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Kingdom of UrartuBiainili
860 BC–590 BC
Late Urartu under Rusa III and IV (610-590/585 BC).
Capital	Tushpa
Common languages	Urartian
Religion	Polytheism
Government	Monarchy
• 858-844	Arame
• 844-828	Sarduri I
• 828-810	Ishpuini
• 810-785	Menuas
• 785-753	Argishti I
• 753-735	Sarduri II
Historical era	Iron Age
• Established	860 BC
• Disestablished	590 BC

Urartu (natively Biai, Biainili; Assyrian: māt Urarṭu (ma-at U-ra-ar-ṭu), corresponding to Ararat, or Kingdom of Van was an Iron Age kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highland.

Strictly speaking, Urartu is the Assyrian term for a geographical region, while the "kingdom of Urartu" or the "Biainili lands" are the Iron Age state that arose in that region. That a distinction should be made between the geographical and the political entity was already pointed out by König (1955). The landscape corresponds to the mountainous plateau between Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus mountains, later known as the Armenian Highlands. The kingdom rose to power in the mid 9th century BC and was conquered by Media in the early 6th century BC.

Name

v t e Ancient Mesopotamia
Geography	Modern Upper Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Marshes Persian Gulf Syrian Desert Taurus Mountains Tigris–Euphrates river system Euphrates Tigris Zagros Mountains Hamrin Mountains Sinjar Mountains Ancient Fertile Crescent Adiabene Akkad Armani Assyria Babylonia Chaldea Elam Gutium Hamazi Hittites Kassites Media Mitanni Simurrum Subartu Suhum Sumer Tukri Urartu Cities
(Pre)history	Prehistory Acheulean Mousterian Trialetian Zarzian Natufian Nemrik Khiamian Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) Hassuna/Samarra Halaf Ubaid Uruk Jemdet Nasr Kish civilization History Early Dynastic Akkadian Gutians Simurrum Ur III Isin-Larsa Old Babylonian Kassite Middle Babylonian Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Fall of Babylon Achaemenid Seleucid Parthian Roman Sasanian Muslim conquest
Languages	Akkadian Amorite Aramaic Eblaite Elamite Gutian Hittite Hurrian Kassite Luwian Median Middle Persian Old Persian Parthian Proto-Armenian Sutean Sumerian Urartian
Culture/society	Architecture Art Akitu Cuneiform Babylonian astronomy Babylonian mathematics Akkadian literature Economy of Sumer Warfare in Sumer Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire Sumerian cuisine Sumerian literature Music Indus-Mesopotamia relations Egypt-Mesopotamia relations Royal titles List of rulers
Archaeology	Looting Destruction by ISIL Tell
Religion	Ancient Mesopotamian religion Sumerian religion Deities Mesopotamian myths Divination Prayers Ziggurat (Temple)
Academia	Assyriology Assyriologists Hittitology Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Chicago Hittite Dictionary

Part of a series on the
History of Armenia
Prehistory Shulaveri–Shomu culture Kura–Araxes culture Legend of Hayk Trialeti–Vanadzor culture Armani Lchashen–Metsamor culture Hayasa-Azzi Arme–Shupria Mushki Urumu Nairi Confederation Urartu (Kingdom of Van) Etiuni
Antiquity Satrapy of Armenia Armenia Minor Kingdom of Armenia Armenian Empire Roman Armenia Christianization of Armenia Kingdom of Sophene Commagene Byzantine Armenia Sasanian Armenia Muslim conquest of Armenia
Middle Ages Emirate of Armenia Principality of Hamamshen Kingdom of Armenia Kingdom of Vaspurakan Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget Kingdom of Syunik Kingdom of Artsakh Zakarid Armenia Principality of Khachen Mongol Armenia Kingdom of Cilicia
Early modern age Iranian Armenia Five Melikdoms Ottoman Armenia Russian Armenia Armenian Oblast Armenian question Armenian genocide Western Armenia National movement
Modern age First Republic of Armenia Armenian S.S.R. Republic of Mountainous Armenia Contemporary Armenia Republic of Artsakh
Timeline • Origins • Etymology
v t e

The name Urartu comes from Assyrian sources: the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I (1263-1234 BC) recorded a campaign in which he subdued the entire territory of "Uruatri". 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, also spelt Biaineli, (from which is derived the Armenian toponym Վան "Van"), 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. 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 Ashkenaz.

Scholars such as Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt (1910) believed that the people of Urartu called themselves Khaldini after their god Khaldi. The Nairi, an Iron Age people of the Van area, are sometimes considered related or identical.

In the early 6th century BC, the Urartian Kingdom was replaced by the Armenian Orontid dynasty. In the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 521/0 BC by the order of Darius the Great of Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Babylonian is called Arminiya in Old Persian and Harminuia in Elamite.

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.

Geography

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.

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. Archaeological sites within its boundaries include Altintepe, Toprakkale, Patnos and Cavustepe. Urartu fortresses included Erebuni (present day Yerevan city), Van, Argishtihinili, Anzaf, Cavustepe and Başkale, as well as Teishebaini (Karmir Blur, Red Mound) and others.

Discovery

Inspired by the writings of the medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (who had described Urartian works in Van and attributed them to the legendary queen Semiramis), the French scholar Jean Saint-Martin suggested that his government send Friedrich Eduard Schulz, a German professor, to the Van area in 1827 on behalf of the French Oriental Society . 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. A summary account of his initial discoveries was published in 1828. Schulz and four of his servants were murdered by Kurds in 1829 near Baskale. His notes were later recovered and published in Paris in 1840. In 1828, the British Assyriologist Henry Creswicke Rawlinson had attempted to copy the inscription on the Kelishin stele, but failed because of the ice on the stele's front side. The German scholar R. Rosch made a similar attempt a few years later, but he and his party were attacked and killed.

In the late 1840s Sir Austen Henry Layard examined and described the Urartian rock-cut tombs of Van Castle, including the Argishti chamber. 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 excavation 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 dates to the 1870s, with the campaign of Sir Archibald Henry Sayce. The German engineer Karl Sester, discoverer of Mount Nemrut, collected more inscriptions in 1890/1.

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. During World War I, the Lake Van region briefly fell under Russian control. In 1916, the Russian scholars Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr and Iosif Abgarovich Orbeli, excavating at the Van fortress, uncovered a four-faced stele carrying the annals of Sarduri II. In 1939 Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky excavated Karmir-Blur, discovering Teišebai, the city of the god of war, Teišeba. In 1938-40, excavations by the American scholars Kirsopp 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 SS Athenia. Their surviving documents were published by Manfred Korfmann in 1977.

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 Boris 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, a Turkish expedition under Tahsin Özgüç excavated Altintepe and Arif Erzen.

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 Gulf War then closed these sites to archaeological research. Oktay Belli resumed excavation of Urartian sites on Turkish territory: in 1989 Ayanis, 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, many sites have been plundered by local residents searching for treasure and other saleable antiquities.

History

Origins

Assyrian inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (ca. 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. Uruartri itself was in the region around Lake Van. The Nairi states were repeatedly subjected to attacks by the Assyrians, especially under Tukulti-Ninurta I (ca. 1240 BC), Tiglath-Pileser I (ca. 1100 BC), Ashur-bel-kala (ca. 1070 BC), Adad-nirari II (ca. 900), Tukulti-Ninurta II (ca. 890), and Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC).

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. 860-843 BC), whose capital at Arzashkun was captured by Shalmaneser III. 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.

Growth

Sarduri I (ca. 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). 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. His successor Menua (ca. 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. 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.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.

Tiglath Pileser III claimed in his inscriptions to have reduced Urartu in the first year of his reign (745/4). There the Assyrians found horsemen and horses, tamed as colts for riding, that were unequalled in the south, where they were harnessed to Assyrian war-chariots.

Decline and recuperation

In 714 BC, the Urartu kingdom suffered heavily from Cimmerian raids and the campaigns of Sargon II. The main temple at Mushashir was sacked, and the Urartian king Rusa I was defeated by Sargon at Lake Urmia.

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 Ashurbanipal as his "father."

Later period

According to Urartian epigraphy, 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 600s BC (during or after Sardur III's reign), Urartu was invaded by Scythians and their allies—the Medes. 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. 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. Similarly, Strabo (1st c. BC - 1st c AD) wrote that "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 ..."

Medieval 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. 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 or 585 BC. The end of Urartu was violent; many of its fortresses were burned down. According to Herodotus, the Alarodians (Alarodioi)—apparently the Urartian remnants—were part of the 18th Satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire and formed a special contingent in the grand army of Xerxes I. By the late sixth century, the Urartians had certainly been replaced by the Armenians.

Economy and politics

The economic structure of Urartu was similar to other states of the Ancient World, especially to Assyria. The state was heavily dependent on agriculture, which required a centralized effort to irrigation. These works managed by kings, in their implementation participated the free inhabitants, and perhaps the prisoners as slaves. Royal governors, influent people and, perhaps, free peoples have their own allotments. Individual territories within the state had to pay taxes the central government grain, horses, bulls, etc. In peacetime, Urartu probably led an active trade with Assyria, providing there cattle, horses, iron and wine.

Agriculure in Urartu

Part of iron pitchfork , found near Lake Van and Iron plowshare, found during excavations in Rusahinili (Toprakkale).				Urartian grain bruiser

Agriculture and horticulture

According to archaeological data farming on the territory of Urartu began to develop since the Neolithic period, even in the III millennium BC. In Urartian age agriculture was well developed and closely related to the Assyrian on the selection of cultures and ways of processing. From cuneiform sources is known that in Urartu grew wheat, barley, sesame, millet and emmer, and cultivated gardens and vineyards. Many regions of the Urartu state required artificial irrigation, which has successfully been organized by the rulers of Urartu in the heyday of the state. In several regions remain ancient irrigation canals, constructed by Urartu, mainly during the Argishti I and Menua period, some of them are still used for irrigation.

Animal husbandry

Crafts

Religion

With the expansion of Urartian territory, many of the gods worshiped by conquered peoples were incorporated into the Urartian pantheon, as a mean to confirm the annexation of territories and promote political stability. However, although the Urartians incorporated many deities into their pantheon, they appeared to be selective in their choices. Although many different Urartian kings made conquests in the North, such as the Sevan region, many of those peoples' gods remain excluded. This was most likely the case because Urartians considered the people in the North to be barbaric, and disliked their deities as much as they did them. Good examples of incorporated deities however are the goddesses Bagvarti (Bagmashtu) and Selardi. On Mheri-Dur, or Meher-Tur (the "Gate of Mehr"), overlooking modern Van, an inscription lists a total of 79 deities, and what type of sacrificial offerings should be made to each; goats, sheep, cattle, and other animals served as the sacrificial offerings. Urartians did not practice human sacrifice.

The pantheon was headed by a triad made up of Khaldi (the supreme god), Theispas (Teisheba) god of thunder and storms, as well as sometimes war, and Shivini a solar god. Their king was also the chief-priest or envoy of Khaldi. Some temples to Khaldi were part of the royal palace complex while others were independent structures.

Some of the main gods and goddesses include:

• Khaldi
• Teisheba
• Shivini
• Arubani
• Tushpuea
• Bagvarti
• Selardi

Language

Urartian, the language used in the cuneiform inscriptions of Urartu, was an ergative-agglutinative language, which belongs to neither the Semitic nor the Indo-European families but to the Hurro-Urartian family. It survives in many inscriptions found in the area of the Urartu kingdom, written in the Assyrian cuneiform script. There are also claims of autochthonous Urartian hieroglyphs, but this remains uncertain.

The Urartians originally used the locally-developed hieroglyphs (not yet deciphered) but later adapted the Assyrian cuneiform script for most purposes. After the 8th century BC, the hieroglyphic script was restricted to religious and accounting purposes. Examples of Urartian written language have survived in many inscriptions found throughout the area of the Urartu kingdom.

Urartian cuneiform inscriptions are divided into two groups. A minority is written in Akkadian (the official language of Assyria). However, the bulk of the cuneiforms are 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. It had close linguistic similarities to Northeast Caucasian languages. Igor Diakonov even places it in the Alarodian family, based on linguistic similarities with Northeast Caucasian languages. A more distant connection among Urartian and the modern Georgian language and Circassian have been postulated as well.

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 Urartian language is from Armenian—around 70 word-roots. The greatest number of common words with Urartean is in Northeast Caucasian language family. (169 word-roots)

Unlike the cuneiform inscriptions, 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.

Armenian ethnogenesis

The Iron Age Urartian state was the successor of the Late Bronze age Hurrian state of Mitanni, and the Urartian language spoken by the ruling class is the successor of the Hurrian language (see Hurro-Urartian). The Urartian state was in turn succeeded in the area in the 6th century BC by the Orontid Armenian kingdom,. The presence of a Proto-Armenian population in the area already during Urartian rule is subject to speculation: It is generally assumed that Proto-Armenian speakers entered Anatolia from around 1200 BC, ultimately deriving from a Paleo-Balkans context, and over the following centuries spread east to the Armenian Highland. 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 Proto-Armenians in the area during the entire lifetime of the Urartian state.

After the disappearance of Urartu as a political entity, the Armenians dominated the highlands, absorbing portions of the previous Urartian culture in the process. The Armenians became, thus, the direct succesors of the kingdom of Urartu and inherited their domain. Urartu is to Armenians what ancient Britons are to the English, and Gauls are to the French.

While the Urartian language was spoken by the royal elite, the population they ruled may have been multi-ethnic, and in late Urartian times largely (pre-Proto-)Armenian-speaking. Under this theory, the Armenian-speaking population were the descendants of the proto-Armenians who migrated to the Armenian Highland in ca. the 7th century BC, mixing with the local Hurrian-speaking population (i.e. the "Phrygian theory," first suggested by Herodotus).

A minority belief, advocated primarily by the official historiography of Armenia, but also supported by experts in Assyrian and Urartian studies such as Igor Diakonov, Giorgi Melikishvili, Mikhail Nikolsky Ivan Mestchaninov, 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 or was used only for official purposes. This belief is compatible with the "Armenian hypothesis" suggested by Vyacheslav Ivanov and Tamaz Gamkrelidze (1984), postulating the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language.

According to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture:

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.

Urartu has come to play a role in 19th to 20th century Armenian nationalism.

See also

• Nakh-Daghestanian Languages
• Mount Ararat
• Armenia
• Turkey
• Proto-Armenian language
• Hurro-Urartian languages
• List of kings of Urartu

References

Footnotes

1. Paul Zimansky, Urartian material culture as state assemblage, Bulletin of the American Association of Oriental Research 299, 1995, 105.
2. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (2000), ""Van in This World; Paradise in the Next" The Historical Geography of Van/Vaspurakan", in Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.), Armenian Van/Vaspurakan, Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, p. 13, OCLC 44774992
3. Eberhard Schrader, The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament (1885), p. 65.
4. F.W. König, Handbuch der chaldischen Inschriften (1955).
5. Abram Rigg Jr, Horace. "A Note on the Names Armânum and Urartu". Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1937), pp. 416-418.
6. Zimansky, Paul E. Ancient Ararat: A Handbook of Urartian Studies. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1998, p. 28. ISBN 0-8820-6091-0.
7. I. M. Diakonoff, "Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian." Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1985), pp. 597-603
8. Chahin, Mack The Kingdom of Armenia. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2001, pp. 71ff. ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
9. Ararat (WebBible Encyclopedia) - ChristianAnswers.Net
10. Lehmann-Haupt C. F. Armenien, Berlin, B. Behr, 1910—1931
11. Piotrovsky, Boris B. The Ancient Civilization of Urartu. New York: Cowles Book Co., Inc., 1969.
12. Skjaervo, Prods Oktor, "An Introduction to Old Persian", Harvard 2002
13. Lang, David Marshall. Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. London: Allen and Unwin, 1970, p. 114. ISBN 0-0495-6007-7.
14. Redgate, Anna Elizabeth. The Armenians. Cornwall: Blackwell, 1998, pp. 16-19, 23, 25, 26 (map), 30-32, 38, 43 ISBN 0-6312-2037-2.
15. Chahin. The Kingdom of Armenia, p. 105.
16. Lynch, H.F.B.. Armenia, Travels and Studies, Volume 2. London: Longmans, 1901, p. 54.
17. D.D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, (1927, vol II:84), quoted in Robin Lane Fox, Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer (2008:17).
18. Journal of Ancient History 1951, No 3. Pages. 243-244
19. Letter of Ashubanipal to Sarduri III. HABL, № 1242.
20. Xenophon.Cyropedia. 3.7. Translated by Henry Graham Dakyns.
21. Strabo. Geography. 11.3.5.
22. Template:Hy icon Movses Khorenatsi. History of Armenia, 5th Century (Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար). Annotated translation and commentary by Stepan Malkhasyants. Gagik Sarkisyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, 1.21, pp. 100-101. ISBN 5-5400-1192-9.
23. Urartu - Lost Kingdom of Van
24. Urartu civilization - All About Turkey
25. Lang, pp. 112, 117
26. Van de Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. Cornwall: Blackwell, 2006, p. 205. ISBN 1-4051-4911-6.
27. Пиотровский Б.Б. Ванское царство (Урарту) / Орбели И.А.. — Москва: Издательство Восточной литературы, 1959. — 286 с. — 3500 экз.
28. Chahin, Mark (1987). The Kingdom of Armenia. Dorset Press. ISBN 0-88029-609-7. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
29. Piotrovsky, Boris B. (1969). The Ancient Civilization of Urartu: An Archaeological Adventure. Cowles Book Co. ISBN 0214667936. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
30. Sayce, Archibald H. "The Kingdom of Van (Urartu)" in Cambridge Ancient History. vol. ii, p. 172 See also C. F. Lehman-Haupt, Armenien Einst und Jetzt, Berlin, 1931, vol. II, p. 497
31. The Ancient near east. Amelie Kuhrt. ISBN 0-415-01353-4
32. Diakonov Igor M., Starostin S.A. Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Languages. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, R. Kitzinger, München, 1986; Ancient Hurrians
33. The Pre-history of the Armenian People. I. M. Diakonoff
34. Encyclopedia Americana, v. 2, USA 1980, pgs. 539, 541; Hovick Nersessian, "Highlands of Armenia," Los Angeles, 2000.
35. Igor M. Diakonoff, Sergei A. Starostin. "Hurro-Urartian and East Caucasian Languages", Ancient Orient. Ethnocultural Relations. Moscow, 1988, pp. 164-207 http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/hururt.pdf
36. A. Movsisyan, "Hieroglyphics of the Kingdom of Van," Yerevan, 1998
37. Piotrovsky. Ancient Civilization of Urartu p. ?.
38. Diakonov Igor M., Starostin S.A. Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Languages. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, R. Kitzinger, München, 1986; Ancient Hurrians
39. Urartu on Britannica
40. ^ Template:Hy icon Katvalyan, M. and Karo Ghafadaryan. «Ուրարտու» (Urartu). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. xii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, pp. 276-283.
41. Dyakonov, I.M., V.D. Neronova, and I.S. Sventsitskaya. History of the Ancient World. vol. ii, Moscow, 1983.
42. "Armenian origins: An overview of ancient and modern sources and theories", by Thomas J. Samuelian, Iravunq, 2000, 34 p., ASIN: B0006E8NC26; p. 14
43. See Gamkrelidze, Thomas and Vyacheslav Ivanov Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-language and a Proto-culture. New York : M. de Gruyter, 1995.
44. Star Spring Urartu
45. http://books.google.com/books?id=OR_PHoKZ6ycC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=gauls+french+britons+english+chahin+kingdom+of+armenia&source=bl&ots=eX_wmjIMpW&sig=A6kl4bkPWT9iSYoQlRNKeYg_HPY&hl=en&ei=x8ssTO6sN8L88AaLlIHxDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gauls&f=false The Kingdom of Armenia: A History. England : M.Chahin, 2001. pp. 182
46. Róna-Tas, András.Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History. Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999 p. 76 ISBN 9-6391-1648-3.
47. See Gamkrelidze, Thomas and Vyacheslav Ivanov Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-language and a Proto-culture. New York : M. de Gruyter, 1995.
48. “Armenians” in ""Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture or EIEC, edited by J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams, published in 1997 by Fitzroy Dearborn.
49. Anne Elizabeth Redgate, The Armenians, Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 9780521480659, p. 276.

Literature

• Ashkharbek Kalantar, Materials on Armenian and Urartian History (with a contribution by Mirjo Salvini), Civilisations du Proche-Orient: Series 4 - Hors Série, Neuchâtel, Paris, 2004;ISBN 978-2-940032-14-3
• Boris B. Piotrovsky, The Ancient Civilization of Urartu (translated from Russian by James Hogarth), New York:Cowles Book Company, 1969.
• M. Salvini, Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer, Darmstadt 1995.
• R.-B. Wartke, Urartu — Das Reich am Ararat In: Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Bd. 59, Mainz 1993.
• P.E. Zimansky, Ecology and Empire: The Structure of the Urartian State, , Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1985.
• P.E. Zimansky, Ancient Ararat. A Handbook of Urartian Studies, New York 1998.

External links

• Livius History of Urartu/Armenia
• Historical Maps of Urartu at WikiMedia Commons
• An Urartian Ozymandias - article by Paul Zimansky, Biblical Archaeologist
• Urartu Civilization
• Urartu (Greek Ararat)
• Capital and Periphery in the Kingdom of Urartu, Yehuda Dagan, Israel Antiquities Authority

v t e Armenia articles
History  (timeline)	Early Origins Name Shulaveri–Shomu culture Kura–Araxes culture Hayk Hayasa-Azzi Mitanni Nairi Mushki Urumeans Diauehi Etiuni Kingdom of Urartu Median kingdom Orontid dynasty Achaemenid Empire Satrapy of Armenia Kingdom of Armenia Roman Armenia Parthian Empire Byzantine Armenia Sasanian Armenia Middle Arminiya Sajids Bagratid Armenia Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia Sallarids Ilkhanate Chobanids Aq Qoyunlu Kara Koyunlu Ottoman Armenia 1508–1828 Iranian Armenia Safavid Iran Afsharid Iran Qajar Iran Erivan Khanate Karabakh Khanate Treaty of Turkmenchay Russian Armenia Modern First Republic of Armenia Soviet Armenia Independent Armenia By topic Armenian genocide Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Armenian national movement more...
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v t e Urartu topics
Language	Proto-Armenian Hurro-Urartian languages Kelashin Stele Cuneiform script Anatolian Hieroglyphs
Kings	Aramu Lutipri Sarduri I Ishpuini Argishti I Sarduri II Rusa I Argishti II Rusa II Sarduri III Erimena Rusa III Sarduri IV Rusa IV
Cities and Fortresses	Argistinikhili Arzashkun Altıntepe Bastam Erebuni Haykaberd Horom Kelashin Musasir Rusahinili Sugunia Teishebaini Teyseba Tushpa Van
Mythology	Artinis Bagvarti Khaldi Selardi Siwini Theispas

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• Urartu
• Prehistoric Armenia
• Archaeology of Armenia
• Archaeological sites in Armenia
• Iron Age Anatolia