Hurrians

The Hurrians were a people who lived in the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language and lived in parts of northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia, and southeastern Anatolia.

They were first known from the city of Urkesh, where they built their first kingdom. Their largest and most powerful kingdom was Mitanni. Many Hurrians also lived in the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, and their ideas had a big effect on Hittite mythology. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had mixed with other groups. Later, the state of Urartu covered some of the same lands. A related group to the Hurrians were the Urarteans.

History

The Khabur River valley was the center of Hurrian lands for many years. The first Hurrian kingdom began around the city of Urkesh (today Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BC. They were allies with the Akkadian Empire of Mesopotamia around the time of Naram-Sin of Akkad (around 2254–2218 BC). A king of Urkesh named Tupkish had a queen called Uqnitum, which means "girl of lapis lazuli" in Akkadian.

During the Middle Bronze Age, Hurrian names appeared in northwestern Mesopotamia and around Kirkuk in modern Iraq. They lived in places like Nuzi and Urkesh. They settled in a wide area from the Khabur River valley to the Zagros Mountains. By the early second millennium BC, the Amorite kingdom of Mari made Urkesh a vassal state, but later it became a religious center for the Mitanni.

The Hurrians also moved west into northern Syria, like in Alalakh. They mixed with the Amorites in the kingdom of Yamhad, which fought with the early Hittite king Hattusilis I. The Hurrians also lived in Adaniya in Kizzuwatna, southern Anatolia. Over time, Hurrian culture influenced the Hittites.

The Mitanni Empire became a strong power, bordered by the Hittites, Egyptians, Kassites, and later the Assyrians. At its largest, Mitanni reached from Kizzuwatna to Lake Van. It was first mentioned by Egyptian pharaohs Thutmose I and Thutmose III, and later in the Amarna Letters. Important Hurrian sites included Tell Bazi, Alalakh, Nuzi, and others.

Another important Hurrian area was the kingdom of Arrapha, with sites like Yorgan Tepe (ancient Nuzi) providing much of what we know about the Hurrians. Kings like Ithi-Teshup ruled Arrapha, but later became vassals of Mitanni.

By the end of the second millennium BC, the Urartians around Lake Van and Mount Ararat formed the Kingdom of Urartu. This kingdom grew to include areas from the Caucasus Mountains to northern Assyria and Ancient Iran.

After Mitanni fell, the term Shubaru described its remnants in the upper Tigris valley. The Shubaru people often rebelled against the Assyrians. The related land of Shubria lay between Urartu and Assyria and was an independent kingdom until the Assyrians conquered it. Shubria worshipped the Hurrian god Teshub, and many Shubrian names had Hurrian roots. Some believe Shubria was the last remnant of Hurrian culture or even their original homeland.

Culture and society

We learn about the Hurrians mostly from old digs at places like Nuzi and Alalakh, and from special flat stone tablets, especially from Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites, who were strongly shaped by Hurrian ways. Even though many of these tablets were written in the language Akkadian, they show us Hurrian culture because they include Hurrian names. Hurrian cylinder seals were beautifully carved and often showed scenes from myths. These seals help us understand Hurrian life and history.

During the second millennium, the Hurrians were excellent pot makers. Their pottery has been found all over Mesopotamia and even west of the Euphrates River, and it was so valued that it made its way to Egypt by the time of the New Kingdom. Experts call two special kinds of their pottery Khabur ware and Nuzi ware. Khabur ware has reddish lines with triangle patterns and dots, while Nuzi ware has unique shapes painted in brown or black. The Hurrians were also good at working with glass.

The Hurrians were known for their skills in metallurgy. Some believe the ancient Sumerian word for “coppersmith” might have come from the Hurrian language, suggesting they were around even before they were first written about. They traded copper from the highlands of Anatolia down to Mesopotamia. The Khabur Valley was important for metal trade, and they had access to copper, silver, and tin from places like Kizzuwatna and Ishuwa. Gold was rare and had to be gotten from Egypt, as letters from the Amarna letters tell us. Only a few examples of Hurrian metalwork survive, mostly from a later place called Urartu, but some tiny bronze lion foundation pegs were found at Urkesh.

Among old Hurrian writings from Ugarit are some of the earliest known examples of written music, dating back to around 1400 BC. These pieces include the names of four Hurrian music makers: Tapšiẖuni, Puẖiya(na), Urẖiya, and Ammiya.

Religion

Main article: Hurrian religion

The Hurrians had a strong influence on the beliefs of the Hittites. Their religion began in a place called Kummanni and spread to many areas, including Syria. This religion mixed with older Hittite beliefs, creating new traditions.

The Hurrians believed in many gods and goddesses. Some of the most important ones were Teshub, the powerful storm god; Hebat, his wife, the mother goddess; and Sarruma, their son, a mountain god. Other key gods included Kumarbi, the father of the gods; Shaushka, the goddess of love and war; and Shimegi, the sun god. These gods were important to the Hurrian people and were honored in special places called temples.

Language

Main articles: Hurrian language and Hurro-Urartian languages

The Hurrian language was a special kind of language that was used by the Hurrian people. It is connected to the Urartian language, which was spoken in an ancient kingdom called Urartu. Together, they make up the Hurro-Urartian language family. People have tried to find out how these languages relate to others, but there is no agreement on this.

The Hurrians used another language called Akkadian and a special way of writing called Cuneiform script for their own writing around the year 2000 BC. We have found texts written in the Hurrian language using this script in places like Hattusa and Ugarit. One of these texts is a long letter from a king named Tushratta to a pharaoh named Amenhotep III. This was the only long Hurrian text known until many tablets with Hurrian literature and translations in Hittite were found at Hattusa in 1983.

Archaeology

Hurrian settlements were located in parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. The main area where the Hurrians lived is split by the border between Syria and Turkey, which makes it hard for scientists to explore these places. Many dams being built along the Euphrates, Tigris, and Khabur rivers also threaten to cover these ancient sites, so special projects have been done to save what they can before the water rises.

Archaeologists began important digs at Hurrian sites in the 1920s and 1930s. Since then, teams from many countries have continued to study these places, working with local experts. These digs often show that people lived in these cities from very old times all the way to the Roman period. Special types of pottery help experts understand the different layers of history in these places. The Hurrians lived mainly from the Middle Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age, with one important site, Tell Mozan (Urkesh), being a bit different.

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.

• Urkesh (Tell Mozan)
• Nuzi (Yorghan Tepe)
• Nagar (Tell Brak)
• Shehna and Shubat-Enlil (Tell Leilan)
• Kahat (Tell Barri)
• Nabada (Tell Beydar)
• Tell Tuneinir
• Umm el-Marra (Tuba?)
• Tell Chuera
• Tell Hammam et-Turkman (Zalpa?)
• Tell Sabi Abyad
• Hamoukar
• Chagar Bazar
• Tell Fekheriye (Sikkan, Washukanni?)
• Tall Al-Hamidiya (Taidu?)