Civilisations that Collapsed

Bronze Age Mercenaries - The Habiru

Mercenaries in the Middle East are nothing new. The Habiru were renowned for their ferocity and for fighting for the highest bidder. They made no small contribution to the instability of the bronze age world in the Middle East.

By Nick Nutter | Last Updated 2024-08-21 | Civilisations that Collapsed

This article has been visited 1,197 times

The Habiru - A bronze age mercenary band of brothers Image: Painting by Igor Dzis/Karwansary Publish

Who Were the Habiru?

The Hapiru (variously spelled Hapiru, Hapiri or Apiru) are the first mercenaries of which we have direct evidence. Habiru is a term used in 2nd-millennium BC texts throughout the Near East for a social status of people who were variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and labourers who led a nomadic, marginal and sometimes lawless existence on the fringes of settled society in the Levantine region.

The Habiru had no common ethnic affiliations and no common language, their personal names being most frequently West Semitic, but also East Semitic, Hurrian, or Indo-European. They became the most notable mercenary force in the ancient world.

When Were the Habiru First Mentioned?

The Habiru are first mentioned in texts dating back to about 2500 BC and, by the 14th century BC their numbers had grown to such an extent that they were a force to be reckoned with. They appear to have originated in the Fertile Crescent and spread down into Syria and the Levant.

Idrimi was the founding king of a town called Alalakh situated near Antioch in present day Türkiye. According to an inscription on a statue of Idrimi, he fled his native city of Emar and joined the "Habiru people" in "Ammija in the land of Canaan." After living among them for seven years, he led his Habiru warriors in a successful attack by sea on Alalakh, where he became king. A record from Alalakh tells of a band of 1,436 men, eighty of which were charioteers and 1,006 were shananu, probably archers. It is unclear whether the latter record described Idrimi’s force or not but notice his statue inscription that says his Habiru band also attacked by sea. Idrimi is thought to have ruled Alalakh from about 1450 BC.

The first credible mention of the Habiru appeared in Akkadian texts such as the Amarna letters written between 1360 and 1332 BC, which became known in the late 19th century AD. Over the course of the early 20th century, the Amarna letters were translated and more details about the Habiru were revealed.

The Habiru in Canaan

In the Late Bronze age (1550-1200 BC), Egypt controlled most of Canaan through a system of vassal city-states.

In urgent dispatches sent to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and his son, Akhenaten, the chieftains of the land of Canaan speak of the Habiru as a perilous threat to their city-states.

For example, Rib-Hadda, the leader of the city-state of Byblos in about 1350 BC, complains in his letter to Pharaoh:

“All my cities which are situated in the mountains or along the sea have sided with the Habiru people”.

In other words, the outlying citizenry of Rib-Hadda’s kingdom have identified themselves (in the eyes of Rib-Hadda) with the unworthy and disloyal “Habiru,” and thus are to be considered as enemies of the crown.

In another Armana letter, we see a message from Milkilu to the Pharoah (probably Akhenaten). Milkilu was the mayor of the Land of Gazru, roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in about 1350 BC. Milkilu is accused of being a rebel and of employing Habiru mercenaries. Suwardata was probably the king of the Canaanite city-state of Gath which was close to the border with Judah. Yanhamu was an Egyptian commissioner who travelled between the Canaanite city states reporting back to the Pharoah on city or regional accounts and any external affairs likely to be of interest or concern to the Pharoah. The letter reads:

“Say to the king, my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of Milkilu, your servant, the dirt at your feet. I fall at the feet of the king, my Lord, 7 times and 7 times. May the king, my lord, know that the war against me and against Suwardata is severe. So may the king, my lord, save his land from the power of the Apiru. Otherwise, may the king, my lord, send chariots to fetch us lest our servants kill us. Moreover, may the king, my lord, ask Yanhamu (an Egyptian commissioner), his servant, about what is being done in his land.”

A second letter from Milkilu reads:

“Say to the king, my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of Milkilu, your servant, the dirt at your feet. I fall at the feet of the king, my Lord, 7 times and 7 times. May the king, my lord, know the deeds that Yanhamu keeps doing to me since I left the king, my lord. He indeed wants 2000 shekels of silver from me, and he says to me: Hand over your wife and your sons, or I will kill (you).May the king know of this deed, and may the king, my lord, send chariots and fetch me to himself lest I perish.”

Yanhamu was not the most honest of commissioners.

Around the same time, Etakkama, king of Kadesh, wrote to the Pharoah.

“Behold, Namyawaza has surrendered all the cities of the king, my lord to the Sa-Gaz in the land of Kadesh and in Ubi. But I will go, and if thy gods and thy sun go before me, I will bring back the cities to the king, my lord, from the Habiri, to show myself subject to him; and I will expel the Sa-Gaz.”

Namyawaza was a powerful ruler, thought to have been the king of Damascus. Sa-Gaz, that simply means trespassers, were a group of Akkadians.

Zimrida, the king of Sidon, similarly wrote to Akhenaten:

“All my cities which the king has given into my hand, have come into the hand of the Habiri."

The Canaanite kings supplemented their own forces with Habiru and, on occasion had to subdue wandering bands of Habiru themselves. Perhaps the most famous Habiru was called David, you may have heard of him. When forced to leave Saul’s court for fear of being killed in about 1018 BC, David returned to his Habiru brothers in the desert and raised an army of about six hundred that he then hired out to various Philistine kings.

The Habiru Had Nasty Habits

The Habiru had a nasty habit of cutting the arms off their opponents to prove to their worth to their paymasters. Actually, this practice was not confined to mercenaries, there are records of Egyptian and Hittite troops doing the same thing.

Changing View of Mercenaries

It is important to realise that the word ‘mercenary,’ today has negative connotations that it did not have three thousand years ago. To be a mercenary was an honourable profession until the 20th century AD.

Greek city-states like Athens and Sparta also employed mercenaries, known as "misthophoroi," during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). These were typically hoplites, heavily armoured citizen-soldiers, who saw fighting as a profitable profession.

The Middle Ages saw the rise of professional mercenary companies in Europe. These companies, like the famous Swiss pikemen and German Landsknechts, were highly skilled and well-equipped, offering their services to the highest bidder. This period also saw the emergence of "condottieri," Italian mercenary captains who raised and commanded their own armies.

The rise of nation-states and the development of standing armies in the 17th and 18th centuries led to the decline of traditional mercenary companies. However, the concept of fighting for pay did not disappear. Private military companies (PMCs) emerged in the 20th century, offering a range of services, from security guards to military training. The use of PMCs has become increasingly controversial, raising questions about accountability, ethics, and the privatization of war.