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Waššukanni

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Washukanni (or Waššukanni) was the capital of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni (c. 1500 BC). Note that the Kurdish name (Bashkanî) "Bash=good","Kanî=well/source"(Kurdish has the same name for well and source : "Kanî") name is similar to the Sanskrit phrase for "a mine of wealth."[citation needed][1] Its precise location is unknown, but it is widely thought to have existed on one of the tributaries of the Khabur River. Some scholars believe it later became known as the ancient city of Sikan.[citation needed] It may be located under the so far unexcavated mound of Tell el Fakhariya near Gozan in Syria, to the east of the Euphrates river.[citation needed]

Washukanni flourished as a capital city for two centuries. The city is known to have been sacked by the Hittites under Suppiluliumas I in the first years of his reign (c.1344 - 1322 BC), whose treaty inscription[2] relates that he installed a Hurrian vassal king, Shattiwaza. The city was sacked again by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari I around 1290 BC, but very little else is known of its history.

Notes

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  1. ^ However, compare Luwian vasu-, "good".
  2. ^ Suppilulium-Shattiwaza treaty exerpts