The Hurrians were first documented in the city of
Urkesh, where they built their first kingdom. Their largest and most influential Hurrian kingdom was
Mitanni. The population of the
Hittite Empire in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in
Hittite mythology.[1] By the
Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples. The state of
Urartu later covered some of the same area.[2]
History
Early Bronze Age
The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium.[4] The first known Hurrian kingdom emerged around the city of
Urkesh (modern Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BC.[5] 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".[6]
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 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 to the south had subdued Urkesh and made it a vassal state.[7] Urkesh later became a Mitanni religious center.[8]
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 Hittite king
Hattusilis I around 1600 BC.[9] 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 2nd millenium 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
Ur III period (ca 2100 BC).[10]
Late Bronze Age
The
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.[11] Eventually, after an internal succession crisis, Mitanni fell to the Hittites, later to fall under the control of the Assyrians.[12][13]
The Hurrian entity of Mitanni, which first rose to power before 1550 BC,[14][15] 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 in that pharoahs 22 regnal year.[16][17] Most of the time Egyptians referred to the kingdom as
Naharin. Later, Mitanni and Hanigailbat are mention 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.[18][19][20]
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.[21]
Urartu
At the end of the 2nd 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.[22]
Culture and society
Knowledge of Hurrian culture relies on archaeological excavations at sites such as Nuzi and
Alalakh as well as on cuneiform tablets, primarily from
Hattusa (Boghazköy), the capital of the Hittites, whose civilization was greatly influenced by the Hurrians. Tablets from Nuzi, Alalakh, and other cities with Hurrian populations (as shown by personal names) reveal Hurrian cultural features even though they were written in Akkadian. Hurrian
cylinder seals were carefully carved and often portrayed mythological motifs. They are a key to the understanding of Hurrian culture and history.
The 2nd millennium Hurrians were masterful ceramists. Their pottery is commonly found in Mesopotamia and in the lands west of the Euphrates; it was highly valued in distant Egypt, by the time of the
New Kingdom. Archaeologists use the terms
Khabur ware and
Nuzi ware for two types of wheel-made pottery used by the Hurrians. Khabur ware is characterized by reddish painted lines with a geometric triangular pattern and dots, while Nuzi ware has very distinctive forms, and are painted in brown or black.[23][24] They were also skilled at glass working.[25]
The Hurrians had a reputation in
metallurgy. It is proposed that the
Sumerian term for "coppersmith" tabira/tibira was borrowed from Hurrian, which would imply an early presence of the Hurrians way before their first historical mention in Akkadian sources.[26][27] Copper was traded south to
Mesopotamia from the highlands of
Anatolia. The Khabur Valley had a central position in the metal trade, and copper, silver and even tin were accessible from the Hurrian-dominated countries
Kizzuwatna and
Ishuwa situated in the Anatolian highland. Gold was in short supply, and the
Amarna letters inform us that it was acquired from Egypt. Not many examples of Hurrian metal work have survived, except from the later Urartu. Some small fine bronze lion
foundation pegs were discovered at Urkesh.[28]
Among the Hurrian texts from Ugarit are the oldest known instances of
written music, dating from c. 1400 BC.[29][30][31] Among these fragments are found the names of four Hurrian composers, Tapšiẖuni, Puẖiya(na), Urẖiya, and Ammiya.[32]
The Hurrian culture made a great impact on the religion of the Hittites. From the Hurrian cult centre at Kummanni in Kizzuwatna, Hurrian religion spread to the Hittite people.[33][34]Syncretism merged the Old Hittite and Hurrian religions. Hurrian religion spread to Syria, where
Baal became the counterpart of
Teshub. The Hurrian religion, in different forms, influenced the entire ancient
Near East, except
ancient Egypt and southern Mesopotamia.
While the
Hurrian and
Urartian languages are related, there is little similarity between corresponding systems of belief.[35]
Kushuh, Kušuh, the moon god and a guardian of oaths.[44] Symbols of the sun and the crescent moon appear joined together in the Hurrian
iconography.
Nergal, a
Sumerian deity of the
netherworld, who had a prominent temple in Urkesh in the earliest period of recorded Hurrian history.[45] Possibly a stand-in for a god whose Hurrian name is presently unknown.[46]
Ea, Hayya, the god of wisdom, who was also Sumerian in origin.[47]
Hurrian
cylinder seals often depict mythological creatures such as winged humans or animals, dragons and other monsters. The interpretation of these depictions of gods and demons remains uncertain. They may have been both protective and evil spirits. Some are reminiscent of the Assyrian
shedu.
The Hurrian gods do not appear to have had particular home temples, like in the
Mesopotamian or
Ancient Egyptian religion. Some important cult centres were Kummanni in Kizzuwatna and Hittite
Yazilikaya.
Harran was at least later a religious centre for the moon god, and Shauskha had an important temple in
Nineve, when the city was under Hurrian rule. A temple of
Nergal was built in Urkesh in the late third millennium BC. The town of
Kahat was a religious centre in the kingdom of Mitanni.
The Hurrian myth "The Songs of Ullikummi", preserved among the Hittites, is a parallel to
Hesiod's
Theogony; the castration of
Uranus by
Cronus may be derived from the castration of
Anu by
Kumarbi, while
Zeus's overthrow of Cronus and Cronus's regurgitation of the swallowed gods is like the Hurrian myth of
Teshub and Kumarbi.[53] It has been argued that the worship of
Attis drew on Hurrian myth.[54]
The Hurrians adopted the
Akkadian language and
Cuneiform script for their own writing about 2000 BC. Texts in the Hurrian language in cuneiform have been found at
Hattusa,
Ugarit (Ras Shamra), as well as in one of the longest of the
Amarna letters (EA 27), written by King
Tushratta of Mitanni to Pharaoh
Amenhotep III.[57] It was the only long Hurrian text known until a multi-tablet collection of literature in Hurrian with a Hittite translation was discovered at Hattusa in 1983.[58]
Archaeology
Hurrian settlements are distributed over three modern countries, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The heart of the Hurrian world is bisected by the modern border between Syria and Turkey. Several sites are situated within the border zone, making access for excavations problematic. A threat to the ancient sites are the many dam projects in the
Euphrates,
Tigris and Khabur valleys. Several rescue operations have already been undertaken when the construction of dams put entire river valleys under water.
The first major excavations of Hurrian sites in Iraq and Syria began in the 1920s and 1930s. They were led by the American archaeologist Edward Chiera at Yorghan Tepe (Nuzi), and the British archaeologist
Max Mallowan at
Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak. Recent excavations and surveys in progress are conducted by American, Belgian, Danish, Dutch, French, German and Italian teams of archaeologists, with international participants, in cooperation with the Syrian Department of Antiquities. The tells, or city mounds, often reveal a long occupation beginning in the
Neolithic and ending in the Roman period or later. The characteristic Hurrian pottery, the Khabur ware, is helpful in determining the different strata of occupation within the mounds. The Hurrian settlements are usually identified from the Middle Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age, with Tell Mozan (Urkesh) being the main exception.
Important sites
The list includes some important ancient sites from the area dominated by the Hurrians. Excavation reports and images are found at the websites linked. As noted above, important discoveries of Hurrian culture and history were also made at Alalakh, Amarna, Hattusa and Ugarit.
^[H. A. Hoffner, Jr., ed]H. A. Hoffner, Jr., ed, "Perspectives on Hittite Civilization: Selected Writings of Hans G. Güterbock.", Assyriological Studies 26
Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1997
ISBN978-1-88-592304-2
^[1] Gelb, Ignace J., "Hurrians and Subarians", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization No. 22. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944
^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
^Maiocchi, Massimo, "A Hurrian Administrative Tablet from Third Millennium Urkesh", vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 191-203, 2011
^Lawler, Andrew, "Who Were the Hurrians?", Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 46–52, 2008
^Kupper, J.-R., "Lettres royales du temps de Zimri-Lim", Archives royales de Mari 28, Paris, 1998
^Hamblin, William J., "Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC", Routledge, 2006
ISBN978-1-134-52062-6
^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
^von Dassow, Eva, (2022).
"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.
^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
^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
^Barjamovic, Gojko, (2012).
"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..."
^Barjamovic, Gojko, (2020).
"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..."
^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
^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.
^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
^Grosz, Katarzyna (1988). The Archive of the Wullu Family. University of Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 11.
ISBN978-87-7289-040-1.
^Speiser, E. A., "Notes to Recently Published Nuzi Texts", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 432–43, 1935
^Benedict, Warren C., "Urartians and Hurrians", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 100–04, 1960
^[3] Oguchi, Hiromichi, "The Date of The Beginning of Khabur Ware Period 3: Evidence from the Palace of Qarni-Lim at Tell Leilan", Al-Rafidan 27, pp. 45–59, 2006
^Paul Zimansky, "The Origin of Nuzi Ware: A Contribution From Tell Hamida", In: David I. Owen and Martha A. Morrison (Hrsg.): General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 9/1, Pennsylvania State University Press, Philadelphia, 1995 ISBN 978-0-931464-37-9
^Vandiver, Pamela, "GLASS TECHNOLOGY AT THE MID-SECOND-MILLENNIUM B.C. HURRIAN SITE OF NUZI", Journal of Glass Studies, vol. 25, pp. 239–47, 1983
^Muscarella, Oscar White, "Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988
ISBN9780870995255
^Güterbock, Hans Gustav, "Musical Notation in Ugarit", Revue d'Assyriologie 64, pp. 45–52, 1970
^Duchesne-Guillemin, Marcelle, "A Hurrian Musical Score from Ugarit: The Discovery of Mesopotamian Music", Sources from the ancient near east, vol. 2, fasc. 2. Malibu, CA: Undena Publications, 1984.
ISBN0-89003-158-4
^Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, "The Cult Song with Music from Ancient Ugarit: Another Interpretation", Revue d'Assyriologie, 68, pp. 69–82, 1974
^West, M[artin] L[itchfield], "The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts", Music and Letters 75, no. 2, pp. 161–79, May 1994
^Görke, Susanne, "Hurrian and Luwian Elements in the Kizzuwatna Religious Texts", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 148-157, 2022
^Güterbock, Hans Gustav, "The Song of Ullikummi Revised Text of the Hittite Version of a Hurrian Myth", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 135–61, 1951
^P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 109
^Güterbock, Hans Gustav: "Hittite Religion"; in Forgotten Religions: Including Some Living Primitive Religions (ed. Vergilius Ferm) (NY, Philosophical Library, 1950), pp. 88–89, 103–104
^Suggested by Jane Lightfoot in the Times Literary Supplement 22 July 2005 p 27, in her account of Philippe Borgeaud, Mother of the Gods: from Cybele to the Virgin Mary, Johns Hopkins 2005
ISBN0-8018-7985-X.
^Wilhelm, Gernot (2008). "Hurrian". In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 81–104.
^William L. Moran, "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992
ISBN978-0801842511
^[4] Dennis R. M. Campbell, "Mood and Modality in Hurrian", Disertation, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Chicago, 2007
Further reading
[5] Buccellati, Giorgio, and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. “Urkesh: The First Hurrian Capital.” The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 60, no. 2, 1997, pp. 77–96
Campbell, Dennis R. M., and Sebastian Fischer, "A HURRIAN RITUAL AGAINST TOOTHACHE: A REANALYSIS OF MARI 5", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 112, pp. 31–48, 2018
Fournet, Arnaud, "About Eni, the Hurrian Word for ‘God.’", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 91–94, 2012
Greene, Joseph A., "‘Nuzi and the Hurrians: Fragments from a Forgotten Past’: A Slice of Mesopotamian Life in the Fourteenth Century BCE", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 66–66, 1998
Güterbock, Hans Gustav, "The Hittite Version of the Hurrian Kumarbi Myths: Oriental Forerunners of Hesiod", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 123–34, 1948
Hawkes, Jacquetta, The First Great Civilizations: Life in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and Egypt, Knopf, 1973
ISBN978-0394461618
Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn. "The Discovery of an Ancient Mesopotamian Theory of Music". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 115, no. 2 (April 1971): 131–49.
Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, Richard L. Crocker, and Robert R. Brown. Sounds from Silence: Recent Discoveries in Ancient Near Eastern Music. Berkeley: Bit Enki Publications, 1976. (booklet and LP record, Bit Enki Records BTNK 101, reissued [s.d.] with CD).
Speiser, E. A., Introduction to Hurrian, New Haven, ASOR 1941.
Vitale, Raoul. "La Musique suméro-accadienne: gamme et notation musicale". Ugarit-Forschungen 14 (1982): 241–63.
Wilhelm, Gernot (ed.). Nuzi at Seventy-five. Studies in the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians. Bethesda: Capital Decisions, Ltd., 1999
Wilhelm, G, "A Hurrian Letter from Tell Brak", Iraq, vol. 53, pp. 159–68, 1991
Wegner, Ilse. Einführung in die hurritische Sprache, 2. überarbeitete Aufl. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007.
ISBN3-447-05394-1
Wulstan, David. "The Tuning of the Babylonian Harp", Iraq 30 (1968): 215–28.