Barattarna
king of Mitanni
1500 BCE to 1432 BCE
Barattarna, also spelled Parattarna, is a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the fifteenth century BCE.
He may also be identical to a king called Parsatatar.
None of his own records have yet been found, but his name is mentioned in a record from Nuzi dated to "when king Barattarna died and was cremated".
More information is included in the biography of Idrimi of Alalakh.
Barattarna ruled over the Hurrians and made Idrimi his vassal.
Mitanni in his time probably extended as far as Arrapha in the east.
Barattarna may have been the Mitannian king the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III encountered by the river Euphrates in his campaign of year 1447 BCE.
This can however only be deduced by comparing the chronology of ancient Egypt and Mitanni at a later date and working back the figures.
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King Barattarna of Mitanni has expanded the kingdom west to Halab (Aleppo) and made a vassal of Idrimi, the vigorous ruler of the city-state of Alalakh.
The Luwian-Hurrian state of Kizzuwatna in the west, whose king, Pilliya, had signed a treaty with Idrimi, has also shifted its allegiance to Mitanni.
Barattarna may have been the Mitannian king the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III encountered by the river Euphrates in his campaign of year 1447 BCE.
This can however only be deduced by comparing the chronology of ancient Egypt and Mitanni at a later date and working back the figures.
Shaushtatar is the son of Parshatatar.
By the time he ascends the throne at some time in the fifteenth century BCE, his father has installed Hurrian client kings in a number of cities, making it easier for Shaushtatar to make Mittani a Mesopotamian power.
Now freed from the constant threat undergone by Mitanni of the Egyptians, Shaushtatar turns his attention toward Assyria.
In a treaty made more than a century later, Shaushtatar is told to have sacked Assur, the Assyrian capital.
He is reputed to have brought the golden doors of the palace to his own capital of Washshukanni, making vassal states of Assyria and Arrapha.
After his invasion of Assyria, Shaushtatar turns his army westward across the Euphrates, along the way gathering beneath his sway all the northern Syrian states as he brings his army to the Mediterranean coast.
He is looking to extend Mitanni's power further south, perhaps into Palestine.
However, much of southern Syria still lies within the Egyptian sphere of influence, which has long been a threat to Mitanni.
The Mitanni nation has grown stronger during the reign of Shaushtatar but the Hurrians are keen to keep the Hittites inside the Anatolian highland.
Kizzuwatna in the west and Ishuwa in the north are important allies against the hostile Hittites.
There is a consequence into Shaushtatar's expansion into Palestine: war with Egypt.
Despite Mitanni's advantage that Palestine has a significant Hurrian population at this time, the war will be difficult to win.
During the planning stages, however, Shaushtatar dies, and his son Artatama I negotiates with the pharaoh Amenhotep II over an alliance.