18 Facts About Mitanni

1.

Egyptian official astronomer and clockmaker Amenemhet apparently ordered to write 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 the expedition to Mitanni could have taken place in pharaoh Ahmose I's reign (c.

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2.

Mitanni has gathered to him the princes of [every] foreign country [which had been] loyal to Egypt, as well as as far as Naharin and M[itanni], them of Hurru, them of Kode, their horses, their armies.

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3.

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.

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4.

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.

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5.

Victories over Mitanni are recorded from the Egyptian campaigns in Nuhasse.

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6.

Later on, Egypt and Mitanni became allies, and King Shuttarna II himself was received at the Egyptian court.

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7.

Shalmaneser I claimed to have defeated the Hittites and Mitanni slaying 14, 400 men; the rest were blinded and carried away.

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8.

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 the site of Tell Fekheriye as recent German archaeological excavations suggest.

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9.

The Mitanni occupation lasted until the site was destroyed between c 1300 and 1275 BC, presumably by the Assyrians.

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10.

Two cuneiform tablets of the Mitanni period sealed by Mitanni ruler Saushtatar, one by Artatama I were found.

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11.

Mitanni kingdom was firstly known as Habigalbat before 1600 BC at Babylonia, during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa, attested as ha-bi-in-gal-ba-ti-i, and ha-bi-in-ga-al-ba-at, in two texts of the late Old Babylonian period.

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12.

Egyptians referred to it as Maryannu, Nahrin and Mitanni, it was Hurri to the Hittites, and Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat to the Assyrians.

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13.

King Barattarna of Mitanni expanded the kingdom west to Aleppo and made the Amorite king Idrimi of Alalakh his vassal, and five generations seems to separate this king from the rise of Mitanni kingdom.

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14.

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 the status of a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire between c 1350 and 1260 BC.

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15.

The group which became Mitanni gradually moved south into Mesopotamia before the 17th century BC.

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16.

Mitanni resided in the newly built Assyrian administrative centre at Tell Sabi Abyad.

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17.

Several Mitanni rulers had names which could be interpreted as Indo-Aryan, most notably Shuttarna.

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18.

The Mitanni warriors were called marya, the term for warrior in Sanskrit as well; note mista-nnu "payment (for catching a fugitive).

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