Hurrians
𒄷𒌨𒊑
The approximate area of Hurrian settlement in the Middle Bronze Age is shown in purple
Regions with significant populations
Near East
Languages
Hurrian
Religion
Hurrian religion

The Hurrians (/ˈhʊəriənz/; Hurrian: 𒄷𒌨𒊑, romanized: Ḫu-ur-ri; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.

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

Foundation tablet. Dedication to God Nergal by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, Habur Bassin, circa 2000 BC. Louvre Museum AO 5678.
"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."[3]

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

Incense burner. Hurrian period, 1300–1000 BC. From Tell Basmosian (also Tell Bazmusian), modern-day Lake Dukan, Iraq. Currently displayed in Erbil Civilization Museum.

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]

Religion

Main article: Hurrian religion

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]

Hurrian incense container
The Hittite gods Teshub and Hebat, chamber A, Yazilikaya, Hittite rock sanctuary, Turkey

The main gods in the Hurrian pantheon were:

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]

Language

Main articles: Hurrian language and Hurro-Urartian languages
The Louvre lion and accompanying stone tablet bearing the earliest known text in Hurrian

The agglutinating and highly ergative Hurrian language is related to the Urartian language, the language of the ancient kingdom of Urartu.[55] Together they form the Hurro-Urartian language family. The external connections of the Hurro-Urartian languages are disputed. There exist various proposals for a genetic relationship to other language families (e.g. the Northeast Caucasian languages), but none of these are generally accepted.[56]

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.

See also

References

  1. ^ [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 ISBN 978-1-88-592304-2
  2. ^ [1] Gelb, Ignace J., "Hurrians and Subarians", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization No. 22. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944
  3. ^ "Royal inscriptions". urkesh.org.
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Maiocchi, Massimo, "A Hurrian Administrative Tablet from Third Millennium Urkesh", vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 191-203, 2011
  6. ^ Lawler, Andrew, "Who Were the Hurrians?", Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 46–52, 2008
  7. ^ Kupper, J.-R., "Lettres royales du temps de Zimri-Lim", Archives royales de Mari 28, Paris, 1998
  8. ^ [2] Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn. "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš (2020): 237-256
  9. ^ Hamblin, William J., "Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC", Routledge, 2006 ISBN 978-1-134-52062-6
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ 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..."
  15. ^ 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..."
  16. ^ 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
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ Ay, Eyyüp, (2021). "A Hurrian-Mitanni Temple in Müslümantepe in The Upper Tigris and New Findings", in Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences, April 27, 2021.
  19. ^ 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
  20. ^ Grosz, Katarzyna (1988). The Archive of the Wullu Family. University of Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-87-7289-040-1.
  21. ^ Speiser, E. A., "Notes to Recently Published Nuzi Texts", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 432–43, 1935
  22. ^ Benedict, Warren C., "Urartians and Hurrians", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 100–04, 1960
  23. ^ [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
  24. ^ 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
  25. ^ 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
  26. ^ Wilhelm, Gernot (1989). The Hurrians (PDF). Warminster: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 0-85668-442-2. Pp. 8–9.
  27. ^ Kassian, Alexei (2014). "Lexical Matches between Sumerian and Hurro-Urartian: Possible Historical Scenarios". Cuneiform Digital Library Journal (4).
  28. ^ Muscarella, Oscar White, "Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988 ISBN 9780870995255
  29. ^ Güterbock, Hans Gustav, "Musical Notation in Ugarit", Revue d'Assyriologie 64, pp. 45–52, 1970
  30. ^ 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. ISBN 0-89003-158-4
  31. ^ Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, "The Cult Song with Music from Ancient Ugarit: Another Interpretation", Revue d'Assyriologie, 68, pp. 69–82, 1974
  32. ^ 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
  33. ^ Görke, Susanne, "Hurrian and Luwian Elements in the Kizzuwatna Religious Texts", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 148-157, 2022
  34. ^ 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
  35. ^ G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 41
  36. ^ D. Schwemer, The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 8(1), 2008, p. 3
  37. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 9
  38. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 92
  39. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 94
  40. ^ D. Schwemer, The Storm-Gods of the Ancient Near East: Summary, Synthesis, Recent Studies: Part II, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 8(1), 2008, p. 5-6
  41. ^ F. Simons, A New Join to the Hurro Akkadian Version of the Weidner God List from Emar (Msk 74.108a + Msk 74.158k), Altorientalische Forschungen 44, 2017, p. 86
  42. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 122-123
  43. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 7-8
  44. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 85
  45. ^ G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 11
  46. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 8
  47. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 10
  48. ^ A. Archi, The Anatolian Fate-goddesses and their different traditions [in] E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, J. Klinger, G. G. W. Müller (eds.), Diversity and Standardization. Perspectives on ancient Near Eastern cultural history, 2013, p. 4
  49. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, (eds.) Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 16
  50. ^ A. Archi, The West Hurrian Pantheon and Its Background [in:] B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, (eds.) Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman, 2013, p. 15-16
  51. ^ G. Wilhelm, The Hurrians, 1989, p. 55
  52. ^ P. Taracha, Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia, 2009, p. 109
  53. ^ 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
  54. ^ 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 ISBN 0-8018-7985-X.
  55. ^ Grekyan, Yervand, "Two Hurro-Urartian Lexical Parallels", Altorientalische Forschungen 49.1, pp. 48-52, 2022
  56. ^ Wilhelm, Gernot (2008). "Hurrian". In Woodard, Roger D. (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 81–104.
  57. ^ William L. Moran, "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992 ISBN 978-0801842511
  58. ^ [4] Dennis R. M. Campbell, "Mood and Modality in Hurrian", Disertation, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Chicago, 2007

Further reading

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