Much of the history of the Hittite Empire was concerned with warring with the rival empires of Egypt, Assyria and the Mitanni.

The Egyptians eventually withdrew from the region after failing to gain the upper hand over the Hittites, and becoming wary of the power of Assyria, which had destroyed the Mitanni Empire.

The Assyrian city of Nineveh became one of Mitanni's vassals for nearly a century until the mid 14th century BC, when the Assyrian king Ashur-uballit I reclaimed it in 1365 BC while overthrowing the Mitanni Empire.

Map of the Ancient Near East during the Amarna Period, showing the great powers of the day: Egypt ( green ), Hittite empire | Hatti ( yellow ), the Kassites | Kassite kingdom of Babylon ( purple ), Middle Assyrian Empire ( grey ), and Mitanni ( red ).

After the Suppiluliuma I – Shattiwaza treaty ( 14th century BCE ) between the Hittite Empire and Mitanni, Harran was burned by a Hittite army under Piyashshili in the course of the conquest of Mitanni.

In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire ( at the height of its power ), Mitanni ( South-Western historical Armenia ), and Hayasa-Azzi ( 1600 – 1200 BC ).

Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to Hittite and later Assyrian attacks, and was reduced to the status of a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire.

In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire ( at the height of its power ), Mitanni ( South-Western historical Armenia ), and Hayasa-Azzi ( 1600-1200 BC ).

Neither side could afford the possibility of a longer conflict since they were threatened by other enemies: Egypt was faced with the task of defending her long western border with Libya against the incursion of Libyan tribesmen by building a chain of fortresses stretching from Mersa Matruh to Rakotis, while the Hittites faced a more formidable threat in the form of the Assyrian Empire, which " had conquered Hanigalbat, the heartland of Mitanni, between the Tigris and the Euphrates " rivers that had previously been a Hittite vassal state.

In the mid-14th century, the Hittite Suppiluliuma I defeated king Tushratta of Mitanni and assumed control of northern Syria, including Alalakh, which he incorporated into the Hittite Empire.

Ashur-uballit I overthrew the Mitanni empire in 1365 BC, and the Assyrians benefited from this development by taking control of the eastern portion of the Mitanni Empire, and later also annexing Hittite, Babylonian, Amorite and Hurrian territory.

Taite ( called Taidu in Assyrian sources ) was one of the capitals of the Mitanni Empire.

Taite ( called Taidu in Assyrian sources ) was one of the capitals of the Mitanni Empire.

At the beginning of his reign, the Hittite Empire had contracted to its core territories, having long since lost all of its conquests, made in the former era under Hattusili I and Mursili I -- to Arzawa in the West, Mitanni in the East, the Kaskas in the North, and Kizzuwatna in the South.

He was able to recover a little ground from the Hurrians of Mitanni, by forming an alliance with the Hurrians of Kizzuwatna ; however, with the end of his reign, the Hittite Empire enters a temporary " Dark Ages ", the Middle Kingdom, lasting around 70 years, when records become too scanty to draw many conclusions.

The goddess's statue was sent to Pharaoh Amenhotep III of Egypt in the 14th century BC, by orders of the king of Mitanni.

The largest and most influential partly Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni, though the Mitanni were an Indo-European speaking people who formed a ruling class over the Hurrians.

The first ruler was a legendary king called Kirta who founded the kingdom of Mitanni around 1500 BCE.

The town of Kahat was a religious centre in the kingdom of Mitanni.

" This kingdom was known as the Maryannu, Nahrin or Mitanni to the Egyptians, Hurri to the Hittites and Hanigalbat to the Assyrians.

A Hurrian passage in the Amarna letters – usually composed in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the day – indicates that the royal family of Mitanni was by then speaking Hurrian as well.

After a few successful clashes with the Pharaohs over the control of Syria, Mitanni sought peace with Egypt and an alliance was formed.

Mitanni was now at its peak of power.

However by the reign of Eriba-Adad I ( 1390 BC-1366 BC ) Mitanni influence over Assyria was on the wane.

At the death of Shuttarna, Mitanni was ravaged by a war of succession.

This terminology was last used for King Tushratta of Mitanni, in a letter in the Amarna archives.

While a sometime vassal of Mitanni, the temple of Sin and Shamash was built in Ashur.

The military superiority of Mitanni was probably based on the use of two-wheeled war-chariots, driven by the ' Marjannu ' people.

Later on, Egypt and Mitanni became allies, and King Shuttarna II himself was received at the Egyptian court.

Mitanni was especially interested in Egyptian gold.

When Amenhotep III fell ill, the king of Mitanni sent him a statue of the goddess Shaushka ( Ishtar ) of Nineveh that was reputed to cure diseases.

A more or less permanent border between Egypt and Mitanni seems to have existed near Qatna on the Orontes River ; Ugarit was part of Egyptian territory.

By the reign of Eriba-Adad I ( 1390 BC-1366 BC ) Mitanni influence over Assyria was on the wane.

While it was common practice to incorporate enemy soldiers in the army, this might point to a Hittite attempt to counter the most potent weapon of Mitanni, the war-chariots, by building up or strengthening their own chariot forces.

The state of Kizzuwatna in the west also shifted its allegiance to Mitanni, and Assyria in the east had become largely a Mitannian vassal state by the mid-15th century BC.

The region of the Khabur River is also associated with the rise of the kingdom of the Mitanni that flourished c. 1500-1300 BC.

The Ahlamû (= wanderers ) are first mentioned in the el-Amarna letters alluding to the king of Babylon ; the presence of the Ahlamû are also attested in Assyria, Nippur and even at Dilmun ( Bahrain ); Shalmaneser I ( 1274-1245 BC ) defeated the Shattuara, King of Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries are mentioned in the Jazirah.

Carchemish () or, better, Karkemish ( Hittite: Kargamiš ; Greek: Εὔρωπος ; Latin: Europus ) was an important ancient capital at times independent but also having been part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo Assyrian Empires, now on the frontier between Turkey and Syria.

There was also a Hurrian-Akkadian creole, called Nuzi, spoken in the Mitanni provincial capital of Arrapha.

) Pulak's proposed LHIIIA / B boundary would make LHIIIB contemporary in Anatolia with the resurgent Hittites following Mursili's eclipse ; in Egypt with the 19th Dynasty, also known as the Ramessides ; and in northern Mesopotamia with Assyria's ascendancy over Mitanni.

In state treaties from ancient Anatolia and Mitanni Hazzi also appears as the god of oaths.

Tvaṣṭṛ is also referred to as Rathakāra or the chariot maker and sometimes as Takṣā in Ṛgveda. The term Tvaṣṭṛ is mentioned in the Mitanni treaty, which establishes him as a Proto-Indo-Iranian divinity.

The personal names and gods of the Mitanni aristocracy also bear significant traces of Indo-Aryan.