Shuttarna II (or Šuttarna) was a king of the

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

kingdom of

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

in the early 14th century BC. Shuttarna was a descendant and probably a son of the great Mitannian king

Artatama I Artatama I was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the late fifteenth century BC. His reign coincided with the reigns of Egyptian pharaohs Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV. He is believed to be the son of earlier Mitanni king Shaushtatar. A ta ...

. He was an ally of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III and the diplomatic dealings of the kings are briefly recorded in the Amarna letters EA#182, EA#183 and EA#184. Shuttarna's daughter Kilu-Hepa (sometimes spelled Gilukhepa) was given to Amenhotep III in marriage to seal the alliance between the two royal houses in the Pharaoh's 10th regnal year, taking with her a great dowry. During the reign of Shuttarna, the kingdom of Mitanni reached its height of power and prosperity. From

Alalakh Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze Ag ...

in the west, Mitanni shared its border with Egypt in northern Syria, approximately by the river Orontes. Two tablets sealed by Shuttarna were found at

Tall Bazi Tall Bazi, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Raqqa Governorate of Syria in the same general area as Mari and Ebla. It is located on the Euphrates river in upper Syria, about 60 kilometers south of Turkey near the abandoned town of T ...

on the Euphrates. Other tablets sealed by him were found at

Tell Brak Tell Brak (Nagar, Nawar) was an ancient city in Syria; its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate. The city' ...

Nuzi Nuzi (or Nuzu; Akkadian Gasur; modern Yorghan Tepe, Iraq) was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of the city of Arrapha (modern Kirkuk), located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium-sized multiperiod tell and two small s ...

and

Umm el-Marra Umm el-Marra, ( ar, أم المرى), east of modern Aleppo in the Jabbul Plain of northern Syria, was one of the ancient Near East's oldest cities, located on a crossroads of two trade routes northwest of Ebla, in a landscape that was much more f ...

.Sallaberger, Walther, Berthold Einwag & Adelheid Otto Schenkungen von Mittani-Königen an die Einwohner von Baru. Die zwei Urkunden aus Tall Bazi am Mittleren Euphrat, ZA 96: 69–104, 2006The heart of the kingdom was in the Khabur River basin where the capital

Washshukanni Washukanni (also spelled Waššukanni) was the capital of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, from around 1500 BC to the 13th century BC. Location The precise location of Waššukanni is unknown. A proposal by Dietrich Opitz located it under the larg ...

was situated.

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

as well as

Arrapha Arrapha or Arrapkha ( Akkadian: ''Arrapḫa''; ar, أررابخا ,عرفة) was an ancient city in what today is northeastern Iraq, thought to be on the site of the modern city of Kirkuk. In 1948, ''Arrapha'' became the name of the residential ...

in the east were vassal kingdoms of Mitanni. The

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

attempted to invade the northern border lands of Mitanni, but were defeated by Shuttarna. He was succeeded by his son,

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His si ...

, or possibly

Artashumara Artashumara Akkadian: ), brother of Tushratta and son of Shuttarna II, briefly held the throne of Mitanni in the fourteenth century BC. Reign He is known only from a single mention in a tablet found in Tell Brak "Artassumara the king, son of Shut ...

, under dubious circumstances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuttarna Ii Hurrian kings 14th-century BC rulers

See also

References