Maryannu
Caste of Near Eastern warrior nobility in the Bronze Age
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The Maryannu were a caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility that existed in many of the societies of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age, in particular between 1700 and 1200 BC.[1] Maryannu is a Hurrianized Indo-Aryan word, formed by adding the Hurrian suffix -nni to the Indo-Aryan root márya, meaning "(young) man"[2] or a "young warrior".[3] Philologist Martin West suggested that the name Meriones, a character in Homeric epic, is "identical" to maryannu.[4] Thus, Mērionēs would be the Homeric Greek version of the term, reflected in pre-Mycenaean poetic verse as Mārionās.[5]
The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. The majority of the Maryannu had Semitic and Hurrian names.[6][7]
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