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The Gutians were a tribe that overran southern Mesopotamia when the Akkadian empire collapsed ca. 2083 BC (short chronology). Sumerian sources portray them as a barbarous, ravenous people from the mountains.1 The Sumerian king list represents them as ruling over Sumer for a time, and paints a picture of chaos within the Gutian administration.2
The Sumerian ruler Utu-hengal is credited with defeating the Gutian ruler Tirigan and removing the Guti from the country (ca. 2050 BC (short)).3
Next to nothing is known about the group or their origins, as no "Gutian" artifacts have surfaced from that time; all we have are the tribe's name and a list of rulers from contemporary sources.4
Western Media
In the first millennium BC, the term "Gutium" was used to refer to the western Media (between Zagros and Tigris) and all the tribes inhabiting Gutium who also had often hostile relations with the peoples of lowland Mesopotamia were referred to as Gutian.5
A significant Gutian from this period was Gobryas.
