State that came into being in the first half of the second millenium BC in northern Mesopotamia, in the region between the Upper Euphrates and Tigris. It became one of the most important opponents of Egypt in western Asia. Tuthmosis I and Tuthmosis III both reached the territory of the Mitanni during campaigns in Asia. There were also diplomatic and even friendly contacts, as is shown by instances from the later 18th Dynasty. Tuthmosis IV contracted a diplomatic marriage with a Mitannian princess, who joined his harem in Egypt, and in the time of Amenhotep III a statue of the goddess Astarte (called by her Mesopotamian name, Ishtar) was sent to Egypt to cure the king who was ill at the time. The cuneiform correspondance found at El-`Amarna, both to and from Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, refers several times to Mitanni. The kingdom of Mitanni was defeated in around 1370 BC by the Hittites.