Amurru: From Warlords to Royalty

Amurru was always a troublesome place. It sat on the border of the Bronze Age empires of the Hittites, New Kingdom Egypt, and Mitanni, as well as sharing a border with the wealthy minor kingdom of Ugarit. Amurru began as an inconsequential backwater filled with 'apiru brigands and refugees to a significant kingdom in Bronze Age Syria. It began under Abdi-Ashirta - an 'apiru warlord - and continued under his capable son Aziru - also an 'apiru warlord - but by the time of the 13th century the Amurrite kings were the in-laws of the Great King of the Hittites. Amurru left no historical documents of it's own but using the letters, treaties, and other texts of it's neighbors we can trace the history of this curious kingdom from it's origins until our sources trail off in the Bronze Age collapse. We don't know what happened to this kingdom. It fell apart some time in the 11th century, but it's final years remain a mystery. It was the site of the famous battle between Ramses III and the Sea Peoples but there is no mention of a kingdom of Amurru. As for the rest of it's history it's filled with drama, intrigue, and a whole cast of interesting characters. Let's dig in...

#amurru #ancienthistory #archaeology #syria #bronzeage #hittites #ugarit

Some Sources:

Itamar Singer, "A Concise History of Amurru," in Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic Study. Volume 2. Edited Shlomo Izre'el. Leiden: Brill, 1991:135-195.

Itamar Singer, "Maḫḫaza, King of Amurru," in The Calm Before the Storm: Selected Writings of Itamar Singer on the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant. Atlanta: SBL, 2011: 287-294.

Itamar Singer, "The “Land of Amurru” and the “Lands of Amurru” in the Šaušgamuwa Treaty," Iraq 53 (1991): 69-74.

Elena Devecchi, "Aziru, Servant of Three Masters?" Altorientalische Forschungen 39 (2012)

William Moran trans. The Amarna Letters. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press: 2002.

Gary Beckman ed. Hittite Diplomatic Texts, Second edition. Atlanta: SBL, 1999.

Trevor Bryce, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Music: Epidemic Sound

Some Images Copyright the Trustees of the British Museum CC BY NC SA 4.0

[satdownzebra]

This channel is criminally underrated wow. That is some excellent work.

[oiaeyu]

Unlike most of the oversaturated content mill of history youtube, I love that you make such digestible and quality videos on unique topics! A hidden gem for sure

[overworlder]

I knew a little about Ugarit but Amurru is new to me. Amazing so much is recoverable from the tablets. Thanks!

[luisdavila]

I've never heard about Amurru. Perhaps because I hadn't dwelled deep enough in the bronze age. I learned a lot today. I'll follow your career with great interest

[svena.halstensen]

an obscure and interestingly well documented piece of history. and i love the graphics to company the story.

[Nextlevelvic]

This channel consistently puts out great material!! Can’t wait to see what you upload next!

[ShafanSela]

I freaking love this channel, this is my favorite area of history and this channel is a damn goldmine! Your videos are so dang well put together and has notes, sources, love it

[FumerieHilaire]

Oooooh this is becoming my favourite channel

[qboxer]

Great post. I really enjoy the videos on lesser known Bronze Age Kingdoms. Thanks again!

[AalemPenah]

Blimey! Another great video! I'm hooked! Will Bittu-Rabitti and her badass Amurru relatives take us to Hatti???

[davidmouritsen]

Wonderfully well done, and greatly appreciated. More, please!

[lordsterling]

Superb video, very informative. Will you cover more Syrian kingdoms, for example Qatna, Yamhad or Ebla? Lots of rich history in this region.

[almuhalab]

Amazing work


Fun Fact it took my attention the name Abdi-Ashirta especially ashirta
In proper and old Arabic tongue
Ashirta close to the word ‘Ashira which means Clan {of Tribe]

[ataragunawan]

This is amazing work! I was wondering if you might create videos on the late 19th dynasty (centering on political intrigue with Seti II and Amenmesse, and later Chancellor Bay and Queen Twosret), or the late 20th dynasty or the late 17th/early 18th dynasty war against the Hyksos and Kerma (including the involvement of the much neglected western oases).

These are very often neglected in public discourse on Ancient Egypt. It would be great to see more content on these periods

[theogeitondasamphilochos]

I know basically nothing about Amurru, but its story instantly reminds me of several states which was geopolitically sandwiched between two overwhelmingly greater superpowers, like Afghanistan kingdom between Russian Tsardom and British Raj, Thailand between French Indochina and British Raj, Switzerland between French kingdom and Hapsburg monarchy, Venice republic between Frankish polities and Greek/Eastern polities or even fantasy Fezzan Dominion between the Empire and the Alliance in LoGH galaxy, which exploited their difficult geopolitical position for their own advantage by enriching themselves with trade benefits between the both superpowers and bolstering their human resource with exiles from the both sides.

They were all led by shrewd politicians, simply in order to survive

[ravensthatflywiththenightm]

I remember trying to write a story featuring the Amurru. Unfortunately I did not have the research to learn all that much about them to make that story a completed thing. Back then.

[YonatanZunger]

At 1:26, I'm pretty sure the screen was meant to say "execration texts." As it is it looks close to a typo for "excretion texts, " which sounds like a very specialized kind of magical papyrus.

[prestonjones]

Do you have any plans to do content focusing on Chinese, Japanese, or Vietnamese archeology and history?

[hedgehog]

13:10 I think you'll find that the One Year War was waged in Universal Century 0079.

[barrywhite]

Is Dr. Webb the narrator on this, I think I recognize his voice