A Historical Overview of the Kurds and the Assyrians and the Relationship Between Them (16) – Ancestors of the Kurds: The Hurrians – Mitannis

The Hurrians adopted cuneiform script to record their Indo-Aryan language, and they also recorded documents in both the Akkadian and Hittite languages. Collections of Hurrian documents were found in Nuzi (Yorgan Tepe, south of Kirkuk) and its surrounding areas, as well as in (Mari) and (Emar) located on the Middle Euphrates, in (Ugarit), and in the Hittite capital Hattusa (Boğazköy, located east of Ankara). Hurrian expressions, vocabulary, and proper names also appear in many documents discovered in various regions of the ancient Orient. The Hurrian language spread widely during the expansion of the Hurrian Kingdom in the middle of the second millennium BC, becoming a language of prominent status in the region. The Urartian language is close to the Hurrian language and may be descended from it.

In (Ugarit), a tablet was found containing a glossary of Hurrian vocabulary written in cuneiform, serving as a dictionary that demonstrates the genius of the Hurrians in learning languages and benefiting from these glossaries.

One of the most important contributions the Hurrians made to human civilization was the invention of the world’s oldest cuneiform alphabetic writing system based on an integrated grammatical system and consisting of 30 alphabetic cuneiform symbols, which formed the basic foundation for the invention and emergence of the Phoenician and Aramaic alphabets and other alphabets derived from Phoenician and Aramaic, such as Hebrew, Greek, Nabataean, Syriac, and Arabic.

Discovered excavations indicate that the news of the Hurrians was being recorded and that there was a special place for writing documents (Source 1).

Most of the discovered tablets were arranged in groups, each group consisting of a library or an archive office. Libraries were attached to a religious institution or owned by individuals. The libraries discovered in Ugarit include the High Priest’s library, which contains epics and myths, two libraries belonging to another priest, a library of literary texts, six archive offices in the Royal Palace, and an archive office in the Southern Palace. In the luxurious quarter extending east of the Royal Palace, two private libraries and a private archive office were found. Documents of a scholarly nature were present in the halls designated for these collections, and some writing tools were also found, such as the awl or chisel, which was the stylus used to engrave cuneiform symbols onto clay tablets. The Hurrian scribe spent most of his time in the archive halls, writing clay tablets, classifying them, and arranging them on shelves, and in these halls, he also exercised his role as a teacher (Source 2).

The documents discovered at Ras Shamra show that the Hurrian scribe used to teach students the letters of the alphabet. A number of small clay tablets were found engraved with the thirty letters of the Hurrian alphabet, arranged according to the sequence adopted at that time. This sequence appears in every alphabet tablet discovered at the site, indicating that these documents were prepared for teaching students.

A tablet was found in which the Hurrian alphabet letters were arranged in columns, with the corresponding phonetically equivalent Akkadian syllable listed opposite each letter. It is a table designed to assist translators in performing translation. At Ras Shamra, in addition to texts written in this manner, there are Hurrian texts written in the alphabetic cuneiform symbols invented in Ugarit (Source 2).

There is a text discovered at Ras Shamra that illustrates the importance of writing and knowledge in Hurrian society. It is a prayer written in the form of a letter addressed by a priest to one of the gods, asking for assistance for his student. Among what was stated in the mentioned text:

“Do not show, in your greatness, disregard for the cause for which I beseech you. Toward this young student sitting before you, do not show disregard. Reveal to him any secret in the art of writing, counting, accounting, any solution, reveal to him.. reveal to him then the secret writing.. give to this young student the sharpened reed, leather, and pottery. So do not neglect anything related to the art of writing.”

From an early period, the Hurrians contributed to enriching literary heritage, writing myths that reflect their conceptions of the creation of the universe, the origins of the gods, their conflicts, and their relationships with humans. They composed hymns and tales drawn from popular heritage, such as the myth of the Castration of Anu, the tale of the hero Aranzah (Tigris), the tale of the hunter (Keshshi), and the tale of the (Destruction of Ebla). They also reformulated famous Sumerian and Akkadian literary works (Naseeb Wahiba El-Khazen: Ugarit, Generations, Religions, Epics, Beirut 1961; Anis Frayha: Epics and Myths from Ugarit (Ras Shamra), Beirut, 1980).

The Hurrians created lists to organize administrative and economic life, as well as lists representing notebooks used to quickly obtain the information they needed. In Ugarit, a tablet was found containing five hundred lines, which is an encyclopedia listing fish, birds, plants, textiles, fabrics, stones, and the like. It also contains lists enumerating the gods of Ugarit and a list enumerating the Hurrian gods. Another tablet contains a table of Sumerian gods, in which each god corresponds to its equivalent among the Hurrian gods, serving as a document of comparative religion dating back about three thousand years.

The Hurrians contributed to enriching the ancient world’s written literary and artistic heritage by writing literary texts in a distinguished style that revolved around topics common in that era. They also translated texts belonging to other peoples into the Hurrian language, taking oral and written tales and reformulating them in their own language. Furthermore, they added myths and incantations from their heritage to the literature of the West Asian region, as indicated by archaeological discoveries in Hattusa and (Ugarit) (Muhammad Al-Izzo: Civilization of the Middle Euphrates and the Balikh, Dar Al-Yanabea, Damascus, 2009).

Hurrian culture had a major impact on Hittite culture; in fact, Hurrian culture influenced the cultures of the peoples of the entire ancient Near East region, and early Assyrian culture inherited and succeeded Hurrian culture. Dr. Abdel-Hamid Zayid mentions that the Hittite dynasty during the New Hittite Kingdom period assumed a Hurrian character, and a large number of Hittite kings and queens bore Hurrian names (Abdel-Hamid Zayid: The Immortal East: An Introduction to the History and Civilization of the Near East from the Oldest Times until 323 BC, Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiyya, Cairo, 1966, p. 473).

A tablet containing some medical texts was also found, as medicine at that time was connected to and intertwined with magic. This tablet contains a number of medical prescriptions, and through the texts of incantations and magical prayers, certain diseases and treatments can sometimes be identified. Among the diseases mentioned are headaches, influenza, epilepsy, colds, dizziness, dental, lung, abdominal, and eye diseases, as well as muscle and skin disorders. Plant materials were used in treatment, and one of the tablets indicates the use of a steam bath in treatment. There is a text mentioning the presence of physicians in (Ugarit) and another text containing instructions to be followed for caring for sick horses. Additionally, a text was discovered that was interpreted as an allusion to a solar eclipse (Source 3).

The Hurrians organized administration well, as rulers decided on declaring wars, continuing them, or stopping them, and they also concluded alliances and treaties with other kingdoms and supervised economic, commercial, and military aspects. The Hurrian king represented both the executive and legislative authorities, and he had assistants who helped him manage the affairs of the country (Gernot Wilhelm: The Hurrians: Their History and Civilization, translated by Farooq Ismail, Dar Jadal, Aleppo, First Edition, 2000 AD).

Documents found in the city of Nuzi mention that in the Hurrian system of governance, there was the Great King who headed the kingdom, and there were lesser kings who ruled cities and were subject to the authority of the Great King. City kings belonged to the noble class, and most of them were from the lineage of the Great King. Among the duties of city kings was defending the kingdom, as they were responsible for erecting defensive fortifications in cities and villages and securing war chariots and other defensive and military requirements. Each township, which was called (ALUM) in the Hurrian language, was managed by a Big (HAZANNU) or mayor subject to the authority of the king of the city to which his township belonged. It was among the duties of the Bigs to erect fortifications in their villages.

There were standardized weights in place in the kingdom, and at the entrance of the city, measures and weights were displayed for generalization to the rest of the cities. Among the lists used as a notebook were several tablets containing tables of measurements for weight, length, and area (Source 4).

The Hurrians were famous for pottery manufacturing, and Hurrian pottery was distinguished by its bright colors and variety of shapes. Khabur pottery was characterized by drawings with red lines and triangular geometric shapes, while Nuzi pottery (the present-day city of Kirkuk) had very distinctive shapes and was brown or black in color.

The Hurrians were also skillful in metal industries, as copper was brought from the mountains of the Anatolian region to Mesopotamia. The Khabur Valley was a major center for metal trade, where the kingdom of (Kizzuwatna) and (ISHUWA) located in the Anatolian highlands were sources of copper, silver, and tin. However, the Hurrian Kingdom suffered from a shortage in the quantity of gold, and therefore imported gold from Egypt, as the “AMARNA” letters inform us. The Sumerians adopted vocabulary terms for copper from the Hurrians.

Hurrian metal artifacts suffered damage and loss, except for those belonging to the late period of the Kingdom of Urartu, where some small bronze statues of lions were discovered in the city of (URKESH). A bronze plaque depicting an open-mouthed lion leaping over a plaque containing cuneiform writing was also discovered. This plaque is displayed in the Louvre Museum in the French capital, Paris. Among the Mitanni sculptures, there is a huge basalt stone lion statue appearing open-mouthed and walking slowly, dating back to the middle of the second millennium BC, characterized by majesty and manifesting the charisma of life.

The Mitannis were famous for manufacturing bows, as the fame of the Mitanni bow during the fourteenth century BC exceeded the borders of the land of Mitanni. The strong organization of the royal house was evident in large palaces, present even in provincial capitals. Palaces were decorated with wall murals. The Mitanni capital (Washukanni) was adorned with temple buildings and palaces distinguished by the beauty of their entrances, which were decorated with large sculptures of lions, bulls, and others, and the lower parts of the walls were decorated with different sculptures. The dead were perhaps buried outside residential areas.

The Mitannis were pioneers in horse breeding, as the name of the kingdom of (ISHUWA) may mean “Land of the Horse.” A famous text was discovered at (HATTUSA) containing lessons in learning horse breeding, and that text stated that a Hurrian person named (Kikkuli) was responsible for training to learn horse breeding. The Mitannis used horses to drive light two-wheeled war chariots, as the Kassites and Hurrians were the first to introduce the use of horses and war chariots to Western Asia, and (Kikkuli) was teaching military arts related to the use of vehicles and war chariots (William Langer: Encyclopedia of World History, translation supervised by Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Ziada, First Edition, Cairo – New York, Franklin Printing and Publishing Institution, 1968 AD, p. 62).

In the Hurrian Kingdom, not many cities were built, as (URKESH) was the only Hurrian city in the third millennium BC. In the second millennium BC, a number of Hurrian cities were built, such as (ARRAPHA), (HARRAN), (KAHAT), (NUZI), (TAIDU), and (WASHUKANNI), which was the capital of the Mitanni Kingdom. It seems that Hurrian culture in city building differed from the central rule of the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and this can be explained by the fact that the feudal system of the Hurrian kingdoms did not allow for the development of building luxurious palaces or temples.

Most Hurrian cylinder seals depicted mythical creatures such as winged humans and winged animals, and these painted images may have been intended to protect against evil spirits. Mitanni cylinder seals were distinguished by the diversity of the material they were composed of, such as hematite stone and glass paste. The Mitanni artist tended to simplify forms and modify them into something resembling decorative elements, keenly showing symbols of various types, where each symbol had its own significance and aesthetic, such as the fish, scorpion, bird, goat, dog, lion, mythical winged creatures, planets, stars, and the moon. He painted drawings showing the worship of the sacred tree and the worshiper in long clothes performing worship rituals, such as clasping hands over the chest or touching the tree of life. The Mitanni artist was also keen on symmetry and artistic precision in engraving complex scenes with simple tools. This art has documentary importance and a distinguished artistic and aesthetic value, pointing to the extent of the Mitannis’ cultural openness and interaction with the cultures of the peoples of the ancient Near East. This openness contributed greatly to enriching Hurrian arts and developing Hurrian culture.

The Hurrians paid great attention to agriculture, cultivating barley in particular. The Hurrian farmer cultivated a large plot of agricultural land, and the landowner received a portion of the agricultural crop as payment for the utilization of his agricultural land by the farmer.

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