Editing Hurrians (section)

==History==
===Early Bronze Age===
[[File:Foundation tablet, dedication to God Nergal by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, Habur Bassin, circa 2000 BC Louvre Museum AO 5678.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|{{center|1=Foundation tablet. Dedication to God [[Nergal]] by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, [[Habur]] Bassin, circa 2000 BC. Louvre Museum AO 5678.<br>"Of Nergal the lord of Hawalum, Atal-shen, the caring shepherd, the king of Urkesh and Nawar, the son of Sadar-mat the king, is the builder of the temple of Nergal, the one who overcomes opposition. Let [[Shamash]] and [[Ishtar]] destroy the seeds of whoever removes this tablet. Shaum-shen is the craftsman."<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal inscriptions |url=http://urkesh.org/pages/571.htm |website=urkesh.org }}</ref>}}]]
The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium.<ref>Steinkeller P., "The historical background of Urkesh and the Hurrian beginnings in northern Mesopotamia", In: Buccellati G, Kelly-Buccellati M, eds. Mozan 3: Urkesh and the Hurrians Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Malibu: Undena Publications, pp. 75–98, 1998</ref> The first known Hurrian kingdom emerged around the city of [[Urkesh]] (modern Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BC.<ref>Maiocchi, Massimo, "A Hurrian Administrative Tablet from Third Millennium Urkesh", vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 191-203, 2011</ref> There is evidence that they were initially allied with the [[Akkadian Empire]] of [[Mesopotamia]], indicating they had a firm hold on the area by the reign of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]] (c. 2254–2218 BC). A king of Urkesh with the Hurrian name Tupkish had a queen with the name Uqnitum, Akkadian for "girl of lapis lazuli".<ref>Lawler, Andrew, "Who Were the Hurrians?", Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 46–52, 2008</ref>

===Middle Bronze Age===
Hurrian names occur sporadically in northwestern Mesopotamia and the area of [[Kirkuk]] in modern [[Iraq]] by the [[Middle Bronze Age]]. Their presence was attested at [[Nuzi]], [[Urkesh]] and other sites. They eventually occupied a broad arc of fertile farmland stretching from the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] valley in the west to the foothills of the [[Zagros Mountains]] in the east. By this point, during the Old Babylonian period in the early second millennium BC, the [[Amorite]] kingdom of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] to the south had subdued Urkesh and made it a vassal state.<ref>Kupper, J.-R., "Lettres royales du temps de Zimri-Lim", Archives royales de Mari 28, Paris, 1998</ref> Urkesh later became a Mitanni religious center.<ref>[https://www.avasa.it/rapporti/Kelly-Buccellati_2020_Mittani_ceramics%20de%20Martino%20FS.pdf] Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn. "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš (2020): 237-256</ref>

The Hurrians also migrated further west in this period. By 1725 BC they are found also in parts of northern [[Syria]], such as [[Alalakh]]. The mixed Amorite–Hurrian kingdom of [[Yamhad]] is recorded as struggling for this area with the early [[Hittites|Hittite]] king [[Hattusilis I]] around 1600 BC.<ref>Hamblin, William J., "Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC", Routledge, 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-134-52062-6}}</ref> Hurrians also settled in the coastal region of [[Adaniya]] in the country of [[Kizzuwatna]], southern Anatolia. Yamhad eventually weakened vis-a-vis the powerful Hittites, but this also opened Anatolia for Hurrian cultural influences. The Hittites were influenced by both the Hurrian cultures over the course of several centuries.

The city of [[Shibaniba]] (Tell Billa) may have also played an important role at that time. Possible Hurrian occupation was identified at Tell Billa during the middle of the second millennium BC. In 2022 Tell Billa was proposed as the possible site of the city of [[Šimānum]] (possibly known as Asimānum during the Akkadian Empire). [[Šimānum]] was important during the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]] (ca 2100 BC).<ref>Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, and Petra M. Creamer, "More to Tell About Billa!", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2022-0011 p.44</ref>

===Late Bronze Age===

The [[Mitanni|Mitanni Empire]] was a strong regional power limited by the Hittites to the north, Egyptians to the southwest, [[Kassites]] to the southeast, and later by the Assyrians to the east. At its maximum extent Mitanni ranged as far as west as [[Kizzuwatna]] by the Taurus mountains, [[Tunip]] in the south, [[Arraphe]] in the east, and north to [[Lake Van]]. Their sphere of influence is shown in spread Hurrian place names, personal names.<ref name="von Dassow, Eva, (2022)">von Dassow, Eva, (2022). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hr9qEAAAQBAJ&dq=alalakh+tablets&pg=PA455 "Mittani and Its Empire"], in Karen Radner, Nadine Moeller, D. T. Potts (eds.), The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, Volume III: From the Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC, Oxford University Press, pp. 467, 469.</ref> Eventually, after an internal succession crisis, Mitanni fell to the Hittites, later to fall under the control of the Assyrians.<ref>Pruzsinszky, Regine. "Emar and the Transition from Hurrian to Hittite Power". Representations of Political Power: Case Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East, edited by Marlies Heinz and Marian H. Feldman, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021, pp. 21-38</ref><ref>Devecchi, Elena. “Details That Make the Difference: The Akkadian Manuscripts of the ‘Šattiwaza Treaties.’” Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 48, no. 1, 2018, pp. 72–95</ref>

The Hurrian entity of Mitanni, which first rose to power before 1550 BC,<ref>Barjamovic, Gojko, (2012). [https://www.academia.edu/2966805/The%20Mesopotamian%20Empires "Mesopotamian Empires"], in: P.F. Bang, and W. Scheidel (eds.), ''The Oxford Handbook of the Ancient State in the Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean'', Oxford University Press, '''p. 125:''' "...The Mitanni empire covered northern and western Syria and northern Iraq (ca. 1600-1340 BCE) but succumbed to internal strife and the pressure of an expanding Assyrian empire..."</ref><ref>Barjamovic, Gojko, (2020). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nz0HEAAAQBAJ&dq=mitanni&pg=PA73 "The Empires of Western Asia and the Assyrian World Empire"], in: The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume Two: The History of Empires, Oxford University Press, '''p. 76:''' "After 1600 BCE the area between Iran and Egypt was united into a dynamic regional system of empires, Mitanni covered northern and western Syria and northern Iraq circa 1550-1340 BCE..."</ref> was first mentioned in the records of Egyptian pharaohs [[Thutmose I]] (1506–1493 BC) and [[Thutmose III]] (1479–1425 BC), the later most notably associated with the [[Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC)|Battle of Megiddo]] in that pharaoh's 22 regnal year.<ref>Redford, Donald B. “A Gate Inscription from Karnak and Egyptian Involvement in Western Asia during the Early 18th Dynasty.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 99, no. 2, 1979, pp. 270–87</ref><ref>His memoir was published by L. Borchardt, "Altägyptische Zeitmessung" in E. von Basserman-Jordan, ''Die Geschichte der Zeitmessung und der Ühre'', vol. I. (Berlin/Leipzig) 1930, pp 60ff, noted in Astour 1972:104, notes 25,26.</ref> Most of the time Egyptians referred to the kingdom as [[Naharin]]. Later, Mitanni and Hanigalbat (the Assyrian name for Mitanni) are mentioned in the [[Amarna Letters]] during the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC). Domestically, Mitanni records have been found at a number of places in the region including several Hittite sites as well as [[Tell Bazi]], [[Alalakh]], [[Nuzi]], [[Mardaman]], [[Kemune]], and Müslümantepe among others.<ref name="Ay">Ay, Eyyüp, (2021). [https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1309737 "A Hurrian-Mitanni Temple in Müslümantepe in The Upper Tigris and New Findings"], in ''Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, April 27, 2021.''</ref><ref>A. Otto, "The Late Bronze Age Pottery of the Weststadt of Tall Bazi (North Syria)", in: M. Luciani, A. Hausleitner (Eds.), Recent Trends in the Study of Late Bronze Age Ceramics in Syro-Mesopotamia and Neighbouring Regions. Proceedings of the International Workshop in Berlin, 2 – 5 November 2006, OrA 32, Rahden/Westf., pp. 85-117, 2014</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Grosz|first1=Katarzyna|title=The Archive of the Wullu Family|date=1988|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|location=University of Copenhagen|isbn=978-87-7289-040-1|page=11}}</ref>

Another major center of Hurrian influence was the kingdom of [[Arrapha]]. Excavations at Yorgan Tepe, ancient Nuzi, proved this to be one of the most important sites for our knowledge about the Hurrians. Hurrian kings such as Ithi-Teshup and Ithiya ruled over Arrapha, yet by the mid-fifteenth century BC they had become vassals of the Great King of Mitanni.<ref>Speiser, E. A., "Notes to Recently Published Nuzi Texts", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 432–43, 1935</ref>

===Urartu===
At the end of the second millennium BC the Urartians around [[Lake Van]] and [[Mount Ararat]] rose in power forming the Kingdom of [[Urartu]]. During the 11th and 10th centuries BC, the kingdom eventually encompassed a region stretching from the [[Caucasus Mountains]] in the north, to the borders of northern [[Assyria]] and northern [[Ancient Iran]] in the south, and controlled much of eastern Anatolia. Some scientists consider Urartu to be a re-consolidation of earlier Hurrian populations mainly due to linguistic factors, but this view is not universally held.<ref>Benedict, Warren C., "Urartians and Hurrians", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 100–04, 1960</ref>

=== Shubaru/Shubria ===
After the destruction of Mitanni by the Hittites around 1350-1325 BC, the term ''[[Subartu|Shubaru]]'' was used in Assyrian sources to refer to the remnants of the Mitanni in the upper Tigris valley. The Shubaru people revolted against the Assyrians multiple times in the last centuries of the second millennium BC. The term is related to ''[[Shubria]]'', the name of a country located north of the upper Tigris River valley.<ref name="Subartu">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=H. D. |title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-39485-7 |editor-last=Bryce |editor-first=Trevor |pages=663–665 |language=en |chapter=Subartu(m)}}</ref> Shubria was located between Urartu and Assyria and existed as an independent kingdom until its conquest by Assyria in 673–672 BC. The Shubrians worshipped the Hurrian deity [[Teshub]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petrosyan |first=Armen |url=https://www.academia.edu/3656244 |title=The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man |year=2002 |isbn=9780941694810 |place=Washington, D.C. |pages=21}}</ref> and several Shubrian names have Hurrian origins. Hurrians formed part of the Shubrian population and may have been the predominant group. Some scholars have suggested that Shubria was the last remnant of Hurrian civilization, or even constituted the original homeland of the Hurrians.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Bradley J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-2dQgAACAAJ&q=The+Mechanics+of+Empire+pdf |title=The Mechanics of Empire: The Northern Frontier of Assyria as a Case Study in Imperial Dynamics |date=2001 |publisher=Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project |isbn=978-951-45-9052-8 |location=Helsinki |pages=230–231 |language=en}}</ref> Karen Radner writes that Shubria "can certainly be described as [a] (linguistically and culturally) Hurrian" state. According to Radner, a letter from the king of Shubria to an Assyrian magnate from the time of Sargon II was composed in the Hurrian language.<ref name="Radner">{{Cite journal |last=Radner |first=Karen |date=2012 |title=Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Musasir, Kumme, Ukku and Šubria – the Buffer States between Assyria and Urartu. |url=https://www.academia.edu/1236294 |journal=[[Acta Iranica]] |volume=51 |page=244}}</ref>