Mitanni

Mitanni was an Indo aryan Hurrian speaking kingdom in northern Mesopotamia from ca. 1500 BC. 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.

Kingdom of Mitanni
c. 1600 BC – c. 1260 BC
Kingdom of Mitanni at its greatest extent under Barratarna c. 1490 BC
Capital	Washukanni
Common languages	Hurrian Akkadian Amorite
Religion	Historical Vedic religion[1][2] Hurrian religion Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Government	Monarchy
King
• c. 1540 BC	Kirta (first known)
• c. 1260 BC	Shattuara II (last)
Historical era	Bronze Age
• Established	c. 1600 BC
• Disestablished	c. 1260 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Hittite Empire Yamhad Middle Assyrian Empire

A number of proper names and glosses (technical terminology) of the Mitanni are of Indo-Aryan or Proto-Indo-Aryan origins.^[3] Starting from Shuttarna I who is the first Mitanni ruler historically attested to have existed, the Mitanni had Indo-Aryan throne names.^[4] The Kikkuli's horse training text includes technical terms of Indo-Aryan origin,^[5] and the Indo-Aryan deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are listed and invoked in two treaties found in Hattusa, between the kings Sattiwaza of Mitanni and Šuppiluliuma I the Hittite: (treaty KBo I 3) and (treaty KBo I 1 and its duplicates).^[6][7] The toponym of the Mitanni capital of Washukanni is also "unanimously accepted" to have been derived from an Indo-Aryan dialect.^[3] Annelies Kammenhuber (1968) suggested that this vocabulary was derived from the still undivided Indo-Iranian language,^[8][9] but Mayrhofer has shown that specifically Indo-Aryan features are present.^[10][11]

It is generally believed that Indo-Aryan peoples settled in Upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria, and established the Kingdom of Mitanni following a period of political vacuum, while also adopting Hurrian. This is considered a part of the Indo-Aryan migrations.^[12][13][14] Since the late 20th century, the view that the Mitanni kingdom was ruled by royal house and aristocracy of Indo-Aryan origin has been prevalent among the scholars;^[a] accordingly, a branch of Indo-Aryans separated from the other Indo-Iranians around the turn of second millennium BCE and migrated into West Asia, hence giving rise to the Mitanni kingdom, while also adopting Hurrian language.^[21][22][13] Some of the recent studies such as those by Eva von Dassow (2022) and Cotticelli-Kurras and Pisaniello (2023), while noting the modern identification of Mittani as Indo-Aryan and the role of Indo-Aryan speakers in establishing its dynasty, have disputed the significance of Indo-Aryan vocabulary in an otherwise Hurrian-speaking state stating that it does not indicate any Indo-Aryan origins for Mitanni kings.^[23][3] According to Alexander Lubotsky (2023), however, the military elite of Mitanni kingdom (see Maryannu) was of Aryan descent and that their language displays a clear Indo-Aryan character.^[19]

Jasper Eidem in 2014 reported on Farouk Ismail's earlier study,^[24] in reference to the word marijannu that was found in a letter from Tell Leilan in northeastern Syria dating to a period slightly before 1761 BC, which is the time when the reign of Zimri-Lim ended in the region of Mari. Kroonen et al. (2018) consider this as an early Indo-Aryan linguistic presence in Syria two centuries prior to the formation of the Mitanni realm, as mariannu is generally seen as a Hurrianized form of the Indo-Aryan *marya, which means 'man' or 'youth', associated to military affairs and chariots.^[25]

Notes

1. Including Christopher I. Beckwith (2009),^[15] Pita Kelekna (2009),^[16] Asko Parpola (2015),^[17] Elena Efimovna Kuzmina (2007),^[18] Alexander Lubotsky (2023),^[19] Frans van Koppen (2017)^[20] and others