The Urartians in Turkey (860 – 580 BC)

This article is one in the Cultural History of Turkey series. For the description of any cultures or tribes please read that article.

According to one view the Urartians were the descendants of the Hurrians. Another view, however, is that although the Hurrian and Urartian languages came from the same root they branched as early as 3000 BC. Apart from the linguistic connection and the fact that the Urartians occupying the same territory 500 years later, there does not seem to be any relationship between the Hurrians and Urartians.The Urartians were mentioned the first time in the Assyrian records as Uruatri in 1273 BC. Living as a number of independent peoples till then, they united and founded a new kingdom against the Assyrian threat around southeast of Lake Van circa 860 BC. They reached to the Euphrates in the west, to Lake Urmia in the east, and to the Transcaucasia in the north.

The capital of the Urartian kingdom, Tushpa, was located on the eastern shores of Lake Van. The first prominent king of the Urartians was Sarduri. However, the kingdom reached to its peak power during the reign of the kings Menua and Argisti. The Urartians together with the Late Hittites were controlling most of the important cities around the eastern Mediterranean region, preventing the Assyrians reaching to the sea, and dominating the sea trade with the Hellene merchants. The Assyrians on the other hand were controlling the highly prized trade routes between Anatolia and northern Syria. The hostility based on the economic and territorial interests between the Urartians and Assyrians led to the military conflicts. In these conflicts the Urartians seemed to be mostly the victims, whereas the Assyrians were the aggressors. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III drew the Urartians from northern Syria in 743 BC and another Assyrian king, Sargon II took the territories around the Lake Urmia in 713 BC. These attacks by the Assyrians left the Urartians very weakened and reduced in size but they survived. However, the fatal attacks came not from the south though it came from the north, from other peoples, namely the Medes and Scythians. The Urartian kingdom disappeared circa 585 BC when the Medes created a strong kingdom in the same region. Some other texts suggest that the Urartian kingdom disappeared circa 612 B.C after the Scythian attack.

The Urartian government was theocratic and centralized. It appointed rulers in the provinces and vassal states. The states peripheral to the Urartian kingdom was partially independent. However, during the wars they had to contribute to the kingdom’s army with soldiers. The Urartians had a powerful army with chariots, cavalry, and infantry.

The Urartian kings (in chronological order)

  • Aramu (c 850-840 BC)
  • Sarduri I (840-830 BC)
  • Ishpuinis (830-810 BC)
  • Menua (810-786 BC)
  • Argisti (786-764 BC)
  • Sarduri II (764-735 BC)
  • Rusa I (735-714 BC)
  • Argisti II (714-685 BC)
  • Rusa II (685-645 BC)
  • Sarduri III (645-635 BC)
  • Erimena (635-625 BC)
  • Rusa III, (625-609 BC)
  • Sarduri IV.
  • Rusa IV.

The Urartians learned much from their developed and powerful southern neighbor: the Assyrians. This was reflected in their writings. They first used the Assyrian language and cuneiform script. Later though they used mostly their own language. In addition to cuneiform they used a script similar to the Hittite hieroglyphs. Being bi-lingual in writing helped the archaeologists of our times. Their language was deciphered from the two unearthed tablets written in the Assyrian-Urartian languages. The Urartians were using fired-mud slabs to communicate for trade and other affairs. However, a few written tablets were found. The Urartians mostly wrote on stones, papyrus, skin, and wood. Most of the inscriptions were on the stones of the walls of the structures they had built. These inscriptions were about military campaigns, religious rituals, and name of the deities in the Urartian pantheon.

They had a multi-tiered god hierarchy. Their top-tier gods were the national god Haldi, the sky god Teseba, and sun goddess shivini3. Most important of three was the national god Haldi. The Urartian kings performed most of the government affairs in the name of the god Haldi. After these top-tiered gods the Urartians had second-tier gods. The records mention some 69 gods and goddesses, including Khutini, Turani, Ua, Nalaini, Shebitu, and Anapsha. The number of animals they sacrificed depended on the importance of the gods. They built temples for them and put the statue of the gods in these temples.

From the inscriptions unearthed in the Assyrian and Urartian lands it is known that the Urartians were very accomplished society. Although they lived in a very mountainous place and in a harsh climate they adapted very well to their environment. They showed their architectural and engineering prowess in the castles, palaces, and temples they built and their fine artistic skills in beautiful wall drawings and paintings and bronze statuettes they created. It is also known from the Assyrian records that they created dams and artificial lakes, drained swamps, and built irrigation canals. The Urartians excelled in metallurgy, in the glyptic art, and the ivory carving. Excavations unearthed various artifacts, such as furniture components, lion statuettes, ceramic pottery4, and bronze crucibles on tripods. Masks, seals, earrings, necklaces, pins, bracelets, vases, and incense burners were also among the found items, in addition to the warfare tools, such as bronze helmets with cuneiform inscription, belts, arrows, spears, shields, quivers, and weapon harnesses.

Sources

  1. “The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,” Prepared by the members of staff at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey.
  2. Akurgal, Ekrem, “Anadolu Kültür Tarihi,” TÜBİTAK Popüler Bilim Kitaplari, April 2008, ISBN 978-975-403-107-2
  3. Wilhelm, Gernot, “The Hurrians,” translated from German by Jennifer Barnes with a chapter by Diana L. Stein, printed and published in England by Aris & Phillips Ltd, Teddington House, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 8PQ, England.
  4. Hunter, Erica, “Anatolia before the Greeks,” University of Cambridge.
  5. Sander, Oral, “The Complexity of the Process of Civilization,” Ancient Anatolia as a Case in Point, The Turkish Yearbook [vol. XVII], Dergiler, Ankara.
  6. Heilbrunn, Timeline of Art History, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  7. Başgelen, Nezih, Anatolian Civilizations, Van Kalesi’nin kahraman krallar, Archaeologist/Editor, May-June 2005, Seramik Türkiye.
  8. Istvan, Kadar, “Urartu, Emlekek Memorabilia,” Puski copyright © Borosjenoi, San Francisco, 1996, Puski Kiado Kft., Budapest I., Logodi u. 1012. Phone 201-4444, Responsible Editor: Dr. Puski Sandor, Puski Konyveshaz, Budapest I., Krisztina Boulevard 26th, 1013 Phone 175-7763 ISBM 963 9040 00 2, Printing and binding: A Gyomai Kner Printing House, Manager: Lajos Papp.

This article is one in the Cultural History of Turkey series. For the description of any cultures or tribes please read that article.