Kikkuli

The Mitanni Kikkuli is the author of a hippological font from the 15th century BC He describes himself as aššuššanni (a- aš -su -us- ša -an- ni) "Horse Trainer".

The Kikkuli text ( KUB I13I ) was found in 1906 in the Hittite capital Hattusa. He describes in detail the breeding, housing, feeding and training of horses to be used in front of the chariot. The training program, which lasted for several months. Whether the horses should go trotting or galloping, is controversial in research.

The four panels of the text ( Tran I) were written by different writers. It represents a transcript from the 13th century, but used partially archaic expressions. The Hurrian is, according to Annelies Kammhuber's partly grammatically incorrect. The text contains some clearly Indo-Aryan expressions, according to Manfred Mayrhofer (1982). These are:

• The single-digit number words, with which the training rounds are referred to. So aikawartanna " a round " with Vedic eka- (against Iranian * aiwa -! ) Is compared, further also panzawartanna " five rounds " and šattawartanna " seven rounds ."
• The self-designation of the Kikkuli, aššuššanni that Mayrhofer * ASVA - "horse" compares (1982, 75)
• The "hybrid Hittite- Aryan" verb u (n) ar -ar- ta -an- zi
• The naming of the race track.