At the beginning of its history, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids.
Their sphere of influence is shown in Mitanni place names,
personal names and the spread through Syria of a distinct pottery type.
While the Mitanni kings were Indo-Iranians,
they used the language of the local people which was at that time a non Indo-Iranian language, Hurrian.
Some theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni are considered to form(part of)
an Indo-Aryan superstrate, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrian populat.
A Hurrian passage in the Amarna letters- usually composed in Babylonian, the lingua franca of the day-
indicates that the royal family of Mitanni was by then speaking Hurrian as well.
A Hurrian passage in the Amarna letters- usually composed in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the day-
indicates that the royal family of Mitanni was by then speaking Hurrian as well.
It had been held that nothing more can be deduced from current evidence.[14] A Hurrian passage in the Amarna letters- usually composed in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the day-
indicates that the royal family of Mitanni was by then speaking Hurrian as well.