Umman Manda ( Akkadian: đđđđ, romanized: UmmÄn Manda lit. 'the horde from who knows where' [1]) is a term used in the early second and first millennia BC for a poorly known people in the Ancient Near East. They have been identified in different contexts as Hurrians, Elamites, Medes, Cimmerians, and Scythians. [2] The homeland of Umman Manda seems to be somewhere from Central Anatolia to north or northeastern Babylonia, possibly in what later came to be known as Mitanni, Mannae, or Media. [3] Zaluti, whose name seems to have an Indo-Iranian etymology, is mentioned as a leader of Ummanda Manda. He is even suggested to be identified with Salitis the founder of the Hyksos, the Fifteenth dynasty of Egypt. [4]
During the middle-6th century BC, the term UmmÄn Manda was used to designate the Cimmerians and the Scythians. [5]
By the time of the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, it was used to designate the Medes. [5]