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, to the NE in eastern Armenia. But most commentators are of the opinion it lay in the general area SE of Lake Van, either in the region of the upper Great Zab, a tributary of the Tigris River, between Lake Van and Lake Urmia, or more to the S of Lake Urmia.

If the Mannai or Mannaeans 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. The Babylonian Chronicle says that many Mannaeans were taken captive in a battle between Assyria and the forces of Nabopolassar. But by the time Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E. Minni was dominated by the Medo-Persian Empire.