Umman Manda (Akkadian: 𒂟𒌋𒌋𒁕, romanized: Ummān Manda lit. 'the horde from who knows where'[1]) is a term used in the early second and first millennia BC for a poorly known people in the Ancient Near East. They have been identified in different contexts as Hurrians, Elamites, Medes, Cimmerians, and Scythians.[2] The homeland of Umman Manda seems to be somewhere from Central Anatolia to north or northeastern Babylonia, possibly in what later came to be known as Mitanni, Mannae, or Media.[3] Zaluti, whose name seems to have an Indo-Iranian etymology, is mentioned as a leader of Ummanda Manda. He is even suggested to be identified with Salitis the founder of the Hyksos, the Fifteenth dynasty of Egypt.[4]

During the middle-6th century BC, the term Ummān Manda was used to designate the Cimmerians and the Scythians.[5]

By the time of the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, it was used to designate the Medes.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Umman-manda [1] (EN)". Corpus of Ancient Mesopotamian Scholarship/Geography of Knowledge. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, University of Pennsylvania.
  2. ^ S. Ferruh Adalı (2011). The Scourge of God: The Umman-manda and Its Significance in the First Millennium BC. Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 978-9521013355.
  3. ^ Drews, Robert. The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East. Princeton University Press. 1988. p. 226.
  4. ^ Drews, Robert. The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East. Princeton University Press. 1988. p. 227.
  5. ^ a b Spalinger 1978a, p. 401-402.

Bibliography


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