The Hurrians were one of the peoples of the Near East who lived in the Bronze Age (4000 – 1500 BC) and spoke the Hurrian language. They lived in Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia (Dr. Jamal Rashid Ahmad: Kurdish Studies in Subartu Land, Baghdad, 1984, page 26; Source No. 1).
The Hurrians became part of the ancient civilization in the Middle East around the middle of the third millennium BC (Source No. 2). They arrived in Mesopotamia from the north. A brief inscription in the Hurrian language, dating back to the end of the Akkadian period, was discovered. Another inscription belonging to King (Arishen) or (Atalshen), king of the kingdom of (Urkish) and (Nawar), written in Akkadian cuneiform, was also discovered.
Proper names in cuneiform texts and their increased frequency in the Ur III period constitute primary evidence of the Hurrian presence, but there is no clear evidence that the Hurrians had advanced toward areas west of the Tigris River until the middle of the third millennium BC. A completely different picture is revealed from the archive of the palace of (Mari) built in the 18th century BC and from texts discovered near the upper Khabur River, where these evidences indicate that northern Mesopotamia, west of the Tigris, and present-day Syria were inhabited by a population that was mostly Hurrian and also included Amorites. The Hurrians had indeed reached the Mediterranean coast, as evidenced by texts from the city of (Alalakh) located on the Orontes River. Literary texts in the Hurrian language were also found in (Mari), indicating that the Hurrian language had by then become a fully developed written language (Source No. 3).
Hittite records also refer to a people called (Hurri) who lived in western Kurdistan. A Hittite tablet that may date back to the era of the Hittite King (Mursili I) (1556-1526 BC) refers to one of the Hurrian kings (LUGAL ERÍ-N.MEŠ Hurri). This term was previously used for the Mitanni King (Tushratta) in a letter that was present in the archives of the Amarna site. The customary title of the king was “King of the Hurri-men”, without mentioning the word “KUR” which means “land”. Assyrian–Akkadian texts call (Hurri) by the name Hanigalbat.
In Akkadian times, it was known that the Hurrians lived in the area east of the Tigris on the northern edge of Mesopotamia. Members of the group that became Mitannis gradually moved southwards into Mesopotamia before the seventeenth century BC ((Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Al-Khalil: History of the Hurrian Kingdom of Mitanni, 2013, page 12; William Langer: Encyclopedia of World History. Translation supervised by Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Ziada, First Edition, Cairo, 1963, page 62).
By the Middle Bronze Age (2000 – 1600 BC), there were Hurrian names present in northwestern Mesopotamia and in the Kirkuk area in southern Kurdistan. These names were found in the city of (Nuzi) and the city of (Urkesh) and in other places. Ultimately, the Hurrian kingdom came to include a vast area of fertile agricultural land forming an arc extending from the Khabur River basin in the west to the Zagros Mountain range in the east (William Langer: Encyclopedia of World History. Translation supervised by Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Ziada, First Edition, Cairo, 1963, page 62).
The Hurrians are mentioned in personal texts from the city of Nuzi (Kirkuk), in the city of (Ugarit), and in the Hittite archives at Hattushsha (Boğazköy). The cuneiform texts of the kingdom of (Mari) mention Hurrian and Amorite names of rulers of city-kingdoms in upper Mesopotamia. Rulers bearing Hurrian names have been confirmed for Urshum and Hashshum, as well as tablets from the city of (Alalakh) during the late Old Babylonian period, which mention individuals bearing Hurrian names at the mouth of the Orontes River. In general, proper names in these sources are relied upon as evidence of Hurrian expansion toward the south and west.
Writing in the Hurrian language using cuneiform script has been found in both (Hattusa) and (Ugarit), as well as in one of the long letters from the (Amarna) archaeological site written by the Mitanni King (Tushratta) and sent to the Pharaoh (Amenhotep III). That letter was the only long Hurrian text known until 1983, when collections of tablets written in the Hurrian language containing literary works with a translation into the Hittite language were discovered in (Hattusa).
The Hurrians were one of the important peoples in the history and culture of the Middle East during the second millennium BC. The earliest record of the presence of Hurrian personal and place names is in Mesopotamian records in the late third millennium; these records indicate that the homeland of the Hurrians was the area east of the Tigris River and the Zagros Mountains region. Since then, and especially during the beginning of the second millennium BC, there are numerous evidences of the expansion of the Hurrians toward the west. It is probable that more intense migrations toward the west occurred when the Indo-Iranians pushed from the north, from the area between Lake (Van) and the Zagros Mountain range toward the west, which appears to have taken place after 1700 BC. Evidence indicates that the Hurrians overthrew Assyrian rulers, took control of the region, and became masters in it. East of the Tigris, the prosperous commercial center of the city of (Nuzi), was the primary homeland of the Hurrians, and Hurrian influence prevailed in many areas in present-day Syria. Large parts of eastern Anatolia also came under Hurrian rule, and consequently they became eastern neighbors of the Hittites, and later became independent from the Hittites. Northern Mesopotamia was still the main homeland of the Hurrians during this period, and the country was then known as (Hurri), where political units there were controlled by dynasties of Indo-Iranian origin. In the fifteenth century BC, the Hurrian region extending from the Zagros Mountains to present-day Syria formed a state under the name of (Mitanni).
The Khabur River basin became the heartland of the Hurrian kingdoms for a thousand years. The first Hurrian kingdom appeared around the city of Urkesh during the third millennium BC. There are indications that the Hurrians were allies with the Akkadian Empire, which indicates that the Hurrians had full control over the region by the time power in Akkad was assumed by King (Naram-Sin) (c. 2254 – 2218 BC). In this region, other rich cultures lived in (Tell Halaf) and (Tell Brak). The kingdom of the city of Urkesh had powerful neighbors. At the beginning of the second millennium BC, its southern neighbor, the Amorite kingdom of (Mari), subjected Urkesh to its rule and made it a vassal state. As the struggle for control of Mesopotamia continued, another Amorite dynasty ruled (Mari) in the eighteenth century BC. The remains of (Shubat-Enlil), capital of the Old Assyrian Kingdom, were found a short distance from Urkesh in another homeland of the Hurrians in the Khabur River basin.
The historians (Gelb) and (Speiser) believe that the Subarians, ancestors of the Kurds, inhabited northern Mesopotamia long ago, and the Hurrians appeared in the same region after them (Source No. 2, 4). This means that the Hurrians are the descendants of the Subarians.
The Hurrians also constituted a large percentage of the population of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, and there was a clear influence of Hurrian religious beliefs on Hittite beliefs (Source No. 2).
The Hurrian language belongs to the Subarian and Urartian language group, all of which are dialects of the “languages” of the ancestors of the Kurds, where the Urartians played an important role in the region from the end of the second millennium BC to the eighth century BC (Source No. 4).
The Hurrian kingdoms were distributed in present-day southern and western Kurdistan. Major excavations at Hurrian archaeological sites in southern and western Kurdistan began around 1920 and 1930 respectively, led by the American archaeologist (EDWARD CHIERA) at the archaeological site of (XORGHAN TEPE) located in the city of Nuzi (Kirkuk), and the British archaeologist (MAX MALLOWAN) at the archaeological sites of (CHAGAR BAZAR) and (TEPE BRAK). Evidence indicates that the area was inhabited at the beginning of the Neolithic period, i.e., around 12000 BC, and ends in the Roman period, i.e., around 275 – 75 BC. Hurrian antiquities dating from the Middle Bronze Age (2000 – 1550 BC) to the end of the Late Bronze Age (1550 – 1200 BC) have also been discovered, except for Tell Mozan located in (URKESH).
Excavations in the city of (Nuzi) led to the discovery of hundreds of cuneiform clay tablets and residential houses, as well as a map drawn on a clay tablet showing mountains, rivers, cities and their walls, and main roads; this map is considered the first map in history (Source No. 5). Written texts, thousands of cylinder seals, and a palace dating back to the reign of King (Saushtatar) decorated with distinctive wall paintings were also discovered, in addition to a temple and various sculptures. The royal palace has an attached private wing for servants, the temple of the god (Kumarbi), and a large pit at the palace entrance that the Hurrians believed to be the entrance to the underworld. About 5,000 Hurrian documents were discovered in Nuzi, including legal and commercial documents, some of which indicate that the city of Nuzi had commercial relations with Assyria (Source No. 6).
The kingdom of Hamazi is considered the oldest and most prominent Hurrian political entity that appeared early in the land of Subartu, and it was one of the important kingdoms of that period. The name of Hamazi appears in the Sumerian King List in sixth place among the cities in which kingship was established by divine decree after the occurrence of the Flood. It was ruled by a king named Hadaniš, then kingship transferred to Uruk. Written evidence makes clear that the kingdom of Hamazi was located in the region east of the Tigris, between the Upper Zab River and the Diyala River. The kingdom of Hamazi was mentioned in a text belonging to the kingdom of (Ebla), which is a treaty of alliance between the kingdom of Hamazi and the kingdom of Ebla that was concluded, as believed, to face the threats posed to both of them by the kingdom of (Mari).
Sumerian sources talk about their kings’ campaigns against the kingdom of Hamazi, revealing the importance of the city of Hamazi. Inscriptions of the Akkadian King (Sargon I) (2340 – 2284 BC) also talk about his repeated campaigns against this kingdom. Recent discoveries in the city of (Urkesh) indicate that its king was married to the daughter of the Akkadian King (Naram-Sin). Documents of the kingdom of (Ebla) point to the high status of the city of Hamazi at that time, and the establishment of good relations between the two kingdoms.
The kingdom of Urkeš is considered the oldest of the Hurrian kingdoms in the lowland areas, which was a center for the king of the Hurrian gods (Kumarbi). Various texts mention the name of King (Atal Šen), as shown in the bronze tablet belonging to this king written in the Akkadian language, which mentions that this king is the king of Urkesh and Nawar (Nagar), and it is likely that this king ruled during the Gutian era or later, in the first decades of the Ur III dynasty period (2015 – 1998 BC) (Dr. Jamal Rashid Ahmad: Kirkuk in Ancient Times. First Edition, Aras Printing and Publishing House, Ministry of Education Press, Erbil, 2002, page 30; Source No. 7). Two bronze lions were also found, which are considered among the most famous antiquities of the city of (Urkesh).
The Hurrians also headed further toward the west. By 1725 BC, they reached parts of western Kurdistan, such as (Alalakh). History mentions that the Hurrian kingdom of Yamhad was in conflict with the Hittite King (Hattusilis I) around 1600 BC. The Hurrians also settled the coastal region of (Adaniya) in the kingdom of (Kizzuwatna) located in southern Anatolia. Eventually, the kingdom of (Yamhad) weakened and submitted to the powerful Hittite kingdom, yet Anatolia remained under the sway of Hurrian culture, as the Hittites had been under Hurrian cultural influence for many decades.
The historian Professor Kamal Ahmad Mazhar mentions that the Hurrians built several cities in the Kirkuk region, and the city of Tuz Khurmatu was one of the most important of these cities, as its name at that time was “Khurmatu”, consisting of two words: “Khur” meaning “the Hurrians” and the word “matu” meaning in Akkadian “city”, and thus “Khurmatu” means “City of the Hurrians” (Dr. Kamal Ahmad Mazhar: Kirkuk and Its Dependencies – The Verdict of History and Conscience – A Documentary Study on the Kurdish Question in Iraq, Ministry of Culture, Kurdistan, 2004, page 8). The historian Seton Lloyd says that the city of Khurmatu retained its original name until the early nineteenth century (Seton Lloyd: Mesopotamia. Translated by Dr. Sami Said Al-Ahmed, Dar Al-Rasheed, Baghdad, 1980, page 208), after which the Turkish word “Duz”, meaning “salt”, was added to its name, becoming “Duzkhurmatu”, and over time the name changed to “Tuz Khurmatu”. It was mistakenly thought that the word “Khurmatu” consisted of the two Kurdish words “Khurma” and “Tu”, meaning “dates” and “mulberries” respectively, which is why they added the Turkish word “Duz” to the city’s name, as Kurdistan and Iraq were under Ottoman rule at that time.
Hurrian rule did not flourish until around the middle of the second millennium BC. In the fifteenth century, the city of (Alalakh) had become a largely Hurrian city, and during the era of the Mitanni Empire, the Hurrians constituted the most numerous population group (Source No. 8).
The Hurrians used cuneiform script to record their Indo-Aryan language, and they also recorded documents in both the Akkadian and Hittite languages. The Hurrian language spread widely during the expansion of their kingdom in the middle of the second millennium BC, and began taking its place within multilingual dictionaries. Collections of Hurrian documents have been found in Nuzi (Yorgan Tepe, south of Kirkuk), in (Mari) and (Emar) on the Middle Euphrates, and in (Ugarit), as well as in the Hittite capital Hattusha (Boğazköy, east of Ankara). Hurrian expressions, vocabulary, and proper names also appear in many written documents discovered across various regions of the ancient Near East.
Sources
1. Herzfeld, E. (1968). The Persian Empire. Wiesbaden, page 158.
2. Gelb, Ignace J. (1944). Hurrians and Subarians. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization No. 22. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
3. Antonio, Robert (2007), The Rise of the Hurrians, International World History Project (updated January 2007, accessed 27/03/2010)
4. Speisere, Ephraim A. (1930). Mesopotamian Origins. The basic population of the Near East. Philadelphia, USA.
5. Maidman, Maynard Paul (1976). The Teip-tilla Family of Nuzi: A Genealogical Reconstruction. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3.
6. al-Khalesi, Y.M. (1970). “Tell al-Fakhar. Report on the First Season’s Excavations”. Sumer 26: 109–126. ISSN 0081-9271.
7. Rost, P. (1893). Die Keilschrfttexte Tiglat Pilesers III, Leipzig, s. 24f, z. 139f.
8. Drews, Robert (1994) “The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East”, Princeton University Press, Chariot Warfare. pg 61.
2013 / 12 / 20
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