Umman Manda

Umman Manda ( lit. 'the horde from who knows where' ) 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. 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. 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.

During the middle-6th century BC, the term Ummān Manda was used to designate the Cimmerians and the Scythians.

By the time of the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, it was used to designate the Medes.