Mitanni or Mittani (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Ḫanigalbat or Ḫani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian and some Akkadian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking kingdom 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 the region as of the late 3rd millennium BC.Buccellati, Giorgio, and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, (1997). "Urkesh: The First Hurrian Capital", The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 60, no. 2, 1997, pp. 77–96. Abstract: "...the sealings provided satisfying proof that Tell Mozan was the site of the third-millennium Hurrian capital city Urkesh..." A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated at Tell Mozan.Salvini, Mirjo. "The earliest evidences of the Hurrians before the formation of the reign of Mittanni." Urkesh and the Hurrians Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Urkesh/Mozan Studies Bibliotheca Mesopotamica. Malibu: Undena Publications (1998): 99–115Lawler, Andrew. "Who Were the Hurrians?" Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, 2008, pp. 46–52 The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal (), king of Urkesh.Yakubovich, I. (2011). [Review of Einführung in die hurritsche Sprache, by I. Wegner]. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 70(2), 337–339 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, during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa, (–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 the south, Arraphe in the east, and north to Lake Van.von Dassow, Eva, (2014). "Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony". In: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (eds.). Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State. pp. 11–32. 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.Diana L. Stein: Khabur Ware and Nuzi Ware: Their Origin, Relationship, and Significance. Malibu 1984
Etymology The name "Mitanni"/"Mittani"
The name of this state has been explained as a derivation with the Hurrian suffix from a stem borrowed from Indo-Aryan, , which is cognate with the Sanskrit verb (; ). The name thus would mean the .
Gernot Wilhelm has instead suggested that Maittan(n)i means , the name of "an individual leader (or clan), and not a territory or population".Andrea Trameri (15 October 2024) Trameri, Andrea, (2024). Kizzuwatna. History of Cilicia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1200 BC), Brill, p. 206: "The kingdom itself was named after an individual leader (or clan?), and not a territiry or population (Maitani, i.e. 'of M(a)itta'; Wilhelm 1997; 290)." This Maitta would be the dynasty's founder. Based on this linguistic analysis, the name of the kingdom is now usually written "Mittani" (Mitta/Maitta plus the Hurrian suffix -ni) instead of "Mitanni."
The name "Ḫanigalbat" 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.van Koppen, Frans, (2004). "The Geography of the Slave Trade and Northern Mesopotamia in the Late Old Babylonian Period", in: H. Hunger and R. Pruzsinszky (eds.), Mesopotamian Dark Age Revisited, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, p. 21, and footnote 65: "An unpublished Old Babylonian text dated to Ammi-saduqa (circa 1600 B.C.), the knowledge of which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Douglas Kennedy of the Centre National de Recherches de Paris, deals with the issue of beer to the tu-ur-gu-ma-an-ni ša éren ḫa-bi-in-gal-ba-ti-i ‘the dragomans of the Hanigalbatian soldiers/workers’"[quoting Gelb 1968: 97], and "...A personnel register, probably also from the reign of Ammisaduqa, mentions the person ib-ba-tum éren ḫa-bi-in-ga-al-ba-at (BM96955 iii 9)..." Egyptians referred to it as Naharin and Mitanni, it was Ḫurri to the Hittites, and Ḫanigalbat or Ḫani-Rabbat to the Assyrians. These names seem to have referred to the same kingdom and were often used interchangeably, according to Michael C. Astour.Astour, "Ḫattusilis̆, Ḫalab, and Ḫanigalbat" Journal of Near Eastern Studies 31.2 (April 1972:102–109) p 103. Hittite annals mention a people called Hurri (), 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.Astour 1972:103, noting Amarna letters 18:9; 20:17;29:49.
The earliest attestation of the term Ḫanigalbat can be read in Akkadian, along with the Hittite version mentioning "the Hurrian enemy,"De Martino, Stefano, (2018). "Political and Cultural Relations between the Kingdom of Mittani and its Subordinated Polities in Syria and Southeast Anatolia", in Changing Faces of Kingship in Syria-Palestine 1500–500 BCE, Alter Orient und Testament 459, Ugarit Verlag, p. 37: "...The term Ḫanigalbat first occurs in the Akkadian version of the Annals of Ḫattušili I... whereas the Hittite version uses the generic expression 'the Hurrian enemy,' as do two old Babylonian texts... perhaps this term refers to the Hurrian "progenitor" of Mittani..." in a copy from the 13th century BC of the "Annals of Ḫattušili I,"Bryce, Trevor R., (2018). "The Annals and Lost Golden Statue of the Hittite King Hattusili I", in Gephyra 16, November 2018, p. 3: "Like most other Hittite documents, the Annals have survived only in a late 13th century copy, the last in a line of copies made over several centuries. There are generally only minor variations between the Hittite and Akkadian versions of the text. Consistent with van den Hout's proposals, I have suggested that the document was first composed in Akkadian and later translated into Hittite – contra the suggestions that both versions were composed at the same time or that the Akkadian version was translated from an original Hittite one." who possibly reigned after 1630 BC.Yener, Aslihan K., (2021). "Some Thoughts about Middle Bronze Age Alalakh and Ugarit: Reassessing an Alalakh Wall Painting with Archival Data", in: Ougarit, un anniversaire, Bilans et recherches en cours, Peeters, Leuven-Paris-Bristol, p. 579: "...the Level VII Palace [was destroyed] by Hattusili I in his second year, 1628 BC (middle chronology)..."
The reading of the Assyrian term Ḫanigalbat has a history of multiple renderings. The first portion has been connected to, " ," "Hanu" or "Hana," first attested in Mari to describe nomadic inhabitants along the southern shore of the northern Euphrates region, near the vicinity of Terqa (capital of the Kingdom of Ḫana) 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 "" "," "cities of the Upper Hanu" has suggested that there 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 " " and its alternative form " ". The first attempts at decipherment in the late 19th century rendered forms interpreting "gal," meaning "great" in Sumerian, as a Sumerogram 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 "gal9", 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 the Semitic feminine ending "-at," if derived from a Hurrian word. More recently, in 2011, scholar Miguel Valério,Miguel Valério, Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Filologia classica e Italianistica (FICLIT). then at the New University of Lisbon provided detailed support in favor of the older reading Hani-Rabbat.Valério, Miguel, (2011). "Hani-Rabbat as the Semitic Name of Mitanni", in Journal of Language Relationship, International Scientific Periodical Nº6 (2011), Russian State University for the Humanities, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, p. 174: "...The present essay intends to rehabilitate Hani-Rabbat as the accurate normalization of the Assyrian name of Mitanni, by showing the unmotivated nature of the alternative Hanigalbat as opposed to the more substantiated reading of GAL as rab in the spelling of this toponym..." The re-reading makes an argument on the basis of frequency, where "gal" not "gal9," is far more numerous; the later being the deviation found in six documents, all from 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 "gal9" denotes "dannum" or "strong" opposed to "great", easily being used as synonyms. Both signs also represent correlative readings; alternative readings of "gal9" include "rib" and "rip," just like "gal" being read as "rab."
The situation is complicated by there being, according to linguists, three separate dialects of Hurrian, central-western, northern, and eastern.Astour, Michael C.. "A Reconstruction of the History of Ebla (Part 2)". Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 4, edited by Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021, pp. 57–196
The Egyptians considered the Euphrates River to form the boundary between Syria and Naharain.Spalinger, Anthony. "A New Reference to an Egyptian Campaign of Thutmose III in Asia." Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, 1978, pp. 35–41
The name "Naharin" Naharin, MdC transliteration nhrn, was the ancient Egyptian term for the kingdom of MitanniErmann & Grapow, 1926–1953, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache 2, 287.1 during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt. The 18th dynasty was in conflict with the kingdom of Mitanni for control of the Levant from the reigns of Thutmose I,J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Two, Chicago 1906, §476 and Amenhotep II.Breasted, op.cit., §476 Amenhotep II's son, Thutmose IV, would eventually make peace with the Mitannians."Thutmose IV." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008. Henceforth, relations between Egypt and Naharin (Mitanni) were peaceful with much diplomatic gift giving according to the correspondence of the Amarna Letters, in which the name appears also in Akkadian.EA 75: Na-aḫ-‹ri›-ma, EA 140: Na-ri-ma, EA 194: Na-aḫ-ri-mi, EA 288: Na-aḫ-ri-ma (standardized form: Nahrîmi and Nahrîma). See: The military annals of pharaoh Thutmose III refer to Naharin in explicit terms. In his 33rd Year, Thutmose III records: His Majesty travelled north capturing the towns and laying waste the settlements of that foe Naharin."Ancient Egyptian Joint Operations in the Lebanon under Thutmose III (1451–1438 BCE)" in Semaphore, Newsletter of the Sea Power Centre – Australia, issue 16, August 2006 p.2