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			{{short description\|Historical ethnic group of Southwest Asia}}
	{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}
			{{pp-vandalism\|small=yes}}
	:''For the history of the kingdom of Mitanni (1500–1300 BC), see ].''
			{{Use dmy dates\|date=December 2019}}
	The '''Hurrians''' (also '''Khurrites''';<ref name = "Bartleby on Hittites"> on Bartleby.</ref> ] ''Ḫu-ur-ri'' {{unicode\|𒄷𒌨𒊑}}) were a people of the ], who lived in northern ] and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately ]. They probably originated in the ] and entered from the north, but this is not certain. Their known homeland was centred in ], the ] valley, and later they established themselves as rulers of small kingdoms throughout northern Mesopotamia and ]. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of ].
			{{Infobox ethnic group
			\| group = Hurrians
			\| native_name = {{lang\|xhu\|𒄷𒌨𒊑}}
			\| image = ]
			\| image_caption = The approximate area of Hurrian settlement in the Middle Bronze Age is shown in purple
			\| total = <!-- total population worldwide -->
			\| total_year = <!-- year of total population -->
			\| total_source = <!-- source of total population; may be ''census'' or ''estimate'' -->
			\| total_ref = <!-- references supporting total population -->
			\| genealogy =
			\| regions = ]
			\| languages = ]
			\| philosophies =
			\| religions = ]
			\| related_groups =
			\| footnotes =
			}}
			The '''Hurrians''' ({{IPAc-en\|ˈ\|h\|ʊər\|i\|ən\|z}}; {{langx\|xhu\|𒄷𒌨𒊑\|Ḫu-ur-ri}}; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the ] during the ]. They spoke the ], and lived throughout northern ], ] and southeastern ].

			The Hurrians were first documented in the city of ], where they built their first kingdom. Their largest and most influential Hurrian kingdom was ]. The population of the ] in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in ].<ref>H. A. Hoffner, Jr., ed, "Perspectives on Hittite Civilization: Selected Writings of Hans G. Güterbock.", Assyriological Studies 26
	The Hurrians played a substantial part in the ].
			Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1997 {{ISBN\|978-1-88-592304-2}}</ref> By the ], the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples. The state of ] later covered some of the same area.<ref> Gelb, Ignace J., "Hurrians and Subarians", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization No. 22. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944</ref> A related people to the Hurrians are the ].<ref name="Smeets">{{cite journal \|author=Smeets, Rieks \|title=On Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian language \|journal=Bibliotheca Orientalis \|volume=XLVI \|year=1989 \|pages=260–280 \|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/reference/id/315299}}</ref>

	== ~~People~~ ==		==History==
			===Early Bronze Age===
	The Hurrians inhabited most likely all parts of the ] in the second millennium BC. However, in most parts the Hurrians made up only a minority of the population. A Hurrian population majority existed only in the ] Valley and in the kingdom of ]. By the first millennium BC the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples, except perhaps in the kingdom of ]. It is generally believed that the speakers of this language originally came from the ] and spread over southeast ] and northern Mesopotamia at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. <ref>http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041610/Hurrian-language</ref>
			] by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, ] 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 ] and ] 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 ] (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 ] of ], indicating they had a firm hold on the area by the reign of ] (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===
	==Language==
			Hurrian names occur sporadically in northwestern Mesopotamia and the area of ] in modern ] by the ]. Their presence was attested at ], ] and other sites. They eventually occupied a broad arc of fertile farmland stretching from the ] valley in the west to the foothills of the ] in the east. By this point, during the Old Babylonian period in the early second millennium BC, the ] kingdom of ] 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> Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn. "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš (2020): 237-256</ref>
	The Hurrians spoke an ]-], conventionally called ], unrelated to neighboring ] or ], but clearly related to ] — a language spoken about a millennium later in northeastern ] — and possibly, very distantly, to the present-day ]. Some scholars relate the Hurrian language also to ].<ref>Hurrians. The ] (]). Retrieved 17 July 2006, from </ref> Similarities to Hurrian words have also been suggested in neighboring languages such as ]. It is believed by some scholars that the Hurrians mixed with their neighbors, such as the ] (at the time known as Armani-]) after arriving in the Caucasus around ] from an unknown place.<ref> ] and ], ''The Early History of Indo-European(aka Aryan) Languages''; ] "Armenia, Subartu, Sumer" Montreal </ref> Another theory is that the Armenians came to the Caucasus with the Hurrians from the ] homeland.<ref>Rafael Ishkhanyan, ''Illustrated History of Armenia,'' Yerevan, 1989; Martiros Kavoukjian, ''], ] and ],'' Montreal, 1989; Martiros Kavoukjian, ''The Genesis of Armenian people,'' Montreal, 1982; Hovick Nersessian, ''Highlands of Armenia,'' Los Angeles, 1998</ref>

			The Hurrians also migrated further west in this period. By 1725 BC they are found also in parts of northern ], such as ]. The mixed Amorite–Hurrian kingdom of ] is recorded as struggling for this area with the early ] king ] 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 ] in the country of ], 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 Hurrians adopted the ] ] for their own language about 2000 BC. This has enabled scholars to read the ]. Because the number of Hurrian texts discovered is small, and because many ] ]s are used, masking the phonetic shapes of the Hurrian words they represent, understanding of the Hurrian language is far from complete and many words are missing from their vocabulary.

			The city of ] (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 ] (possibly known as Asimānum during the Akkadian Empire). ] was important during the ] (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>
	Texts in the Hurrian language have been found at ], ] (Ras Shamra), as well as one of the longest of the ], written by King ] of Mitanni to Pharaoh ]. It was the only long Hurrian text known until a multi-tablet collection of literature in Hurrian with a Hittite translation was discovered at Hattusas in 1983.

	== ~~History~~ ==		===Late Bronze Age===
	Like most aspects of Hurrian society, their origins are still a mystery. By about ], the Hurrians may have expanded from the foothills of the ]. In the following centuries, Hurrian names occur sporadically in northern Mesopotamia and the area of ] in modern ]. Their presence was attested at ], ] and other sites. They eventually infiltrated and occupied a broad arc of fertile farmland stretching from the ] valley to the foothills of the ].

			The ] was a strong regional power limited by the Hittites to the north, Egyptians to the southwest, ] to the southeast, and later by the Assyrians to the east. At its maximum extent Mitanni ranged as far as west as ] by the Taurus mountains, ] in the south, ] in the east, and north to ]. Their sphere of influence is shown in spread Hurrian place names, personal names.<ref name="von Dassow, Eva, (2022)">von Dassow, Eva, (2022). , 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 city state of Urkesh ===
	The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium. The first known Hurrian kingdom up to date emerged around the city of ] during the third millennium BC. The end of the ] enabled the Hurrians to gain control of the area. This region had been the center of rich cultures (see ] and ]). Now the Hurrians could benefit from this and organize their own advanced ].

			The Hurrian entity of Mitanni, which first rose to power before 1550 BC,<ref>Barjamovic, Gojko, (2012). , 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). , 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 ] (1506–1493 BC) and ] (1479–1425 BC), the later most notably associated with the ] 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 ]. Later, Mitanni and Hanigalbat (the Assyrian name for Mitanni) are mentioned in the ] 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 ], ], ], ], ], and Müslümantepe among others.<ref name="Ay">Ay, Eyyüp, (2021). , 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>
	The city state of Urkesh still had some powerful neighbors, however. At some point in the early second millennium BC the Amorite kingdom of ] to the south subdued Urkesh into a vassal state. In the continuous power struggle over Mesopotamia another Amorite dynasty made themselves masters over Mari in the eighteenth century BC. The capital of this Old ]n kingdom called ] was founded some distance from Urkesh at another Hurrian settlement in the ] valley.

			Another major center of Hurrian influence was the kingdom of ]. 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>
	=== The kingdom of Yamhad ===
	The Hurrians also migrated west in this period. By ] they are found also in parts of northern ], such as ]. The Amoritic-Hurrian kingdom of ] is recorded as struggling for this area with the early Hittite king ] around 1600 BC. Hurrians also settled in the coastal region of Adaniya in the country of ]. Yamhad eventually weakened to the powerful Hittites, but this also opened ] for Hurrian cultural influences. The Hittites were influenced by the Hurrian culture over the course of several centuries.

			===Urartu===
	=== The emergence of Mitanni ===
			At the end of the second millennium BC the Urartians around ] and ] rose in power forming the Kingdom of ]. During the 11th and 10th centuries BC, the kingdom eventually encompassed a region stretching from the ] in the north, to the borders of northern ] and northern ] 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>
	{{main\|Mitanni}}

			=== Shubaru/Shubria ===
	The Hittites continued expanding south after the defeat of ]. The army of the Hittite king ] made its way down to ] and sacked the city. The destruction of the Babylonian kingdom, as well as the kingdom of Yamhad, helped the rise of another Hurrian dynasty. The first ruler was a legendary king called ] who founded the kingdom of ] around 1500 BC. Mitanni gradually grew from the region around ] valley and became the most powerful kingdom of the Near East in c.1450-1350 BC.
			After the destruction of Mitanni by the Hittites around 1350-1325 BC, the term '']'' 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 '']'', 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 ],<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 (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=] \|volume=51 \|page=244}}</ref>

			==Culture and society==
	=== The state of Arrapha ===
			]
	Another Hurrian kingdom also benefited from the demise of Babylonian power in sixteenth century BC. Hurrians had inhabited the region northeast of river ], around the modern ]. This was the kingdom of ]. Excavations at Yorgan Tepe, ancient ], proved to be one of the most important sites for our knowledge about the Hurrians. Hurrian kings such as Ithi-Teshup and Ithiya ruled over ], yet by the mid-fifteenth century BC they had become vassals of the Great King of Mitanni. Arrapha itself was destroyed by the ] in the fourteenth century BC.

			Knowledge of Hurrian culture relies on archaeological excavations at sites such as Nuzi and ] as well as on cuneiform tablets, primarily from ] (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 ]s were carefully carved and often portrayed mythological motifs. They are a key to the understanding of Hurrian culture and history.
	=== The fall of the Hurrians ===
	By the thirteenth century BC all of the Hurrian states had been vanquished by other peoples. The heart of the Hurrian lands, the Khabur river valley, became an Assyrian province. It is not clear what happened to the Hurrian people at the end of the ]. Some scholars have suggested Hurrians lived on in the country of ] north of Assyria during the early ].

			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 ]. Archaeologists use the terms ] and ] 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.<ref> 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</ref><ref>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</ref> They were also skilled at glass working.<ref>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</ref>
	The Hurrian population of Syria in the following centuries seems to have given up their language in favor of the Assyrian dialect of ] or, more likely, ]. This was around the same time that an aristocracy speaking Urartian, similar to old Hurrian, seems to have first imposed itself on the population around Lake Van, and formed the Kingdom of ].

			The Hurrians had a reputation in ]. It is proposed that the ]ian 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.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Wilhelm \|first=Gernot \|year=1989 \|title=The Hurrians \|location=Warminster \|url=https://archive.org/download/WilhelmHurrians/Wilhelm_Hurrians.pdf \|publisher=Aris & Phillips \|isbn=0-85668-442-2}} Pp. 8–9.</ref><ref>{{cite journal \|last=Kassian \|first=Alexei \|year=2014 \|title=Lexical Matches between Sumerian and Hurro-Urartian: Possible Historical Scenarios \|journal=Cuneiform Digital Library Journal \|issue=4 \|url=https://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdlj/2014/cdlj2014_004.html }}</ref> Copper was traded south to ] from the highlands of ]. The Khabur Valley had a central position in the metal trade, and copper, silver and even tin were accessible from the Hurrian-dominated countries ] and ] situated in the Anatolian highland. Gold was in short supply, and the ] 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 ] were discovered at Urkesh.<ref>Muscarella, Oscar White, "Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988 {{ISBN\|9780870995255}}</ref>
	== The Indo-Aryan connection ==

			Among the Hurrian texts from Ugarit are the oldest known instances of ], dating from c. 1400 BC.<ref>Güterbock, Hans Gustav, "Musical Notation in Ugarit", Revue d'Assyriologie 64, pp. 45–52, 1970</ref><ref>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}}</ref><ref>Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn, "The Cult Song with Music from Ancient Ugarit: Another Interpretation", Revue d'Assyriologie, 68, pp. 69–82, 1974</ref> Among these fragments are found the names of four Hurrian composers, Tapšiẖuni, Puẖiya(na), Urẖiya, and Ammiya.<ref>West, M L, "The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts", Music and Letters 75, no. 2, pp. 161–79, May 1994</ref>
	The question of ] cultural influences, or even a ruling aristocracy, among the Hurrians is an ambiguous issue. Early scholars (Belardi, Burrow, Kammenhuber, Lesný) were convinced the Hurrians were dominated by an elite of foreign rulers. These foreigners spoke an ] from Central Asia related to ] and even more closely related to ] (for example, the word for "one" in this language was ''aika'', similar to Sanskrit ''eka'' vs. Avestan ''aeva''). The presence of an Indo-Aryan people among the Hurrians was put in doubt by Manfred Mayrhofer (1966), and called in question by Gernot Wilhelm (1982).

			==Religion==
	They introduced the cremation of their dead, and introduced the use of the horse and chariot in the battlefield — a situation that has obvious similarities to the events in northern ] at about the same time. While this foreign aristocracy eventually abandoned their language in favor of that of their Hurrian subjects, they retained Indo-Iranian names, they invoked ] gods in some of their treaties, and some words from their Indo-Iranian language survived as loanwords in Hurrian, particularly technical terms related to horses and their training (Mayrhofer, 1974).
			{{main\|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.<ref>Görke, Susanne, "Hurrian and Luwian Elements in the Kizzuwatna Religious Texts", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 148-157, 2022</ref><ref>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</ref> ] merged the Old Hittite and Hurrian religions. Hurrian religion spread to Syria, where ] became the counterpart of Teshub. The Hurrian religion, in different forms, influenced the entire ancient ], except ] and southern Mesopotamia.

			While the ] and ] languages are related, there is little similarity between corresponding systems of belief.<ref>G. Wilhelm, ''The Hurrians'', 1989, p. 41</ref>
	Particularly the state of Mitanni, itself believed to be an Indo-Aryan word, was connected with the Indo-Aryan culture. Most rulers of Mitanni seem to have had Indo-Aryan names, and the ruling aristocracy was called ''maryanni'', meaning "young warrior" in ] ''marya''.

			]
	== Culture and society ==
			] gods Teshub and Hebat, chamber A, Yazilikaya, Hittite rock sanctuary, Turkey]]

	Knowledge of Hurrian culture relies on archaeological excavations at sites such as ] and ] as well as on ] tablets, primarily from ] (Boghazköy), the capital of the Hittites, whose civilization was greatly influenced by the Hurrians. Tablets from ], ], and other cities with Hurrian populations (as shown by personal names) reveal Hurrian cultural features even though they were written in Akkadian. Hurrian ]s were carefully carved and often portrayed mythological motives. They are a key to the understanding of Hurrian culture and history.

	=== Ceramic ware ===
	The 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 ]. Archaeologists use the terms '''Khabur ware''' and '''Nuzi ware''' for the Hurrian wheel-made pottery. It is characterized by reddish painted lines with a geometric triangular pattern and dots, also occurring in brown and black.

	=== Metallurgy ===
	The Hurrians had a reputation in ]. The ]ians borrowed their copper terminology from the Hurrian vocabulary. Copper was traded south to ] from the highlands of ]. The ] Valley had a central position in the metal trade, and copper, silver and even tin were accessible from the Hurrian-dominated countries ] and ] situated in the Anatolian highland. Gold was in short supply, and the ] inform us that it was acquired from Egypt. Not many examples of Hurrian metal work have survived, except from the later ]. Some small fine bronze lion figurines were discovered at ].

	=== The horse ===
	The Hurrians were closely associated with horses. They might actually have introduced the horse into the Near East from Central Asia around 2000 BC. The name of the country of ], which might have had a substantial Hurrian population, meant “horse-land”. A famous text discovered at ] deal with the training of horses. The man who was responsible for the horse-training was a Hurrian called ]. The terminology used in connection with horses contains many ] loan-words (Mayrhofer, 1974). This convinced earlier scholars the elite in the Hurrian society was an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who invaded the region with their horses and chariots, like the ] Indians.

	=== Music ===
	Among the Hurrian texts from ] are the oldest known instances of written music, dating from c.1800 BC. A reconstructed hymn is replayed at the .

	=== Religion ===
	The Hurrian culture made a great impact on the religion of the ]. From the Hurrian cult centre at Kummanni in ] Hurrian religion spread to the Hittite people. Syncretism merged the Old Hittite and Hurrian religions. Hurrian religion spread to Syria, where ] became the counterpart of ]. The later kingdom of ] also venerated gods of Hurrian origin. The Hurrian religion, in different forms, influenced the entire ], except ] and southern ].

	The main gods in the Hurrian pantheon were:		The main gods in the Hurrian pantheon were:
			* ], ''Teshup'', the mighty weather god.<ref>D. Schwemer, '' {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105075331/http://library.mibckerala.org/lms_frame/eBook/THE%20STORM-GODS%20OF%20THE%20ANCIENT%20NEAR%20EAST.pdf \|date=5 January 2023 }}'', ''Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions'' 8(1), 2008, p. 3</ref>
	* ], ''Teshup''; the mighty weathergod.
			* ], ''Hepa'', his wife,<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 9</ref> the mother goddess, later equated with the ] of the Hittites<ref>P. Taracha, ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia'', 2009, p. 92</ref>
	* ], ''Hepa''; his wife, the mother goddess, regarded as the Sun goddess among the Hittites.
	* ~~Sharruma, or~~ ], ''Šarruma''; their son.		* ], ''Šarruma'', their son, a mountain god of Syrian origin.<ref>P. Taracha, ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia'', 2009, p. 94</ref>
			* ], grain god,<ref>D. Schwemer, '' {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105075331/http://library.mibckerala.org/lms_frame/eBook/THE%20STORM-GODS%20OF%20THE%20ANCIENT%20NEAR%20EAST.pdf \|date=5 January 2023 }}'', ''Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions'' 8(1), 2008, p. 5-6</ref> the father of ] and a "father of gods" similar to Enlil;<ref>F. Simons, , ''Altorientalische Forschungen'' 44, 2017, p. 86</ref> his home as described in mythology is the city of Urkesh.
	* ]; the ancient father of ].
	* Shaushka~~, or Shawushka~~, ''Šauska''~~; was~~ the Hurrian counterpart of ]n ], and a goddess of healing.		* ], ''Šauska'', the Hurrian counterpart of ], and a goddess of love, war and healing.<ref>P. Taracha, ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia'', 2009, p. 122-123</ref>
			* ], ''Šimegi'', the sun god.<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 7-8</ref>
	* Shimegi, ''Šimegi''; the sun god.
	* ], ''Kušuh''; the moon god. Symbols of the sun and the crescent moon appear joined together in the Hurrian ].		* ], ''Kušuh'', the moon god and a guardian of oaths.<ref>P. Taracha, ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia'', 2009, p. 85</ref> Symbols of the sun and the crescent moon appear joined together in the Hurrian ].
			* ], a ]ian deity of the ], who had a prominent temple in Urkesh in the earliest period of recorded Hurrian history.<ref>G. Wilhelm, ''The Hurrians'', 1989, p. 11</ref> Possibly a stand-in for a god whose Hurrian name is presently unknown.<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 8</ref>
	* ]; a ] deity of the netherworld, whose Hurrian name is unknown.
			* ], ''Hayya'', the god of wisdom, who was also Sumerian in origin.<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski (eds.), ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 10</ref>
			* ], goddess of the netherworld.<ref>A. Archi, '''' E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, J. Klinger, G. G. W. Müller (eds.), ''Diversity and Standardization. Perspectives on ancient Near Eastern cultural history'', 2013, p. 4</ref>
			* ], a goddess of Syrian origin.<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, (eds.) ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 16</ref>
			* ], a war god.<ref>A. Archi, B. J. Collins, P. Michalowski, (eds.) ''Beyond Hatti. A tribute to Gary Beckman'', 2013, p. 15-16</ref>
			* ], a prominent god of uncertain function.<ref>G. Wilhelm, ''The Hurrians'', 1989, p. 55</ref>
			* ], fate and birth goddesses.<ref>P. Taracha, ''Religions of Second Millennium Anatolia'', 2009, p. 109</ref>

			Hurrian ]s 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 ].
	Names of ] gods from the ] have survived in texts and personal names, but it is not known if any cult or temples actually existed.

			The Hurrian gods do not appear to have had particular home temples, like in the ] or ]. Some important cult centres were Kummanni in Kizzuwatna and Hittite ]. ] was at least later a religious centre for the moon god, and Shauskha had an important temple in ], when the city was under Hurrian rule. A temple of ] was built in Urkesh in the late third millennium BC. The town of ] was a religious centre in the kingdom of Mitanni.
	Hurrian ]s often depict mythological creatures such as winged humans or animals, dragons and other monsters. The interpretation of these depictions of gods and demons is uncertain. They may have been both protective and evil spirits. Some is reminiscent of the ]n ].

			The Hurrian myth "The Songs of Ullikummi", preserved among the Hittites, is a parallel to ]'s '']''; the castration of ] by ] may be derived from the castration of ] by ], while ]'s overthrow of Cronus and Cronus's regurgitation of the swallowed gods is like the Hurrian myth of Teshub and Kumarbi.<ref>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</ref> It has been argued that the worship of ] drew on Hurrian myth.<ref>Suggested by ] 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}}.</ref>
	The Hurrian gods do not appear to have had particular "home temples", like in the ] or ]. Some important cult centres were Kummanni in ], and Hittite ]. ] was at least later a religious centre for the moon god, and Shauskha had an important temple in ], when the city was under Hurrian rule. A temple of ] was built in ] in the late third millennium BC. The town of ] was a religious centre in the kingdom of ].

			==Language==
	The Hurrian myth “The Songs of Ullikummi”, preserved among the Hittites, is a parallel to ]'s ]; the castration of ] by ] may be derived from the castration of ] by ], while ]'s overthrow of Cronus and Cronus's regurgitation of the swallowed gods is like the Hurrian myth of ] and Kumarbi.<ref>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</ref> It has been argued that the worship of ] drew on Hurrian myth.<ref>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.</ref> The ]n goddess ] would then be the counterpart of the Hurrian goddess ].
			{{main\|Hurrian language\|Hurro-Urartian languages}}
			] and accompanying stone tablet bearing the earliest known text in ]]]

			The agglutinating and highly ergative Hurrian language is related to the Urartian language, the language of the ancient kingdom of Urartu.<ref>Grekyan, Yervand, "Two Hurro-Urartian Lexical Parallels", Altorientalische Forschungen 49.1, pp. 48-52, 2022</ref> Together they form the ]. The external connections of the Hurro-Urartian languages are disputed. There exist various proposals for a ] (e.g., the ]), but none of these are generally accepted.<ref>{{cite book \|last=Wilhelm \|first=Gernot \|year=2008 \|chapter=Hurrian \|editor-last=Woodard \|editor-first=Roger D. \|title=The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor \|pages=81–104 \|location=Cambridge \|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>
	=== Urbanism ===
	The Hurrian urban culture was not represented by a large number of cities. ] was the only Hurrian city in the third millennium BC. In the second millennium BC we know a number of Hurrian cities, such as ], ], ], ], ] and ] – the capital of ]. Although the site of Washukanni, alleged to be at Tell Fakhariya, is not known for certain, no ] (city mound) in the ] Valley much exceeds the size of 1 square kilometer (250 acres), and the majority of sites are much smaller. The Hurrian urban culture appears to have been quite different from the centralized state administrations of ] and ]. An explanation could be that the feudal organization of the Hurrian kingdoms did not allow large palace or temple estates to develop.

			The Hurrians adopted the ] language and ] for their own writing about 2000 BC. Texts in the Hurrian language in cuneiform have been found at ], ] (Ras Shamra), as well as in one of the longest of the ] (EA 27), written by King ] of Mitanni to Pharaoh ].<ref>William L. Moran, "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992 {{ISBN\|978-0801842511}}</ref> 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.<ref> Dennis R. M. Campbell, "Mood and Modality in Hurrian", Disertation, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Chicago, 2007</ref>
	== Archaeology ==

			==Archaeology==
	Hurrian settlements are distributed over three modern countries, ], ] and ]. The heart of the Hurrian world is dissected 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 dam projects in the ], ] and ]. Several rescue operations have already been undertaken when the construction of dams put entire river valleys under water.
			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 ], ] 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 ] at ] and ]. 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 ]s, or city mounds, often reveal a long occupation beginning in the ] 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 ] to the end of the Late Bronze Age, with ] (Urkesh) being the main exception.		The first major excavations of Hurrian sites in Iraq and Syria began in the 1920s and 1930s. They were led by the American archaeologist ] at Yorghan Tepe (Nuzi), and the British archaeologist ] at ] 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 ] 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 ===		===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.

			{{columns-list\|colwidth=15em\|
	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 ], ], ] and ].
			* ] (Tell Mozan)

			* ] (Yorghan Tepe)
	* ] (ancient Urkesh)
			* ] (Tell Brak)
	* ] (ancient Nuzi)
			* ] (Tell Leilan)
	* ] (ancient Nagar)
			* ] (Tell Barri)
	* ] (ancient Shehna and Shubat-Enlil)
			* ] (Tell Beydar)
	* ] (ancient Kahat)
			* ]
	* Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada)
			* ] (Tuba?)
	* Kenan Tepe
			* ]
	* Tell Tuneinir
			* ] (Zalpa?)
	* ] (ancient Tuba?)
			* ]
	* Tell Chuera
			* ]
	* Hammam al Turkman (ancient Zalpa?)
	* Tell Sabi Abyad
	* ]
	* ]		* ]
	* ] ~~/ Ras el Ayn~~ (~~ancient~~ ]?)		* ] (Sikkan, Washukanni?)
			* ] (Taidu?)
	* ] (ancient Taidu?). For the results of the Swiss excavations at Tell al-Hamidiya see
			}}

			==See also==
	==Connections and origin theories==
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			==References==
	It is believed by some scholars that the Hurrians mixed with their neighbors, such as the ] after arriving in the Caucasus around ] from an unknown place. Another theory is that the Armenians came to the Caucasus with the Hurrians from the ] homeland.
			{{Reflist\|30em}}

			==Further reading==
	] & ] believed ] had been the linguistic and ethnic substratum of northern Mesopotamia since earliest times, while Hurrians were merely late arrivals.
			* 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 {{ISBN\|978-0394461618}}
			* 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 with CD).
			* Speiser, E. A., ''Introduction to Hurrian'', New Haven, ASOR 1941.
			* ]. "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. {{ISBN\|3-447-05394-1}}
			* Wulstan, David. "The Tuning of the Babylonian Harp", ''Iraq'' 30 (1968): 215–28.

			==External links==
	] identified the Hurrians as the founders of ]ia, which he explained as meaning ''Hurri-Land''.
			{{Commons category\|Hurrians}}
			*
			* Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, —Discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term ] being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.
			*
			* {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127054031/http://www.lib.washington.edu/neareast/anatolia/h%26churrian.html \|date=27 January 2009 }}
			* {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127054036/http://www.lib.washington.edu/neareast/anatolia/h%26curartian.html \|date=27 January 2009 }}
			* by Jeremiah Genest

			{{Hurrian topics}}
	In the past, Bible scholars sometimes identified them as the Biblical ], ] and ], though there is little factual basis for such a connection.
			{{Authority control}}

	Several other ancient peoples of the region, including the ]im, ], ], ] and ] have all been described at one time or another as Hurrian peoples. Recently, with the discovery of the ], there has been growing support for the theory that the ], who were for a time believed to be the ancient ], may have been Hurrian speakers.

	==See also==
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]

	== References ==
	{{Reflist}}

	== Bibliography ==
	*], ''The Near East: 10,000 Years of History'',Boston :Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
	* Chahin, M. 1987. ''The Kingdom of Armenia''. Reprint: Dorset Press, New York. 1991.
	* ], ]''Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Languages''. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, R. Kitzinger, München 1986.
	* 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.
	* Gelb, Ignace J. 1944, Hurrians and Subarians, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization No. 22, Illinois, University of Chicago Press.
	* Gurney, O.R. "The Beginning of Civilization,"
	::"The influence of the Hurro-Hittite upon Greek religion is indeed remarkable."
	::"The weather god Teshub, standing on the bull, who became well known throughout the Roman Empire under the name of Jupiter dolic henus."
	* Hawkes, Jacquetta, "The First Great Civilizations"
	::"Yet the Hurrians did not disappear from history. Away to the North in their Armenian homeland, they entrenched themselves and build up the kingdom of Urartu."
	* Ivanov, Vyacheslav V. and Gamkrelidze,Thomas ''The Early History of Indo-European Languages'', Scientific American, vol. 262, N3, 110116, March, 1990
	* ], ''], ] and ],'' Montreal, 1989
	* Kavoukjian, Martiros ''The Genesis of Armenian People'', Montreal, 1982.
	* Kurkjian, Vahan ''History of Armenia'', Michigan, 1958
	* Mayrhofer, Manfred: ''Die Arier im Vorderen Orient - ein Mythos?'', Wien 1974.
	* Movsisyan, Artak ''Sacred Highland: Armenia in the spiritual conception of the Near East'', Yerevan, 2000.
	* Movsisyan, Artak ''Aratta: Land of the Sacred Law'', Yerevan, 2001.
	* Nersessian, Hovick ''Highlands of Armenia'', Los Angeles, 2000.
	* Speiser, E. A. "Introduction to Hurrians,"
	* Speiser, E. A. "Hurrians and Subarians,"
	* Wilhelm, Gernot: ''The Hurrians'', Aris & Philips Warminster 1989.
	* Wilhelm, Gernot (ed.): ''Nuzi at seventy-five (Studies in the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians)'', Capital Decisions Ltd Bethesda 1999.

	== External links ==
	* discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term ] being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.
	*(htmls, full text in English&Georgian)
	*
	*
	*
	* (full text by Robert Antonio)
	* (full text by Jeremiah Genest)

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Latest revision as of 10:36, 24 December 2024

Historical ethnic group of Southwest Asia

Ethnic group

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) 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. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples. The state of Urartu later covered some of the same area. A related people to the Hurrians are the Urartians.

History

Early Bronze Age

The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium. The first known Hurrian kingdom emerged around the city of Urkesh (modern Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BC. 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".

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. Urkesh later became a Mitanni religious center.

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. 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 Ur III period (ca 2100 BC).

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. Eventually, after an internal succession crisis, Mitanni fell to the Hittites, later to fall under the control of the Assyrians.

The Hurrian entity of Mitanni, which first rose to power before 1550 BC, 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 pharaoh's 22 regnal year. 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.

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.

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.

Shubaru/Shubria

After the destruction of Mitanni by the Hittites around 1350-1325 BC, the term 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. 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, 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. Karen Radner writes that Shubria "can certainly be described as (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.

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. They were also skilled at glass working.

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. 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.

Among the Hurrian texts from Ugarit are the oldest known instances of written music, dating from c. 1400 BC. Among these fragments are found the names of four Hurrian composers, Tapšiẖuni, Puẖiya(na), Urẖiya, and Ammiya.

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. 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.

The main gods in the Hurrian pantheon were:

Teshub, Teshup, the mighty weather god.
Hebat, Hepa, his wife, the mother goddess, later equated with the main sun goddess of the Hittites
Sarruma, Šarruma, their son, a mountain god of Syrian origin.
Kumarbi, grain god, the father of Teshub and a "father of gods" similar to Enlil; his home as described in mythology is the city of Urkesh.
Shaushka, Šauska, the Hurrian counterpart of Ishtar, and a goddess of love, war and healing.
Shimegi, Šimegi, the sun god.
Kushuh, Kušuh, the moon god and a guardian of oaths. 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. Possibly a stand-in for a god whose Hurrian name is presently unknown.
Ea, Hayya, the god of wisdom, who was also Sumerian in origin.
Allani, goddess of the netherworld.
Ishara, a goddess of Syrian origin.
Aštabi, a war god.
Nupatik, a prominent god of uncertain function.
Hutena and Hutellura, fate and birth goddesses.

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. It has been argued that the worship of Attis drew on Hurrian myth.

Language

Main articles: Hurrian language and Hurro-Urartian languages

The agglutinating and highly ergative Hurrian language is related to the Urartian language, the language of the ancient kingdom of Urartu. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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?)

References

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External links

Morning Concert: An Hurrian Cult Song from Ancient Ugarit - music and audio interview with Anne Draffkorn Kilmer - 1978
Vyacheslav V. Ivanov, "Comparative Notes on Hurro-Urartian, Indo-European, and Northern Caucasian"—Discusses the difficulties and disagreements faced by linguists working in this area, the term Alarodian being created especially for the Hurro-Urartian-Nakh-Avar languages as a family.
The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian
A bibliography on Hurrian Archived 27 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
A bibliography on Urartian Archived 27 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
"The Hurrians and the Ancient Near East History" by Jeremiah Genest

v t e Hurrians topics
Language	Hurrian language Hurro-Urartian languages Cuneiform script	Mitanni, ca. 1400 BC
Empire	Mitanni Naharin Kizzuwatna Kingdom of Arrapha
Kings	Tish-atal Kirta Shuttarna I Baratarna Shaushtatar Artatama I Shuttarna II Artashumara Tushratta Artatama II Shuttarna III Shattiwaza Shattuara Wasashatta Shattuara II
Cities	Washukanni Nuzi Arrapha Alalakh Carchemish Harran Nagar Taite Tikunani Urkesh Tell Leilan Tell Barri Chagar Bazar
Religion	Deities Alalu Allani Astabi Anu Aranzah Enki Hebat Ḫedammu Hutena and Hutellura Išḫara Kiaše Kumarbi Kusuh Ninatta and Kulitta Sharruma Shaushka Šimige Tashmishu Teshub Tilla Ullikummi Upelluri

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