The Maryannu were a caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility that existed in many of the societies of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. Maryannu is a Hurrianized Indo-Aryan word, formed by adding Hurrian suffix -nni to Indo-Aryan root márya, meaning "(young) man"[1] or a "young warrior".[2] Philologist Martin West suggested that the name Meriones, a character in Homeric epic, is "identical" to maryannu.[3] Thus, Mērionēs would be the Homeric Greek version of the term, reflected in pre-Mycenaean poetic verse as Mārionās.[4]
The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. The majority of the Maryannu had Semitic and Hurrian names.[5][6]
^von Dassow, Eva, (2014). "Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony". In: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (eds.). Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State, p. 27
^Drews, Robert (1994). The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-691-02951-1. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
^West, Martin L. (1997). The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 612. ISBN 0-19-815042-3.
^Teffeteller, Annette (2001). "Greek Athena and the Hittite Sungoddess of Arinna". In Susan Deacy; Alexandra Villing (eds.). Athena in the Classical World. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. p. 355. doi:10.1163/9789004497290_022.
^Drews, p. 155
^Watson, Janet; Khan, Geoffrey (2011). The Semitic Languages An International Handbook. De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110251586.
The Maryannu were a caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility that existed in many of the societies of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze...
an Aztec military élite Gallowglass, medieval Norse-Gaelic mercenaries Maryannu, chariot-mounted nobility in the ancient Middle East Janissary, a member...
(biology) List of angels in theology List of giants in mythology and folklore Maryannu Neanderthal Nephele Pre-Adamite – Belief that humans existed before the...
Anatolia Ancient Regions of Anatolia Mitanni Purushanda Hyksos Sea peoples Maryannu Kikkuli Mallory 1997, pp. 12–16 Anthony 2007, pp. 43–48 Beckwith 2009,...
is Indo-European in origin. Biryawaza may have been of an Indo-European maryannu caste similar to that which ruled the Mitanni and later, the Hittites....
religion. For example, during the Hyksos period, when chariot-mounted maryannu ruled in Egypt, at their capital city of Avaris, Baal became associated...
new state based in Asia Minor to the north of Assyria and based upon a Maryannu aristocracy of horse-drawn charioteers, associated with the Indo-Aryan...
Mitanni and typically consisting of a king and a small number of foreign Maryannu. Thutmose III found that taking hostages from these noble families largely...
discredited." Some have suggested that Hyksos or a part of them was of Maryannu origins as evident by their use and introduction of chariots and horses...
Nyland, The Kikkuli Method of Horse Training, Revised Edition, 2009, Maryannu Press, Sydney, p. 9. Nyland, passim. Nyland, pp. 11–17. Nyland, p. 10....
urbanization in the area at that time, and has been linked to the rise of the Maryannu, a class of chariot-using aristocrats linked to the rise of the Mitannite...
were heavily influenced by Hurrian culture, or were dominated by the maryannu (a warrior-class elite). Moreover, the last Jebusite king, Araunah, mentioned...
Alexander Lubotsky (2023), however, the military elite of Mitanni kingdom (see Maryannu) was of Aryan descent and that their language displays a clear Indo-Aryan...
mercenary troops, Nubians were used beginning in the late Old Kingdom, Asiatic maryannu troops were used in the Middle and New Kingdoms, the Sherden, Libyans,...
overwhelm the smaller bronze-equipped armies that consisted largely of Maryannu chariotry. Robert Drews argues for the appearance of massed infantry, using...
their historically attested Mongolian origin. Iranians in China Mitanni Maryannu Qiang Kassites Hyksos Zadneprovskiy 1994, pp. 458–462 Schuessler 2014,...
of the chariot corps formed their own aristocratic class known as the maryannu (young heroes).[citation needed] The heroic symbolism can be seen in contemporary...
"Charioteers, but no horses"–Rib-Hadda letter, (no. 36 of 68). Note: see Maryannu; in letter: mar-i(y)a-nu-ma, =charioteer. EA 132—Title: "The hope for peace"...
ancient peoples of Anatolia Mitanni Kassites Purushanda Hyksos Sea peoples Maryannu Kikkuli Ancient Regions of Anatolia "Qatar National Library". Mallory,...
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