Mitannians

Kingdom of Mitanni
Kingdom of Mitanni
c. 1500 BCE–c. 1300 BCE
Map of the Near East ca. 1400 BC showing the Kingdom of Mitanni at its greatest extent
Capital		Washukanni
Languages		Hurrian language
Government		Monarchy
King
•	circa 1500 BCE	Kirta (first)
•	circa 1300 BCE	Shattuara II (last)
Historical era		Bronze Age
•	Established	c. 1500 BCE
•	Disestablished	c. 1300 BCE
Preceded by Succeeded by Old Assyrian Empire Yamhad Middle Assyrian Empire

Mitanni (/mɪˈtæni/; Hittite cuneiform KUR ^URUMi-ta-an-ni; Mittani Mi-it-ta-ni), also called Hanigalbat (Hanigalbat, Khanigalbat cuneiform Ḫa-ni-gal-bat) in Assyrian or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia from ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC. Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of AmoriteBabylon and a series of ineffectual Assyrian kings created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At the beginning of its history, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids. However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt made an alliance to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, Mitanni had outposts centered on its capital, Washukanni, whose location has been determined by archaeologists to be on the headwaters of the Khabur River. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to Hittite and later Assyrian attacks, and was reduced to the status of a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire. The Mitanni dynasty ruled over the northern Euphrates-Tigris region between c. 1475 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.