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 the spread of Hurrian place names and 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 22nd 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 [a] (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==