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Urartu was an ancient kingdom in Asia Minor, centered in the region around Lake Van (presently in Turkey), which existed from about 1000 BC or earlier until 585 BC, and at its apogee stretched from northern Mesopotamia through southern Caucasus.

The name Urartru is Assyrian, and may have meant simply "mountain country"; the kingdom was called Biainili by its inhabitants. The name Urartru apparently corresponds to the Ararat of the Old Testament. Indeed, Mount Ararat is located in the ancient Urartu territory, about 120 km North of its capital.

History

Assyrian inscriptions from about 1250 BC mention a loose confederation called the Uruartri or Nairi in North-East Anatolia, in the region around Lake Van. These towns or tribes became a unified kingdom between 860 BC and 830 BC, under king Aramu or his son Sardur I.

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 almost to the shores of the Black Sea; west to the sources of the Euphrates; east to present-day Tabriz, Lake Urmin, and beyond; and south to the sources of the Tigris. Its capital was the ancient city of Tushpa, modern Van, on the shore of Lake Van.

The Uruatu kingdom suffered heavily from Cimmerian raids and from the campaigns of the Assyrian kings, notably Shalmaneser I, Shalmaneser III and Sargon II. The main temple at Mushashir was sacked and the Urartan king Rusas was defeated by Sargon at Lake Urmin in 714 BC. The kingdom of Urartu was destroyed by the Scythians from the North, in 585 BC. The region was eventually occupied by the Armenians.

Uratu archaological sites include Altintepe, Toprakkale, Patnos and Cavustepe. Urartu fortresses are found Van, Anzaf, Cavustepe and Baskale.

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. They were also experts in metalworking, and exported metal vessels to Phrygia and Etruria. 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. Some Khaldi temples were part of the royal palace complex, others were independent structures. Other deities included Teisiba, god of the heavens (the Teshub of the Hittites and Khurits), and Siwini, the sun goddess.

Language

The Urartians spoke an agglutinative language, conventionally called Urartian, which was related to Hurrian in the Hurro-Urartian family, and was neither Semitic nor Indo-European. It was written in the Assyrian cuneiform script.

See also

• languages of the Caucasus
• List of Kings of Urartu
• Caucasian peoples

Literature

• Giorgi Melikishvili, Nairi-Urartu (a monograph in Russian). Tbilisi (1955).
• Giorgi Melikishvili, About the history of ancient Georgia (a monograph in Russian). Tbilisi (1959).
• R.-B. Wartke, Urartu, das Reich am Ararat (in German). Mainz, Zabern (1993).

External links

• Nairi/Urartu (A very detailed site)
• Urartu Civilization
• Urartu (Greek Ararat)