Urartu (Assyrian: Urarṭu; Urartian: Biainili; Armenian: Ուրարտու) was an Iron Age kingdom in Eastern Anatolia (Transcaucasia), rising to power in the mid 9th century BC, and finally conquered by Media in the early 6th century BC. see History of Armenia (Moses of Chorene for the historiographical work The Armenian Highland shows traces of settlement from the Neolithic era Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa was a confederation formed between the Kingdoms of Hayasa located South of Trabzon and Azzi, located North of Nairi ( Armenian: Նայիրի in TAO or Նաիրի in RAO) is the Assyrian word rivers, given from the 13th to 10th centuries BC ( The Kingdom of Armenia (or Greater Armenia) was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until The Orontid Dynasty (in Armenian: Երվանդունիների հարստություն was the first known Armenian dynasty The Kingdom of Sophene (Ծոփքի Թագավորութուն was an ancient Armenian kingdom The Artaxiad Dynasty ruled Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in AD 12. The Kingdom of Commagene (Βασίλειον τῆς Kομμαγηνής Կոմմագենէի Թագավորութուն was an ancient Armenian kingdom of the Hellenistic The Arsacid Dynasty (Arshakuni Dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 to 428 The medieval history of Armenia (Միջնադարյան Հայաստան covers the history of Armenia during the Middle Ages. Marzpanate period (Մարզպանական Հայաստան refers to the period in Armenian history after the fall of the Arshakuni Dynasty of Armenia Byzantine Armenia is the name given to the Armenian part of the Byzantine Empire. The Arab conquest of Armenia was a part of the Muslim conquests which began after the death of Muhammad. The Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia (Բագրատունիների Թագավորություն also known as Bagratid Armenia, was an independent state established by Vaspurakan (also transliterated as Vasbouragan in Western Armenian; Վասպուրական meaning the "noble land" or "land of princes" was first a province The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (also known as Little Armenia, Kingdom of Lesser Armenia, Cilician Kingdom; Classical Armenian: Կիլիկիոյ The term Zakarid Armenia (Զաքարյան Հայաստան is used to describe territories of Armenia given to the Zakarid-Mxargrzeli princes as a Fief Persian Armenia corresponds to the Armenian territory controlled by Persia throughout history The Ottoman rule of Armenia or Ottoman Armenia begins with the initial accession of Mehmed II, and the Ottoman support to initiate the Armenian Russian Armenia ( Armenian: Ռուսական Հայաստան is the period of Armenia's history under Russian rule beginning from 1829 when Eastern Armenia The Hamidian massacres, also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894-1896, refers to the massacring of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, with estimates of the The Democratic Republic of Armenia ( DRA; Armenian: Դեմոկրատական Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Demokratakan Hayastani Hanrapetutyun The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Հայկական ՍովետականՍոցիալիստական Հանրապետություն Haykakan Sovetakan Sotsialistakan Hanrapetutyun see History of Armenia (Moses of Chorene for the historiographical work The military history of Armenia encompasses a period of several thousand years as the Armenian people have existed as a nation since the Early Bronze Age. Earliest 6000-4000 BC Neolithic cultures of the South Caucasus, such as the Shulaveri-Shomu culture. Urartian (also called Vannic, in older literature also "Chaldean" is the conventional name for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. The South Caucasus is a mountainous geopolitical area of south-central Eurasia, also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Transcaucasus. The 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. The 6th century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.

The Kingdom of Urartu was located in the mountainous plateau between Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus mountains, later known as the Armenian Highlands, and was centered around Lake Van in present-day Eastern Turkey. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding This article is about the terrestrial Eurasian mountain range The Armenian Highland (Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye; also known as the Armenian Upland or Armenian Plateau, also referred as Eastern Armenia) Lake Van (Van Gölü Gola Wanê Վանա լիճ Daryacheye Van ("Lake of Van" is the largest Lake The name corresponds to the Biblical Ararat. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin

Name

The name Urartu comes from Assyrian sources: the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I (1263-1234 B. C. ) recorded a campaign in which he subdued the entire territory of "Uruatri". ^{[1] [2]} The Shalmaneser text uses the name Urartu to refer to a geographical region, not a kingdom, and names eight "lands" contained within Urartu (which at the time of the campaign were still disunited). The kingdom's native name was Biainili, but by the end of the 9th century they also called their now united kingdom "Nairi". Scholars believe that Urartu is an Akkadian variation of Ararat of the Old Testament. Indeed, Mount Ararat is located in ancient Urartian territory, approximately 120 km north of its former capital. Mount Ararat (see section Names for other names is the tallest peak in Turkey. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand In addition to referring to the famous Biblical mountain, Ararat also appears as the name of a kingdom in Jeremiah 51:27, mentioned together with Minni and Ashchenaz. Jeremiah ( jirmɛ'jahu; Septuagint Greek: Ἰερεμίας was one of the 'greater prophets ' of the Hebrew Bible. The Mannaeans (country name usually Mannea; Akkadian: Mannai, possibly Biblical Minni, מנּי were an ancient people of unknown origin Ashkenaz is Gomer 's first son brother of Riphath, and Togarmah (Gen

Some scholars such as Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt (1910) believe that the people of Urartu called themselves Khaldini after their god Khaldi. Khaldi (also written as Haldi is the supreme god of the Urartians. ^[3] The Nairi, an Iron Age people of the Van area, are sometimes considered related or identical. Nairi ( Armenian: Նայիրի in TAO or Նաիրի in RAO) is the Assyrian word rivers, given from the 13th to 10th centuries BC ( ^[4]

In the early 6th century BC, the Urartian Kingdom was replaced by the Armenian Orontid dynasty. The Orontid Dynasty (in Armenian: Երվանդունիների հարստություն was the first known Armenian dynasty In the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 515 BC by the order of Darius the Great of Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Babylonian is called Arminia in Old Persian and Harminuia in Elamite. The Behistun Inscription (also Bisitun or Bisutun, Modern Persian: بیستون; Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the god's Events and trends 519 BC — Zhou Jing Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. Darius I the Great (c 549 BC&ndash486 BC 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavahuš: "Possessing goodness" Having ascended to power amidst controversy and bloodshed The Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages (besides Avestan) Elamite is an Extinct language, which was spoken by the ancient Elamites.

Shubria was part of the Urartu confederation. Later, there is reference to a district in the area called Arme or Urme, which some scholars have linked to the name Armenia. Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani ^[5][6]

Geography

Urartu in 743 BC

Urartu comprised an area of approximately 200,000 square miles, reaching from the river Kura in the north, to the northern foothills of the Taurus in the south; and from the Euphrates in the west to the Caspian sea in the east. The Euphrates ( ( Arabic: ar نهر الفرات; Turkish: tr Fırat Syriac: syr ܦܪܬ; Hebrew: he פרת The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged Sea. ^[7]

At its apogee, Urartu stretched from northern Mesopotamia to the southern Caucasus, including present-day Armenia and southern Georgia as far as the river Kura. In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between Archaeological sites within its boundaries include Altintepe, Toprakkale, Patnos and Cavustepe. Altıntepe is an ancient Urartian site located in Üzümlü district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey Patnos ( Armenian: Բադնոց ( Latin transliteration: Badnoc‘ or Patnoc‘ KurdishPanos Urartu fortresses included Erebuni (present day Yerevan city), Van, Armavir, Anzaf, Cavustepe and Başkale, as well as Argishtiqinili, Teishebaini (Karmir Blour - Red Mount) and others. Erebuni Fortress is an Urartian castle in Yerevan, Armenia. It was built by king Argišti in 782 BC as a military base Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan Van ( Armenian hy Վան Kurdish: Wan from Armenian van - village settlement is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Armavir ( Armenian: hy Արմավիր known as Hoktemberyan, Hoktemberian, or Oktemberyan - Armenian Հոկտեմբերյան - during the Başkale ( Kurdish: Elbak, Armenian: Albayrak, and alternatively rendered as Bashkala or Pashgala) is a town and district Teishebaini (modern Karmir-Blur, Armenia) was the capital of the Urartian Transcaucasian provinces

Discovery

Inspired by the account of the fifth century Armenian historian Moses of Chorene (who had described Urartian works in Van, attributing them to the legendary queen Semiramis), Friedrich Eduard Schulz was asked to travel to the Van area in 1827 on behalf of the French Oriental Society. The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era. Semiramis was a legendary Assyrian queen also known as Semiramide, Semiramida, or Shamiram in Aramaic The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. Schulz discovered and copied numerous cuneiform inscriptions, partly in Assyrian and partly in a hitherto unknown language. Schulze also re-discovered the Kelishin stele, bearing an Assyrian-Urartian bilingual inscription, located on the Kelishin pass on the current Iraqi-Iranian border. Kelashin (also spelled Kelishin, Kel-a-Shin, Kel-a Shin, meaning "blue holy stone" in Kurdish) is a mountain village in northern Schulz and four of his servants were murdered by Kurds in 1829 near Baskale. Başkale ( Kurdish: Elbak, Armenian: Albayrak, and alternatively rendered as Bashkala or Pashgala) is a town and district A summary account of his initial discoveries was published in 1828. His notes were later recovered and published in Paris in 1840. In 1828, the British Assyriologist Henry Creswicke Rawlinson attempted to copy the inscription on the Kelishin stele, but failed because of the ice on the stele's front side. Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson 1st Baronet (1810-1895 was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire. The German scholar R. Rosch made a similar attempt a few years later, but he and his party were attacked and killed. Sir Austen Henry Layard in the late 1840s described the rock-cut tombs of Van castle and the Argishti chamber. The Right Honourable Sir Austen Henry Layard (ˈɔːstɪn ˈhɛnriː lɛəd 5 March, 1817 – 5 July, 1894) was a From the 1870s, local residents began to plunder the Toprakkale ruins, selling its artefacts to European collections. In the 1880s this site underwent a poorly-executed excavaton organised by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Almost nothing was properly documented.

The first systematic collection of Urartian inscriptions, and thus the beginning of Urartology as a specialized field,^[8] dates to the 1870s, with the campaign of Sir Archibald Henry Sayce. The Rev Archibald Henry Sayce ( 25 September 1846 - 4 February 1933) was a pioneer Assyriologist and linguist, who held The German engineer Karl Sester, discoverer of Mount Nemrut, collected more inscriptions in 1890/1. Turkey also has a volcano named Nemrut Nemrut or Nemrud Nemrut Dağ or Nemrut Dağı is a high mountain in southeastern

Waldemar Belck visited the area in 1891, discovering the Rusa stele. A further expedition planned for 1893 was prevented by Turkish-Armenian hostilities. Belck together with Lehmann-Haupt visited the area again in 1898/9, excavating Toprakkale. On this expedition, Belck reached the Kelishin stele, but he was attacked by Kurds and barely escaped with his life. Belck and Lehmann-Haupt reached the stele again in a second attempt, but were again prevented from copying the inscription by weather conditions. After another assault on Belck provoked the diplomatic intervention of Wilhelm II, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, agreed to pay Belck a sum of 80,000 gold marks in reparation. Abdülhamid II His Imperial Majesty Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ( Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî, İkinci Abdülhamit During World War I, the area briefly fell under Russian control. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In 1916, the Russian scholars Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr and Iosif Abgarovich Orbeli uncovered a four-faced stele carrying the annals of Sarduri II. Nicholas Marr (Николай Яковлевич Марр Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr; ნიკოლოზ იაკობის ძე მარი Nikolos Iakobis dse Joseph Orbeli (Հովսեփ Աբգարի Օրբելի Hovsep Abgari Orbeli იოსებ აბგარის ძე ორბელი Ioseb Abgaris dze Orbeli Иосиф Абгарович Sarduri II (ruled 764-735 BCE was the King of Urartu (modern-day Armenia) Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky in 1939 excavated Karmir-Blur, discovering Teišebai, the city of the god of war, Teišeba. Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky (Бори́с Бори́сович Пиотро́вский also written Piotrovskii; &ndash October 15, 1990) was a Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Teishebaini (modern Karmir-Blur, Armenia) was the capital of the Urartian Transcaucasian provinces Teishebaini (modern Karmir-Blur, Armenia) was the capital of the Urartian Transcaucasian provinces Theispas is an Urartian weather-god He formed part of a triad along with Khaldi and Artinis. In 1938-40, excavations by the American scholars Kirsoop and Silva Lake were cut short by World War II, and most of their finds and field records were lost when a German submarine torpedoed their ship, the Athenia. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Their surviving documents were published by Manfred Korfmann in 1977. Manfred O Korfmann ( April 26, 1942 in Cologne &mdash August 11, 2005, in Ofterdingen, Baden-Württemberg)

A new phase of excavations began after the war. Excavations were at first restricted to Soviet Armenia. The fortress of Karmir Blur, dating from the reign of Rusa II was excavated by a team headed by B. Piotrovsky, and for the first time the excavators of an Urartian site published their findings systematically. Beginning in 1956 Charles Burney identified and sketch-surveyed many Urartian sites in the Lake Van area and, from 1959, Turkish expeditions under Tahsin Özgüç excavated Altintepe and Arif Erzen. Tahsin Özgüç, (1916- 2005 was an eminent Turkish field Archaeologist. Altıntepe is an ancient Urartian site located in Üzümlü district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey

In the late-1960s, Urartian sites in northwest Iran were excavated. In 1976, an Italian team led by Mirjo Salvini finally reached the Kelishin stele, accompanied by a heavy military escort. The First Gulf War then closed this area to archaeological research. O. Belli resumed excavation of Urartian sites on Turkish territory: in 1989 a 7th c. BC fortress built by Rusas II of Urartu was discovered 35 km north of Van. In spite of excavations, only a third to a half of the 300 known Urartian sites in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Armenia have been examined by archaeologists (Wartke 1993). Without protection, these sites have been plundered by local residents taking advantage of the lucrative black market trade in antiquities.

History

Origins (13th - 9th cc BC)

Urartu under Aramu

Assyrian inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (ca. Shalmaneser I ( Shulmanu-asharidu) king of Assyria. (1274 BC – 1245 BC or 1265 BC - 1235 BC Son of Adad-nirari I, he succeeded his father as King 1270 BC) first mention Uruartri as one of the states of Nairi -- a loose confederation of small kingdoms and tribal states in Armenian Highland in the 13th - 11th centuries BC. Nairi ( Armenian: Նայիրի in TAO or Նաիրի in RAO) is the Assyrian word rivers, given from the 13th to 10th centuries BC ( The Armenian Highland (Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye; also known as the Armenian Upland or Armenian Plateau, also referred as Eastern Armenia) Uruartri itself was in the region around Lake Van. Lake Van (Van Gölü Gola Wanê Վանա լիճ Daryacheye Van ("Lake of Van" is the largest Lake The Nairi states were repeatedly subjected to attacks by the Assyrians, especially under Tukulti-Ninurta I (ca. 1240 BC), Tiglath-Pileser I (ca. Tiglath-Pileser I (from the Hebraic form of Akkadian: Tukultī-apil-Ešarra, "my trust is in the son of Esharra " was a king 1100 BC), Ashur-bel-kala (ca. 1070 BC), Adad-nirari II (ca. Adad-nirari II is generally considered to be the first King of Assyria in the Neo-Assyrian period. 900), Tukulti-Ninurta II (ca. Tukulti-Ninurta II was King of Assyria from 891 to 884 BC He was the son of Adad-nirari II and the second king of the Neo-Assyrian period 890), and Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC). Ashur-nasir-pal II ( Transliteration: Aššur-nâṣir-apli, meaning " Ashur is guardian of the heir" was king of Assyria from 884 BC-859

Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the 9th c. BC as a powerful northern rival of Assyria. The Nairi states and tribes became a unified kingdom under king Aramu (ca. Aramu or Arame was the first known king of Urartu.Living at the time of Shalmaneser III (ruled 859 BC-824 BC Aram united the Nairi 860-843 BC), whose capital at Arzashkun was captured by Shalmaneser III. Shalmaneser III ( Šulmānu-ašarēdu, "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent" was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC and son of the previous ruler Roughly contemporaries of the Uruartri, living just to the west along the southern shore of the Black Sea, were the Kaskas known from Hittite sources. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey See Kaska for the First Nations people in the Yukon and British Columbia Canada For kas-kas, or poppy seeds refer to Poppy

Growth in power (9th c. - 714 BC)

Fragment of a bronze helmet from Argishti I's era. The "tree of life", popular among the ancient societies, is depicted. The helmet was discovered during the excavations of the fortress Of Teyshebaini on Karmir-Blur (Red Hill).

Sarduri I (ca. Sarduri I ( reign - 834 BC - 828 BC) also known as Sarduris was the king of the ancient Armenian kingdom of Urartu 832-820 BC), son of Lutipri, successfully resisted the Assyrian attacks from the south, led by Shalmaneser III, consolidated the military power of the state and moved the capital to Tushpa (modern Van, on the shore of Lake Van). Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Shalmaneser III ( Šulmānu-ašarēdu, "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent" was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC and son of the previous ruler Tushpa (modern Van, Turkey located on Lake Van) was the capital of Urartu in the late 9th century BC Van ( Armenian hy Վան Kurdish: Wan from Armenian van - village settlement is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Lake Van (Van Gölü Gola Wanê Վանա լիճ Daryacheye Van ("Lake of Van" is the largest Lake His son, Ispuini (ca. 820-800 BC) annexed the neighbouring state of Musasir and made his son Sarduri II viceroy; Ispuini was in turn attacked by Shamshi-Adad V. Sarduri II (ruled 764-735 BCE was the King of Urartu (modern-day Armenia) Shamshi-Adad V was the King of Assyria from 824 to 811 BC He was the son and successor of Shalmaneser III, the husband of Shammuramat (by some identified His successor Menua (ca. Menua was the fifth known king of Urartu, an ancient country in the Armenian Highland, from ca 810 to late 7th century BC A younger son of the preceding 800-785 BC) also enlarged the kingdom greatly and left inscriptions over a wide area. Urartu reached highest point of its military might under Menua's son Argishti I (ca. 785-760 BC), becoming one of the most powerful kingdoms of ancient Near East. Argishti I added more territories along the Araxes river and Lake Sevan, and frustrated Shalmaneser IV's campaigns against him. Shalmaneser IV was king of Assyria (783 - 773 BC He succeeded his father Adad-nirari III, and was succeeded by his brother Ashur-dan III. At some point the Urartuan armies reached all the way to Babylon, taking the city. Argishti also founded several new cities, most notably Erebuni in 782 BC, which grew to be the modern Armenian capital of Yerevan.

At its height, the Urartu kingdom may have stretched North beyond the Aras River (Greek Araxes) and Lake Sevan, encompassing present-day Armenia and even the southern part of Georgia (e. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Lake Sevan (Սևանա լիճ is the largest lake in Armenia and one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between g. Qulha) almost to the shores of the Black Sea; west to the sources of the Euphrates; east to present-day Tabriz, Lake Urmia, and beyond; and south to the sources of the Tigris. In ancient Geography, Colchis or Kolchis ( Georgian and Laz: კოლხეთი k'olxeti; Greek:, Kolchís The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey The Euphrates ( ( Arabic: ar نهر الفرات; Turkish: tr Fırat Syriac: syr ܦܪܬ; Hebrew: he פרת Tabriz ( تبریز, تبریز) is the largest city in northwestern Iran. Lake Urmia ( Daryacheh-ye Orumieh; ارومیه گولو, ارومیه گولی ancient name Lake Matiene) is a Salt lake in northwestern Iran The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern This became the first known Armenian empire.

Decline and recuperation (714 - 640 BC)

In 714 BC, the Urartu kingdom suffered heavily from Cimmerian raids and the campaigns of Sargon II. Events and trends Judah, Tyre and Sidon revolt against Assyria. See Cimmeria (Conan or Cimmeria (Poem for the fiction of Robert E Sargon II ( Akkadian Šarru-kinu "legitimate king" reigned 722 – 705 BC was an Assyrian king The main temple at Mushashir was sacked, and the Urartian king Rusa I was defeated by Sargon at Lake Urmia. Musasir (Persian موساسیر; also called Musri) was an ancient Mannaean city acquired by the Urartian king Ishpuini ca

The setback, however, was temporary, as Rusa's son Argishti II (714 - 685 BC) restored Urartu's power, at the same time maintaining peace with Assyria. This in turn helped Urartu enter a long period of development and prosperity, which continued through the reign of Argishti's son Rusa II (685-645 BC).

After Rusa II, however, the Urartu grew weaker and dependent on Assyria, as evidenced by Rusa II's son Sardur III (645-635 BC) referring to the Assyrian king as his "father. "

Later Period (640 - 590/585 BC)

Late Urartu under Rusa III and IV (610-590/585 BC).

Much like Urartu's ethnic composition, its later period and transformation to the Orontid Kingdom of Armenia are debated among scholars. The Orontid Dynasty (in Armenian: Երվանդունիների հարստություն was the first known Armenian dynasty

According to Urartian cuneiforms, Sarduri III was followed by three kings--Erimena (635 - 620 BC), his son Rusa III (620 - 609 BC), and the latter's son Rusa IV (609 - 590 or 585 BC). Late during the 600's BC (during or after Sardur III's reign), Urartu was invaded by Scythians and their allies--the Medes. The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. In 612 BC, the Median king Cyaxares conquered Assyria. Many Urartian ruins of the period show evidence of destruction by fire. This would indicate two scenarios--either Media subsequently conquered Urartu, bringing about its subsequent demise; or Urartu/Armenia maintained its independence and power, going through a mere dynastic change, as a local Armenian dynasty (later to be called the Orontids) overthrew the ruling family with the help of the Median army. The Orontid Dynasty (in Armenian: Երվանդունիների հարստություն was the first known Armenian dynasty Ancient sources support the latter version:

• Xenophon, for example, states that Armenia, ruled by an Orontid king, was not conquered until the reign of Median king Astyages (585 - 550 BC) --long after Median invasion of the late 7th century BC. The Orontid Dynasty (in Armenian: Երվանդունիների հարստություն was the first known Armenian dynasty Astyages ( Persian: ایشتوویگو ( Ištovigu) spelled by Herodotus as Astyages by Ctesias as Astyigas; by Diodorus ^[9].
• Similarly, Strabo (1st c. BC - 1st c AD) wrote that "[i]n ancient times Greater Armenia ruled the whole of Asia, after it broke up the empire of the Syrians, but later, in the time of Astyages, it was deprived of that great authority . . . " ^[10].
• Furthermore, according to the Old Testament, as late as 593 BC, prophet Jeremiah called on the kingdom of Ararat and its Median allies to conquer Babylon (Jeremiah 51:27), suggesting that at the time Ararat/Urartu/Armenia was still powerful enough to conquer the Babylonian Empire.
• Finally, early Armenian chronicles corroborate the Greek and Hebrew sources. In particular, Movses Khorenatsi writes that Armenian prince Paruyr Skayordi helped the Median king Cyaxares conquer Assyria, for which Cyaxares recognized him as the king of Armenia, while Media conquered Armenia only much later--under Astyages. ^[11] It is possible that the last Urartian king, Rusa IV, had connections to the future incoming Armenian Orontids dynasty.

Urartu was destroyed in either 590 BC^[12] or 585 BC. ^[13] The end of Urartu was violent; many of its fortresses were burned down. By the late sixth century, the Urartians had certainly been replaced by the Armenians. ^[14]

Erebuni Fortress is an Urartian castle in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Erebuni Fortress is an Urartian castle in Yerevan, Armenia. It was built by king Argišti in 782 BC as a military base Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani

Economy and politics

The people of Urartu were mostly farmers. They were experts in stone architecture; they may have introduced the blind arch to the Near East, and their houses may have been the precursor of the Persian apadana layout. blind arch is an Arch found in the Wall of a Building which has been Infilled with solid construction so it cannot serve as a passageway The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia They were also experts in metalworking, and exported metal vessels to Phrygia and Etruria. In antiquity Phrygia (Φρυγία was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. Etruria &mdash usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia &mdash was a region of Central Italy, located in an area Excavations have yielded two-storied residential houses with internal wall decorations, windows, and balconies. Their towns generally had well-developed water supply (often taken from far away) and sewage systems.

Their king was also the chief-priest or envoy of Khaldi, their major deity. Khaldi (also written as Haldi is the supreme god of the Urartians. Some temples to Khaldi were part of the royal palace complex while others were independent structures. Other deities included Teisheba, god of the heavens (the Teshshub of the Hurrians and Khurits), and Shiwini, the sun goddess. Theispas is an Urartian weather-god He formed part of a triad along with Khaldi and Artinis. Teshub (also written Teshup) was the Hurrian god of sky and storm The Hurrians (also Khurrites; cuneiform Ḫu-ur-ri 𒄷𒌨𒊑 were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia The Solar god of Urartu. He is the counterpart of the Hittite god Istanu.

Language

Urartian--the language used in the cuneiform inscriptions of Urartu--was an agglutinative language, which belongs to neither the Semitic nor the Indo-European families but to the Hurro-Urartian family. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, The Hurro-Urartian languages are an extinct Language family of the Ancient Near East, which comprises only two languages Hurrian and It survives in many inscriptions found in the area of the Urartu kingdom, written in the Assyrian cuneiform script. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture There are also claims of autochthonous Urartian hieroglyphs, but this remains uncertain. Urartian (also called Vannic, in older literature also "Chaldean" is the conventional name for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom ^[15]

Overview

Urartian cuneiform tablet recording the foundation of Erebuni Fortress by Argishti. Erebuni Fortress is an Urartian castle in Yerevan, Armenia. It was built by king Argišti in 782 BC as a military base Argishtis I ( Urartian: Argištiše, Արգիշտի Argishti was the sixth known king of the ancient country of Urartu (in eastern Anatolia

Urartian inscriptions use two scripts; locally-developed hieroglyphs, and cuneiform script borrowed from Assyrians and Hittites. A logogram, or logograph, is a Grapheme which represents a word or a Morpheme (a meaningful unit of language The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established

The Urartian cuneiform inscriptions are further divided into two groups. A minority is written in Akkadian (the official language of Assyria). Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture The bulk of the cuneiforms, however, is written in an agglutinative language, conventionally called Urartian, Khaldian, or neo-Hurrian, which was related to Hurrian in the Hurro-Urartian family, and was neither Semitic nor Indo-European. Urartian (also called Vannic, in older literature also "Chaldean" is the conventional name for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom Hurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians (Khurrites a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly The Hurro-Urartian languages are an extinct Language family of the Ancient Near East, which comprises only two languages Hurrian and The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, It had close linguistic similarities to Northeast Caucasian languages. The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains which lie between Igor Diakonov even places it in the Alarodian family, based on linguistic similarities with Northeast Caucasian languages. Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov (И́горь Миха́йлович Дья́конов was a Russian Historian, linguist, and Translator and a renowned The Alarodian languages are a proposed language family that encompasses the Northeast Caucasian or Dagestan languages and the extinct Hurro-Urartian languages A more distant connection among Urartian and the modern Georgian language and Circassian have been postulated as well. Georgian (ka ქართული ენა kartuli ena) is the Official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.

Currently, the number of known Urartian cuneiform inscriptions is more than 1000. They contain around 350-400 words, most of which are Urartian, while some are loan words from other languages. The greatest number of foreign loan words in Urartuan language is from Armenian--around 70 word-roots. ^[16]

The Urartians originally used the locally-developed hieroglyphs but later adapted the Assyrian cuneiform script for most purposes. A logogram, or logograph, is a Grapheme which represents a word or a Morpheme (a meaningful unit of language Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture After the 8th century BC, the hieroglyphic script was restricted to religious and accounting purposes. The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. Currently, samples of Urartian written language have survived in many inscriptions found in the area of Urartu kingdom.

Unlike cuneiform inscriptions, the Urartuan hieroglyphic texts have not been successfully deciphered. As a result, scholars disagree as to what language is used in the texts. In mid-1990s, Armenian scientist Artak Movsisyan published a partial attempted deciphering of Urartian hieroglyphs, suggesting that they were written in an early form of Armenian. ^[17]

Debate over spoken language

The linguistic and, therefore, ethnic make-up of Urartu's population has been subject to debate among scholars.

The majority belief states that it was spoken by the royal elite, which ruled over a multi-ethnic, in late Urartian times largely Armenian-speaking population. ^[18] Under this theory, the Armenian-speaking population were the descendants of the proto-Armenians who migrated to the Armenian Highland in ca. The earliest testimony of the Armenian language dates to the 5th century AD (the Bible translation of Mesrob Mashtots) the 7th century BC, mixing with the local Hurrian-speaking population (i. e. the "Phrygian theory," first suggested by Herodotus).

According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the Urartian language, "also called Chaldean or Vannic" was an "ancient language spoken in north-eastern Anatolia" and was "Non-Indo-European in origin. Urartian (also called Vannic, in older literature also "Chaldean" is the conventional name for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom "^[19] Urartian

"is thought to be descended from the same parent language as the older, Hurrian language. Surviving texts of the language are written in a variant script called Neo-Assyrian. "^[20]

Two bilingual inscriptions in Assyrian and Urartian led to the successful decipherment of the Urartian language. ^[21]

A minority belief, advocated primarily by the official historiography of Armenia, suggests that Urartian was solely the formal written language of the state, while its inhabitants, including the royal family, spoke Armenian. The theory primarily hinges on the language the Urartian cuneiform inscriptions being very repetitive and scant in vocabulary (having as little as 350-400 roots). Furthermore, over 250 years of usage, it shows no development, which is taken to indicate that the language had ceased to be spoken before the time of the inscriptions. ^[8] This belief is compatible with the "Armenian hypothesis" suggested by V. The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language Ivanov and T. Gamkrelidze, postulating the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language^[22]

The Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrian (and Urartians), Luvians and the Proto-Armenian Mushki who carried their IE language eastwards across Anatolia. After arriving in its historical territory, Proto-Armenian would appear to have undergone massive influence on part the languages it eventually replaced. Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism. ^[23]

Ethnic Composition

On linguistic grounds (see Hurro-Urartian), the majority of scholars believe that the Urartians were related to the Hurrians. The Hurro-Urartian languages are an extinct Language family of the Ancient Near East, which comprises only two languages Hurrian and The Hurrians (also Khurrites; cuneiform Ḫu-ur-ri 𒄷𒌨𒊑 were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia ^[24] A minority belief states that Urartu was populated and ruled by Armenians^[25][26] (see below for more on the linguistic debate).

Red and dark tuff monument of king Argishtis I riding a chariot with two horses in Yerevan, Armenia in front of the Erebuni Museum

The Urartians were succeeded in the area in the 6th century BC by the Armenians,^[27], who in the belief of some scholars had been present in Anatolia from around 1200 BC, and over the following centuries spread east to the Armenian Highland. Tuff (from the Italian "tufo" is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption Argishtis I ( Urartian: Argištiše, Արգիշտի Argishti was the sixth known king of the ancient country of Urartu (in eastern Anatolia Yerevan (Երևան Երեւան or Երեվան ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn sometimes written as Erevan, Iravan, Erewan, Ayrivan, and Erivan Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black The Armenian Highland (Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye; also known as the Armenian Upland or Armenian Plateau, also referred as Eastern Armenia) ^[28] A competing theory suggested by Thomas Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav V. Ivanov in 1984 places the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Armenian Highland, see Armenian hypothesis, which would entail the presence of (pre-)Proto-Armenians in the area during the entire lifetime of the Urartian state. Tamaz (Thomas V Gamkrelidze ( Georgian თამაზ გამყრელიძე (born October 23, 1929) is a distinguished Georgian Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov (born 21 August 1929 Moscow) is a prominent Soviet / Russian Philologist and Indo-Europeanist probably Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language The earliest testimony of the Armenian language dates to the 5th century AD (the Bible translation of Mesrob Mashtots)

After the disappearance of Urartu as a political entity, the Armenians dominated the highlands, absorbing portions of the previous Urartian culture in the process. ^[29] The Armenians became, thus, the direct succesors of the kingdom of Urartu and inherited their domain.

See also

• Mount Ararat
• Prehistoric Caucasus
• Prehistoric Armenia
• Hurro-Urartian languages
• Urartian language
• List of Kings of Urartu

References

Footnotes

Literature

External links

• Historical Maps of Urartu by WikiMedia Commons
• An Urartian Ozymandias - article by Paul Zimansky, Biblical Archaeologist
• Nairi/Urartu (A very detailed site)
• Urartu Civilization
• Urartu (Greek Ararat)
• Capital and Periphery in the Kingdom of Urartu, Yehuda Dagan, Israel Antiquities Authority