1. Making Mittani Assyrian Rafał Koliński Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań In this paper I will focus on how the Assyrians governed the western territories of the Middle Assyrian state after they were incorporated in the later part of the thirteenth century BC. This will be done by comparing what is known about the organization of the western territories of the Middle Assyrian state with what is known about the preexisting settlement history of the same territories, as revealed by surveys and excavations. An evaluation of the organization of the western provinces will be carried out on the basis of available cuneiform documents from Tell Sabi Abyad, Ḫarbe, Dūr-Katlimmu, Uššukanni, Dunni-ša-Uzibi, Karāna, Kār-Tukultī-Ninurta, and, of course, Aššur, as well as various studies based on this set of information. The study of the changes in settlement patterns will be presented in the form of two case studies, building on the results of archaeological surveys in the valleys of the Khabur and the Balih. A similar analysis should be performed in the future for the eastern part of Assyria, that is the area located on the left bank of the Tigris. While the history of the Assyrian conquest of at least part of this territory has recently been studied (Jakob 2011; Maidman 2012), the archaeological surveys of the area have only just begun, and it will take several years before archaeological maps of the eastern part of the Middle Assyrian state become available. 1 1.1 The Assyrian Conquest of Mittani 2 One of the historical consequences of the collapse of North Mesopotamian political networks of the Middle Bronze Age, caused by the destruction of Yamhad and its capital, Ḫalab, by Mursili’s I in 1595 BC, and his subsequent raid on Babylon, was the rise of a new power: the Mittani. Towards the end of the fifteenth century BC Mittani controlled a vast area of North Mesopotamia, from Arrapḫe in the far East (as attested by the royal letter HSS IX, 1, sealed by the dynastic seal of the Mittani kings), to the northern part of the Levantine coast and Cilicia in the west. Assyria was conquered by the Mittani as well, probably between 1440-20 BC (Helck 1965: 65, 169, 173), and reduced to a vassal state status (Lion 2011). The period of political dependence ended during the kingship of Aššur-uballiṭ I (1353-18 BC), the first Assyrian ruler to pursue an active international policy, including: first, a correspondence with Egypt (Amarna letters EA 15 and 16, addressed most likely to Amenhotep IV/Achenaton (1353-36 BC, date according to Hornung et al. 2006)); second, the marriage of his daughter, Muballiṭat-Šeru’a, to Burnaburiaš II of Babylon (1359-33 BC) mentioned in the Synchronistic Chronicle (col. I, lines 8’-11’)(Glassner 2004: 179); third, major building activities in the city of Aššur (Grayson 1987: text A.0.73.1-5); and, finally, successful military campaigns in the east, against Arrapḫe (Maidman 2012) and in the south. All this was possible only because of the apparent crisis which struck Mittani towards the end of a long rule of Tušratta (ca. 1360-30 BC). Hittite military campaigns against Mittani led to the conquest of Syria and the capture and looting of Wašuganni, its capital. Tušratta escaped the battle only to be assassinated in a court plot and his throne was taken by Artatama II, who was in turn replaced before long by his son, Šutarna III. It seems likely that Aššur-uballiṭ supported the Artatama conspiracy, and the new king and later his son repaid him for the support by maintaining friendly relations. As we know from the introduction to the treaty between Tušratta and 1 The first study of this kind appeared immediately prior to the submission of this paper (Mühl 2013). 2 Cf. the most recent review of the written and archaeological evidence in Llop 2012a.