Washukanni

Waššukanni (Hittite: 𒌷𒌑𒀸𒋗𒅗𒉌, romanized: ᵁᴿᵁWaššukani; and Hittite: 𒌷𒉿𒀸𒉻𒂵𒀭𒉌, romanized: ᵁᴿᵁWaššuganni) or Aššukanni (Middle Assyrian Akkadian: 𒌷𒀾𒋗𒅗𒀭𒉌) was the capital of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, from around 1500 BC to the 13th century BC.

A map of Mesopotamia showing Waššukanni, Nineveh, Hatra, Assur, Nuzi, Palmyra, Mari, Sippar, Babylon, Kish, Nippur, Isin, Lagash, Uruk, Charax Spasinu and Ur, from north to south.

Etymology

It has been suggested that the name Waššukanni is of Old Indo-Aryan origin, and its original form may have been *Vasukanni, composed of the Indic term vasu, meaning lit. 'good', to which was added the Indic suffix -ka-, followed by the Hurrian suffix -nni.

Location

The precise location of Waššukanni is unknown with most suggestions being in the general area defined by the Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates River, and the Jaghjagh River in the upper Jezirah of Syria. A proposal by Dietrich Opitz located it under the largely unexcavated mound of Tell el Fakhariya, near Tell Halaf in Syria. This position was supported by M. Oppenheim and more recently by others. A neutron activation comparison with clay from relevant Amarna tablets appeared to rule out Tell Fakhariya. This idea was also rejected by Edward Lipinski. However, this identification received a new support by Stefano de Martino, Mirko Novák and Dominik Bonatz due to recent archaeological excavations by a German team. But despite many seasons of excavations, no documentation of the name of the Mittani capital has yet been found.

On his way to conquer Waššukanni, Suppiluliuma I passed through Isuwa (east of Malatya, within the bend of the Euphrates), Alse (upper Tigris valley), Kutmar (on the  ?) and Suta (on the lower Batman-Su ?) and then returns to the Euphrates and Halpa then "Piyasilis and Mattiwaza pass "Irrite and Harran" then wait in Irrite (Irridu) before coming to Waššukanni. This would suggest a location near Mardin.

In the original text:

"I the Sun Suppiluliumas, the great king, the king of the Hatti land, the valiant, the favorite of the Storm-god, reached the country of Alse and captured the provincial center Kutmar To Antar-atal of the country of Alse I presented it as a gift. I proceeded to the provincial center Suta and ransacked it. I reached Wassukanni. The inhabitants of the provincial center Suta together with their cattle, sheep (and) horses, together with their possessions and together with their deportees I brought to the Hatti land. Tusratta, the king, had departed, he did not come to meet me in battle. I turned around and (re) crossed the Euphrates. I vanquished the country of Halba and the country of Mukis."

Tell Farfara and Üçtepe Höyük (near Üçtepe, Bismil in Diyarbakır Province in Turkey) have also been proposed.

The large and relatively recently found, site of Koçlu Tepe has also been proposed.

The site of Tell al-Hawa in the Jazira has also been suggested.

History

Waššukanni is known to have been sacked by the Hittites under Suppiluliuma I (reigned c. 1344–1322 BC) in the first years of his reign, whose treaty inscription relates that he installed a Hurrian vassal king, Shattiwaza. The city was sacked again by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari I around 1290 BC, and became an Assyrian provincial capital for a time before disappearing from history.

Legacy

The modern-day refugee camp, built near Hesekê in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to house inhabitants of Serê Kaniyê and who had been displaced by the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, is named after Waššukanni.

See also

• Mitanni
• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni
• Taite
• Tall Al-Hamidiya

References

1. Kryszeń 2023.
2. "Waššukanni [1] (SN)". Text Corpus of Middle Assyrian. Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
3. Cotticelli-Kurras, P.; Pisaniello, V. (2023), "Indo-Aryans in the Ancient Near East", Contacts of Languages and Peoples in the Hittite and Post-Hittite World, Brill, pp. 332–345 [340], doi:10.1163/9789004548633_014, ISBN 978-90-04-54863-3
4. Parrot André. Barthel Hrouda, "Waššukanni, Urkiš, Śubat-Enlil", dans MDOG, 90 (janvier 1958) In: Syria. Tome 37 fascicule 1-2, pp. 191-192, 1960
5. D. Opitz, "Die Lage von Wassugganni", ZA 37, pp. 299-301, 1927
6. Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, "Der Tell Halaf, Eine neue Kultur im ältesten Mesopotamien", F. A. Brockhaus, 1931
7. E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, "Die Mittelassyrischen Briefe aus Tall Šēḫ Hamad", BATSH 4, Berlin, 1996
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9. [1] Allan Dobel, "Neutron Activation Analysis and the Location of Waššukanni", Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Orientalia, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 375–82, 1977
10. Lipiński, Edward (2000). The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion. Peeters Publishers. p. 120. ISBN 978-90-429-0859-8.
11. [2] De Martino, Stefano, 2018. "Political and Cultural Relations between the Kingdom of Mittani and its Subordinated Polities in Syria and Southeast Anatolia", in Changing Faces of Kingship in Syria-Palestine 1500-500 BCE, Ugarit Verlag, 2018
12. D. Bonatz, "Tell Fekheriye – Renewed Excavations at the 'Head of the Spring.'", In: D. Bonatz and L. Martin (eds.), 100 Jahre archäologische Feldforschungen in Nordost-Syrien – Eine Bilant. Schriften der Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung 18, Wiesbaden, pp. 209-234, 2013
13. D. Bonatz, "Tell Fekheriye in the Late Bronze Age: Archaeological Investigations into the Structures of Political Governance in the Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont", In: D. Bonatz (ed.), The Archaeology of Political Spaces. The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE. Topoi Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 12, Berlin/Boston, pp. 61-84, 2014
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15. Bonatz, Dominik, "Middle Assyrian Seal Motifs from Tell Fekheriye (Syria)", Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021
16. Goetze, Albrecht", On the Chronology of the Second Millennium B. C. (Concluded)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 63–73, 1957
17. Crasso, Daniela, "The Region of the Upper Euphrates: The Hittite Perspective", Entre les fleuves–I. Untersuchungen zur historischen Geographie Obermesopotamiens im 2, pp. 211-231, 2009
18. Goetze, Albrecht", "Hittite Historical Texts", Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement, edited by James B. Pritchard, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 318-319, 1995
19. Buccellati, Federico, "Learning New Styles, Quickly: An Examination of the Mittani–Middle Assyrian Transition in Material Culture", Values and Revaluations: The Transformation and Genesis of “Values in Things” from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Hans Peter Hahn et al., Oxbow Books, pp. 29–46, 2002
20. Köroğlu, K., "Yeni kazı ve yüzey bulguları işığında Diyarbakır. Üçtepe ve çevresinin yeni Assur dönemi tarihi coğrafyası, Türk tarih kurumu yayınları 5, 45, Ankara, 1998
21. Ristvet, L. and Weiss, H., :The Hābūr region in the late third and early second millennium BC. In: W. Orthmann (ed.), The History and Archaeology of Syria I (Saarbrücken), pp. 1–26, 2005
22. Casana, Jesse, "Remote sensing-based approaches to site morphology and historical geography in the northern fertile crescent", New Agendas in Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology in the Near East, pp. 154-174, 2020
23. W. Ball, "Tell al-Hawa and the Development of Urbanization in the Jazira, al-Râfïdïn 9, pp. 1-26, 1990
24. Devecchi, Elena, "Details That Make the Difference: The Akkadian Manuscripts of the 'Šattiwaza Treaties.'", Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 72–95, 2018
25. Grayson, Albert Kirk, "Assyrian Royal Inscriptions: From the beginning to Ashur-resha-ishi I", Vol. 1. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1972
26. "New tent city for displaced people from Serêkaniyê". Firat News Agency. Hesekê. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2022.

Sources

• Dominik Bonatz, "Waššukanni at the End of the Late Bronze Age: The Fate of a Capital City During Periods of Change", in Exploring 'Dark Ages' Archaeological Markers of Transition in the Near East from the Bronze Age to the Early Islamic Period, Benoit et al. (ed), Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp. 33–52, 2022
• Kryszeń, A. (2023). "Waššukanni". Hittite Toponyms. University of Mainz; University of Würzburg. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
• W Mayer, "Taide Oder Wassukanni? Name und Lage der Hauptstadt Mitannis", in Ugarit-Forschungen. Internationales Jahrbuch für die Altertumskunde Syrien-Palästinas, vol. 18, pp. 231–236, 1986
• A. Moortgat, "Arch. Forschungen der Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung im nordlichen Mesopotamien", Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen 62, 1957
• von Dassow, Eva (2022). "Mittani and Its Empire". In Karen Radner; Nadine Moeller; D. T. Potts (eds.). The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East. Vol. III: From the Hyksos to the Late Second Millennium BC. New York: Oxford Academic. pp. 455–528. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190687601.003.0029.