the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I backed Artatama II. Tushratta seemed poised to succeed when Egypt, fearing the growing power of the Hittites, withdrew its support. Suppiluliuma I, tired of diplomacy and now free to do as he pleased without fear of Egyptian reprisal, led his forces on Washukanni and sacked it. Tushratta was assassinated by his son, perhaps in an effort to save the city. Following this conquest, Mitanni was ruled by Hittite kings.
THE ASSYRIAN CONQUEST OF MITANNI
Suppiluliuma I divided the former kingdom into two provinces with their capitals at Aleppo and Carchemish. The remainder of the region kept some degree of autonomy, though still a vassal state, and was known as Hanigalbat. At some point the region which was once Mitanni fell under the yoke of the Assyrian Empire. Exactly when is not clear but possibly during the reign of the Hittite king Mursili II, (1321-1295 BCE) and definitely before the reign of Tudhaliya IV and the Battle of Nihriya in 1245 BCE (which marks the beginning of the decline of the Hittite Empire). The Assyrian king Adad-Nirari I (ruled 1307-1275 BCE) left inscriptions telling of how an upstart Hittite king Shattuara I challenged his might and so Adad-Nirari I marched on Mittani, crushed their forces in battle, and carried Shattuara I back to Ashur in chains where he was forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the Assyrian ruler. While still an autonomous state, the kingdom now owed tribute and allegiance to Assyria and was no longer considered an equal of the other powers of the region.
Ancient Assyrian records further tell how, in the reign of King Shalmaneser I (1270's-1240's BCE), King Shattuara II of Mitanni rebelled against Assyria with the aid of a nomadic tribe known as the Ahlamu around 1250 BCE. Shattuara’s forces were well organized, fully armed, and had occupied all the mountain passes and waterholes to effectively cut off the Assyrian army’s water supply and severely hamper their attempts at foraging. Even so, hungry and thirsty, Shalmaneser’s army won a crushing victory. He claims in the records to have slain 14,400 men and the survivors 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 (also known as Taite) to Irridu were captured (an area which today comprises northern Iraq through Syria), as well as all of the region of the Mount Kashiyari range down to, and including, the city of Eluhat (also known as Eluhut which was located south-east in modern-day Turkey). A large part of the population of the conquered regions were sold into slavery and deported. Mitanni was then completely absorbed into the Assyrian Empire and gradually forgotten by history.
The Hurrians (/ˈhʊəriənz/; cuneiform: 𒄷𒌨𒊑; transliteration: Ḫu-ur-ri), also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter, were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurro-Urartian language called Hurrian, and lived inAnatolia and Northern Mesopotamia. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the multi-ethnic kingdom of Mitanni, the Mitanni perhaps being Indo-European speakers who formed a ruling class over the Hurrians. The population of the Indo-European-speaking Hittite Empire in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in Hittite mythology. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples, except perhaps in the kingdom of Urartu. According to a hypothesis by I.M. Diakonoff and S. Starostin, the Hurrian and Urartian languages are related to the Northeast Caucasian languages while present day Armenians are an amalgam of both Hurrians and Urartians
The Hurrians (/ˈhʊəriənz/; cuneiform: 𒄷𒌨𒊑; transliteration: Ḫu-ur-ri), also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter, were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurro-Urartian language called Hurrian, and lived inAnatolia and Northern Mesopotamia. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the multi-ethnic kingdom of Mitanni, the Mitanni perhaps being Indo-European speakers who formed a ruling class over the Hurrians. The population of the Indo-European-speaking Hittite Empire in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in Hittite mythology. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples, except perhaps in the kingdom of Urartu. According to a hypothesis by I.M. Diakonoff and S. Starostin, the Hurrian and Urartian languages are related to the Northeast Caucasian languages while present day Armenians are an amalgam of both Hurrians and Urartians
Middle Bronze Age
Hurrian names occur sporadically in northwestern Mesopotamia and the area of Kirkuk in modern Iraq by the Middle Bronze Age. Their presence was attested at Nuzi, Urkesh and other sites. They eventually infiltrated and occupied a broad arc of fertile farmland stretching from the Khabur River valley in the west to the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in the east. I. J. Gelb and E. A. Speiser believed East Semitic speaking Assyrians/Subarians had been the linguistic and ethnic substratum of northern Mesopotamia since earliest times, while Hurrians were merely late arrivals.[3]
Urkesh
The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium. The first known Hurrian kingdom emerged around the city of Urkesh (modern Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BCE. There is evidence that they were initially allied with the east Semitic Akkadian Empire of Mesopotamia, indicating they had a firm hold on the area by the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2254–2218 BCE). This region hosted other rich cultures (see Tell Halaf and Tell Brak). The city-state of Urkesh had some powerful neighbors. At some point in the early second millennium BCE, the Northwest Semitic speaking Amorite kingdom of Mari to the south subdued Urkesh and made it a vassal state. In the continuous power struggles over Mesopotamia, another Amorite dynasty had usurped the throne of the Old Assyrian Empire, which had controlled colonies in Hurrian, Hattian andHittite regions of eastern Anatolia since the 21st century BCE. The Assyrians then made themselves masters over Mari and much of north east Amurru (Syria) in the late 19th and early 18th centuries BCE. Shubat-Enlil (modern Tell Leilan), was made the capital of this Old Assyrian empire by Shamshi Adad I at the expense of the earlier capital of Assur.
Yamhad
The Hurrians also migrated further west in this period. By 1725 BCE they are found also in parts of northern Syria, such as Alalakh. The mixed Amorite–Hurrian kingdom ofYamhad is recorded as struggling for this area with the early Hittite king Hattusilis I around 1600 BCE. Hurrians also settled in the coastal region of Adaniya in the country ofKizzuwatna, southern Anatolia. Yamhad eventually weakened vis-a-vis the powerful Hittites, but this also opened Anatolia for Hurrian cultural influences. The Hittites were influenced by both the Hurrian and Hattian cultures over the course of several centuries.
Mitanni
Arrapha
Another Hurrian kingdom also benefited from the demise of Babylonian power in the sixteenth century BCE. Hurrians had inhabited the region northeast of the river Tigris, around the modern Kirkuk. This was the kingdom of Arrapha. Excavations at Yorgan Tepe, ancient Nuzi, proved this to be one of the most important sites for our knowledge about the Hurrians. Hurrian kings such as Ithi-Teshup and Ithiya ruled over Arrapha, yet by the mid-fifteenth century BCE they had become vassals of the Great King of Mitanni. The kingdom of Arrapha itself was destroyed by the Assyrians in the mid 14th century BCE and thereafter became an Assyrian city.
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