Waà ¡à ¡ukanni (; and ) or Aà ¡à ¡ukanni () was the capital of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, from around 1500 BC to the 13th century BC.
It has been suggested that the name Waà ¡à ¡ukanni is of Old Indo-Aryan origin, and its original form may have been , composed of the Indic term , meaning , to which was added the Indic suffix , followed by the Hurrian suffix .
The precise location of Waà ¡à ¡ukanni is unknown with most suggestions being in the general area defined by the Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates River, and the Jaghjagh River in the upper Jezirah of Syria. A proposal by Dietrich Opitz located it under the largely unexcavated mound of Tell el Fakhariya, near Tell Halaf in Syria. This position was supported by M. Oppenheim and more recently by others. A neutron activation comparison with clay from relevant Amarna tablets appeared to rule out Tell Fakhariya. This idea was also rejected by Edward Lipinski. However, this identification received a new support by Stefano de Martino, Mirko Novák and Dominik Bonatz due to recent archaeological excavations by a German team. But despite many seasons of excavations, no documentation of the name of the Mittani capital has yet been found.
On his way to conquer Waà ¡à ¡ukanni, Suppiluliuma I passed through Isuwa (east of Malatya, within the bend of the Euphrates), Alse (upper Tigris valley), Kutmar (on the Batman-Su ?) and Suta (on the lower Batman-Su ?) and then returns to the Euphrates and Halpa then "Piyasilis and Mattiwaza pass "Irrite and Harran" then wait in Irrite (Irridu) before coming to Waà ¡à ¡ukanni. This would suggest a location near Mardin.
In the original text:
Tell Farfara and ÃÂçtepe Höyük (near ÃÂçtepe, Bismil in Diyarbakñr Province in Turkey) have also been proposed.
The large and relatively recently found, site of Koçlu Tepe has also been proposed.
The site of Tell al-Hawa in the Jazira has also been suggested.
Waà ¡à ¡ukanni is known to have been sacked by the Hittites under Suppiluliuma I (reigned âÂÂ1322 BC) in the first years of his reign, whose treaty inscription relates that he installed a Hurrian vassal king, Shattiwaza. The city was sacked again by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari I around 1290 BC, and became an Assyrian provincial capital for a time before disappearing from history.
The modern-day Waà Âokanî refugee camp, built near Hesekê in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to house inhabitants of Serê Kaniyê and Zirgan who had been displaced by the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, is named after Waà ¡à ¡ukanni.