Priests, cattle and men
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2819043 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mary Boyce (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1987 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 508-526 |
| Publication date | 1987-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0041977x00039483 |
| OpenAlex | W2048617423 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 8 |
It is about three-quarters of a century since themaryannu(maryanni) of Mitanni and its dependencies, appearing in Hittite and Egyptian records of the second millennium B.C., were first discussed in connexion with the IndoIranians. In 1910 H. Winckler interpreted the word as a title belonging to Aryan infiltrators from the north, who had come to form an aristocracy among the Hurrians; and he recorded the suggestion by F. C. Andreas connecting it with Vedicmárya' young man, man, hero '. Subsequently W. F. Albright presented a carefully documented case for considering themaryannuto be primarily 'chariot-warriors', arguing that from about 1700 to 1200 B.C. 'chariots played the same role in warfare that cavalry did later, and the chariot-warriors occupied the same social position that was held by the⃛ feudal knights of the Middle Ages'. He further pointed out, with regard to Vedicmárya, that a semantic development from 'young man' to 'warrior' is widely attested. Thereafter R. T. O'Callaghan adduced yet more evidence from Egyptian and cuneiform sources to confirm that 'from the mid-fifteenth century to the midtwelfth century B.C., and from the Mitanni kingdom down through Palestine beyond Ascalon, the termmaryannuis to be understood primarily as a noble who is a chariot-warrior'. The area was one where Indo-Aryan names occur at about the same period; and in the fourteenth-century Kikkuli treatise from Boghaz-köy, on the training of chariot-horses, Indo-Aryan technical terms appear. There were solid grounds therefore for thinking that Indo-Aryans, bringing with them horses from the Asian steppes, had played a leading part in developing chariotry in the Near East at that time, and that it was this which enabled a group of them to become locally dominant there
Ancient history · Aristocracy (class) · Aryan race · Chariot · Fifteenth · Hittite language · Politics · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Classics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1987 - 2020 (34) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |