The Hurrians, who have established several commercial centers in northwestern Mesopotamia, have expanded westward and southward to dominate eastern Anatolia and northern Syria.

Yet, the Hurrian heartland during this period is northern Mesopotamia, the country known at this time as Hurri, where the political units are dominated by dynasts of Indo-Iranian origin.

The Hittite conquest of Aleppo (Yamhad), the weakened Assyrian kings, and the internal strife among the Hittites had created a power vacuum in upper Mesopotamia.

This had led to the formation of the kingdom of Mitanni, thought to have been a feudal state led by a ruling Indo-Iranian noble class.

This group, called maryannu, had moved rapidly into Northern Mesopotamia with the aid of the chariot and united the warring Hurrian tribes and city states under one dynasty in a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state with its capital at Washshukanni, near modern Urfa.