MINNI

(Minʹni).

An ancient kingdom that was divinely summoned to fight against Babylon. At that time Minni was allied with the kingdoms of Ararat and Ashkenaz, all under the control of Cyrus.​—Jer 51:27-29.

The exact location of this ancient kingdom and its people is uncertain. Some map makers have placed it in the region between Lake Van and the Araxes River. But most commentators are of the opinion it lay in the general area SE of Lake Van.

If the Mannai or Manneans were inhabitants of Minni, as some scholars say, then according to cuneiform inscriptions Minni was intermittently under subjugation, first by the Assyrians and then by the Median Empire. According to a Babylonian chronicle, in his tenth year of reign (636 B.C.E.) Nabopolassar “captured the Manneans who had come to their (i.e. the Assyrians’) aid.” (Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, by A. K. Grayson, 1975, p. 91) But by the time Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E. Minni was dominated by the Medo-Persian Empire.