Sign-In
Cart
Chariot Kings: Recovering the Lost Kingdom of Mitanni
Paperback
Ancient History GeneralGeneral Middle Eastern HistoryGeneral Military History
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9781968989248
Publisher: Red Pirate Media
Published: Aug 15 2026
Pages: 284
Weight: 0.84
Height: 0.60 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
From the award-winning author of Kings of Stone - Outstanding Creator Award, Best Nonfiction 2025
Egypt's pharaohs wrote them letters. The Hittites fought them to a standstill for generations. The Assyrians spent centuries as their subjects, waiting for the chance at independence. Mitanni's daughters married into the most powerful royal families of the ancient world, and their gold flowed from a capital city that has never been found.
You've heard of Egypt. You've heard of the Hittites. You've heard of Babylon. But Mitanni-the fourth great power of the Bronze Age, the kingdom that sat at the crossroads of the ancient world and bent the arc of Near Eastern history for two and a half centuries-has been almost completely forgotten.
Chariot Kings: Recovering the Lost Kingdom of Mitanni is the story of that forgotten empire.
At its height, Mitanni controlled territory larger than modern Iraq. Its warrior elite, the maryannu, were the most feared chariot fighters of their era-heirs to a military tradition so sophisticated that its horse-training manuals, written in a language related to Sanskrit, still impress modern equestrians three thousand years later. Its kings negotiated as equals with Thutmose III and Amenhotep III. Its princesses became Egyptian queens. Its diplomats helped create the Bronze Age's first international system-a network of great powers exchanging ambassadors, letters, and royal brides across thousands of miles of ancient road.
And then it was gone.
Not slowly. Not gracefully. Mitanni collapsed under the combined pressure of Hittite conquest and Assyrian resurgence, its capital city swallowed by the earth, its archives lost, its royal dynasty extinguished. The victors wrote the histories. Mitanni didn't get one.
What we have instead are fragments: letters found not in Mitanni but in Egypt, treaties carved by Hittite scribes, Assyrian records celebrating liberation from Mitannian rule. Everyone else's account of a kingdom that left almost no account of itself.
Chariot Kings reconstructs that kingdom from the fragments-tracing Mitanni's origins in the remarkable fusion of Indo-Aryan warrior culture and the indigenous Hurrian civilization of northern Mesopotamia, following its rise to great-power status, and examining the diplomatic genius that made a mid-sized kingdom the indispensable broker of the ancient Near East. It also asks a question that goes beyond military and political history: what does it mean when a civilization disappears so completely that scholars spent centuries debating whether it had existed at all-and what can we recover?
Working from cuneiform tablets, diplomatic archives, treaty texts, and the latest archaeological evidence, R Jay Driskill brings the narrative and analytical tools that made Kings of Stone an award-winning success to bear on one of history's great untold stories.
The chariots are waiting. The kings are ready.
It's time to remember Mitanni.
Also from
Driskill, R. Jay
Raiders of the Bronze Age Collapse: The Sea Peoples in Legend, History, and Archaeology
Driskill, R. Jay
Hardcover
Also in
Ancient History General
The Power of Place: Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities, and Holy Places
Rollason, David
Hardcover
The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom
Hankins, James
Guelzo, Allen C.
Hardcover
Story of the World, Vol. 1: History for the Classical Child: Ancient Times
Bauer, Susan Wise
Paperback
The Fall of Republics: A History from Ancient Carthage to the American Constitution
Madden, Thomas F.
Hardcover
The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization
Rees, Owen
Hardcover
The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing
Hammer, Joshua
Paperback
A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
Clements, Jonathan
Paperback
The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs: The 230-Million-Year Story of Their Time on Earth
Black, Riley
Paperback
Fiber Craft Heritage: Easy-To-Learn Textile Techniques from the Stone Age to Today, with 52 Try-It Projects
Fischer, Doris
Hardcover
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
Wisnom, Selena
Hardcover
Stone Lands: A Journey of Darkness and Light Through Britain's Ancient Places
Robertson, Fiona
Hardcover
Big Dinosaur Coloring Book: Dinosaur Gifts for 3 Year Olds - Paperback Coloring to
Coloring Funny, Family
Paperback
The Political and Strategic History of the World, Vol I: From Antiquity to the Caesars, 14 A.D.
Black, Conrad
Hardcover
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
Bauer, Susan Wise
Hardcover
Death by Astonishment: Confronting the Mystery of the World's Strangest Drug (the Dmt Book)
Gallimore, Andrew R.
Hardcover
Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland and Brittany
Robichaud, Paul
Hardcover
Mothers of Invention: A History of Creativity from the Greek Muses (Large Print Edition)
McTier, Moiya
Paperback
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Savatier, François
Condemi, Silvana
Hardcover
Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons: A Fully Illustrated Guide To Siege Weapons And Tactics
Nossov, Konstantin
Paperback
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Anthony, David W.
Paperback
The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing
Hammer, Joshua
Hardcover
The Political and Strategic History of the World, Vol I: From Antiquity to the Caesars, 14 A.D.
Black, Conrad
Paperback
Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion
Taylor, Michael
Paperback
Magicians of the Gods: Updated and Expanded Edition - Sequel to the International Bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods
Hancock, Graham
Paperback
Slaving States: From West Africa to the Ancient Mediterranean
Rabinowitz, Adam
Fentress, Elizabeth
Hardcover
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World
Wisnom, Selena
Paperback
World History: A Visual Journey From The Dawn Of Civilization To The 21st Century
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
Japanese Legends: Samurai, Spirits, Myths & the Sacred Stories of Japan
Alive, History Brought
Hardcover
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
Anthony, David W.
Paperback
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Condemi, Silvana
Savatier, François
Paperback
Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation
McConnon, Aili
McConnon, Andres
Paperback
Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya Volume 29
Morley, Sylvanus G.
Goetz, Delia
Paperback
The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times
Mayor, Adrienne
Paperback
Celtic History and Mythology Explained: Ancient Legends, Heroic Tales, and the Battles that Forged a People
Torbert, Sidney K.
Paperback
An Illustrated Guide to Samurai History and Culture: From the Age of Musashi to Contemporary Pop Culture
Blair, Gavin
Hardcover
Christians Reading Classics: An Introduction to Greco-Roman Classics from Homer to Boethius
Williams, Nadya
Paperback
In Search of Ancient Ireland: The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English
McCaffrey, Carmel
Eaton, Leo
Paperback
Mesoamerican History: A Captivating Guide to Four Ancient Civilizations that Existed in Mexico - The Olmec, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec Civilization
History, Captivating
Hardcover
The Codes of Hammurabi and Moses with Copious Comments, Index, and Bible References
W. W. Davies Ph. D., Ph. D.
W. W. Davies Ph. D.
Paperback
The Ethiopian Bible History: oldest and most complete known book in the world (Canons and Books)
Benedict, Beauty
Paperback
Mythology of Mesopotamia: Fascinating Insights, Myths, Stories & History From The World's Most Ancient Civilization. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, P
Brought Alive, History
Hardcover
Mythology of Mesopotamia: Fascinating Insights, Myths, Stories & History From The World's Most Ancient Civilization. Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, P
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
Nineveh and Its Remains: With an account of a visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers; and an enqu
Layard, Austen Henry
Paperback
...and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year
Hudson, Michael
Paperback
The Stoicism Book of Quotes: Over 200 Inspirational Quotations from the Greatest Stoic Philosophers
Benas, Nick
Yasenka, Kortney
Hardcover
The Aztec Empire: An Enthralling Overview of the History of the Aztecs, Starting with the Settlement in the Valley of Mexico
History, Enthralling
Hardcover
Foundations of Chinese Civilization: The Yellow Emperor to the Han Dynasty (2697 BCE - 220 CE)
Liu, Jing
Paperback
...and Forgive Them Their Debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption from Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year
Hudson, Michael
Hardcover
Return of the Fallen Ones: Nephilim Histories, the Antediluvian World, Anunnaki Chronology and the Coming Cataclysm
Breshears, Jason M.
Paperback
1st Century Radical: The Shadowy Origins of the Man who Became Known as Jesus Christ
Jacques, Michael Calum
Paperback
Celtic Mythology: A Complete Guide to Celtic Mythology, Celtic Gods, and Celtic Folklore
Walsh, Andrew
Hardcover
When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
Picknett, Lynn
Prince, Clive
Paperback
Ancient Warfare Illustrated Atlas: Strategies, Tactics & Combat Skills
Rice, Rob S.
Jestice, Phyllis G.
Anglim, Simon
Hardcover
Tokyo: A Biography: Disasters, Destruction and Renewal: The Story of an Indomitable City
Mansfield, Stephen
Paperback
Christian Paideia (Vol. I): A History of Christian Education to 500 AD (From Athens to the Church Fathers)
Welter, Brian
Paperback
Africana Philosophy from Ancient Egypt to the Nineteenth Century: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Volume 7
Adamson, Peter
Jeffers, Chike
Hardcover