Mitanni

Mitanni (mɪˈtæni; Hittite cuneiform KUR URUMi-ta-an-ni; Mittani Mi-it-ta-ni), 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (Hanikalbat, Khanigalbat, cuneiform Ḫa-ni-gal-bat, Ḫa-ni-rab-bat) in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state with Indo-Aryan linguistic influences in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Since no histories or royal annals/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. A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated 2300 BC at Tell Mozan. The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal (21st century BC), king of Urkesh. Later on, Hurrians made up the main population of Mitanni, that was firstly known as Ḫabigalbat, at Babylonia, in two texts of the late Old Babylonian period, during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa, (1646–1626 BC), in middle chronology. The Egyptian official astronomer and clockmaker Amenemhet (Amen-hemet) 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 (1550–1525 BC), actually by Amenemhet's father. During the reign of pharaoh Thutmose I (1506–1493 BC), the names Mitanni and Naharin are among the reminiscences of several of the pharaoh's officers. One of them, Ahmose si-Abina, wrote: "...His Majesty arrived at Naharin..." Another one, Ahmose pa-Nekhbit, recorded: "...when I captured for him in the land of Naharin..." After the Battle of Megiddo, an officer of pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), in the pharaoh's 22 regnal year, reported: "That [wretched] enemy of Kadesh has come and has entered into Megiddo.