The Empire of Mittani

The empire of Mittani is known from the beginning of the fifteenth century BC. Its roots can be found in one of the previous Hurrian polities located in the Upper Khabur region. The kings of Mittani bear Indo-Aryan dynastic names, although the Mittanian elite and part of the population was Hurrian. Mittani conquered large territories along the Middle Tigris and the Middle Euphrates and in western Syria. After a series of conflicts with Egypt, the Mittanian rulers maintained strict diplomatic relations with the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty. Mittani neighboured the Hittite kingdom that eventually conquered it at the middle of the fourteenth century BC. Although the capital, Washshukkanni, has not yet been fully investigated, texts and archaeological evidence from other sites allow to draw the system of governance of this state and its administrative structure.