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
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 218
M. Mayrhofer, “ABIRATTA(Š),” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 218; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abirattas-proper-name-said-to-be-of-indo-aryan-origin (accessed on 25 January 2014).
