ABIRATTA(Š), a proper name said to be of (Indo-) Aryan origin, by comparison with Vedic ratha, Avestan raθa. This analysis, however, remains uncertain. The name was borne by the following (Kammenhuber, Arier, pp. 54-55): 1. the fifth king of the third (“Kassite”) dynasty in Babylon; 2. a Kassite nobleman (a-bi-ra-taš, a-bi-rat-taš, a-bi-r [u-ut-taš?], AD-rat-taš); 3. a prince of Pár-ga in northern Syria (a-pi-rat^!-ta, a-pi-rad^!-da, a-pi-rat^!-ta-aš); 4. a person in the Alalakh tablets (a-bi-ra-at-ta).

Bibliography:

E. Laroche, Les noms des Hittites, Paris, 1966, p. 36.

A. Kammenhuber, Die Arier im Vorderen Orient, Heidelberg, 1968, pp. 54-55.

M. Mayrhofer, Die Indo-Arier im Alten Vorderasien, Wiesbaden, 1966, p. 140a; and Die Arier im Vorderen Orient—ein Mythos?, Vienna, 1974, pp. 69, 78.

Cf. W. Wüst, on Vedic abhí . . . ráthaḥ, in Die Sprache 20, 1974, pp. 145ff.

(M. Mayrhofer)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 15, 2011

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Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 218