Historical meaning Urartu The Urartian state played a role in the formation of the peoples of Transcaucasia and the Armenian Highlands and their states main role. It is known that the kingdom of Urartu itself was an association that included ethnically heterogeneous

Urartu was one of the most powerful states Ancient world. In the 6th century BC it ceased to exist. However, some Armenians still consider themselves descendants of the Urartians.

On the Armenian Highlands

Urartu is an ancient state in South-West Asia, located on the territory of the Armenian Highlands. Urartu as a tribal union took shape already in the 13th century BC; mention of Urartu as a state is found in sources from the 8th century. For an entire quarter of the 1st millennium, Urartu was a significant force on the geopolitical map of the Ancient World. But, having experienced its heyday in the 9th-mid-8th centuries BC, by the 6th century BC the state had fallen into decline. It was caused by both external and internal factors.

Who are the Urartians

One might say, there was no such people as the Urartians. Throughout its history, the population of Urartu has been an intertribal community. The fragmentation of Urartian society was one of the reasons for the decline of Urartu as a state.
Currently, there is controversy in scientific circles about the succession of Armenia from Urartu. Urartu as a state, as we have already written, came to an end in the 6th century BC, at which time the ethnogenesis of the Armenians was only in the final stage of development.

Even in the 5th century BC, the population of the Armenian Highlands was heterogeneous and consisted of remnants of the Urartians, Proto-Armenians, Hurrians, Semites, Hittites and Luwians. Note that the Urartians are on this list, but there are also other peoples in it.

Undoubtedly, the genetic component of the Urartians is still present in genetic code Armenians, but no more than the genetic component of the same Hurrians and Luwians, not to mention the proto-Armenians. The connection between the Armenians and the Urartians is evidenced by borrowings taken by the Armenian language from the Urartian and Hurrian dialects. It must also be recognized that the Armenians also experienced the cultural influence of the once powerful state.

Language of Urartu

The language of Urartu was not homogeneous and was used ruling dynasty. All found sources of Urartian writing tell about kings and their glorious exploits. Linguists see a connection between both the Urartian and Hurrian languages, and also talk about the influence of the Assyrian language on Urartian. Many Urartu ideograms repeat Assyrian ones, but have retained fewer interpretations of each symbol. Also, the Urartian language differs from the Assyrian language in some vowels, which indicates the originality of the articulation of the Urartian language.

Religion

The religion of Urartu was a polytheistic religion with a developed pantheon of gods, typical of the Middle Eastern despotic states of the Ancient World. The list of gods consists of 70 positions.

The supreme god in the pantheon was the god Khaldi. This was the only god of Urartian origin. The etymology of his name is not fully understood. There are versions that the name Khaldi is connected with the word “-hal” (sky) that still exists in some Caucasian languages, so “Khaldi” can be translated as “heavenly”.
The second god of the pantheon - Teisheba - was the god of thunder and war, the god Shivini - the god of the sun.

The gods of Urartu, like the gods of any ancient pantheistic pantheon, can hardly be called merciful and tolerant. Sacrifice, including human sacrifice, was common in Urartu. However, researchers note the relative tolerance of the Urartian religion, associated with the multi-tribal nature of the Urartian population.

Urartu and its enemies

Urartu's main enemy was Assyria. The struggle for hegemony in the Middle East continued throughout the history of Urartu. Urartu borrowed a lot from the Assyrians, including elements of military uniforms and weapons characteristic of the Assyrians. In open clashes, the army of Urartu lost to the Assyrians, partly due to this is the widespread development of defensive architecture in the state.

The army of Urartu was regular, wars, both defensive and expansionary, were ongoing. At the same time, the rulers of Urartu took a direct part not only in battles, but also in military tournaments held in Urartu. The army of Urartu was large enough to ensure its interests (in best years). Thus, the army of King Ishpuini consisted of 100 chariots, 10 thousand horse soldiers and 3 thousand foot soldiers.

The 6th century BC was a crisis for both Assyria and Urartu. Urartu was attacked by the Scythians and Cimmerians from the north, and from the southeast by the Medes. Under their onslaught, the state began to disintegrate, its capital moved to the Transcaucasian city of Teishebaini. From the moment of the destruction of Teishebaina, the history of Urartu as a state can be considered complete. On the topic of who destroyed this city, historians still do not have an accurate idea. The honor of burying the glory of Urartu is shared by the Scythians, Cimmerians, Medes and Babylonians.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Formation of the state of Urartu

1 Country “Nairi”

2 Strengthening the state of Urartu

3 Urartu is a powerful state in Western Asia

Chapter 2. Urartu and neighboring states

1 Political confrontations between Urartu and Assyria

2.2 Medes and the collapse of Urartu

Chapter 3. Culture, economy and state, state structure of Urartu.”

1 Social order

2 Political system.

3 Economy of Urartu.

4 Construction in Urartu.

5 Cuneiform.

6 Religion in Urartu

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of our course work is to examine the formation and further existence of the state of Urartu. The relevance of my work is due to my personal interest in who and how the predecessors of my people lived. We will look at several stages of the existence of the state, from formation, the country of “Nairi” IX century BC, to the collapse of the state VI BC.

Weakening and collapse of the Hittite kingdom by the end of the 12th century BC. weakened external pressure from the west, and the process of state formation in the western part of the Armenian Highlands slowed down significantly. However, at the same time, pressure from the south, from Assyria, increased. Assyrian kings often invaded the southern regions of the Armenian Highlands to capture slaves and material assets. The aggressive policy of Assyria objectively contributed to the acceleration of the process of consolidation of forces and formation of the state. The “kingdoms” of Nairi, Shubria, and Uruatri, located in the southern part of the Armenian Highlands, suffered most from the invasions of the Assyrian kings. Naturally, this is where the most favorable conditions for the consolidation of forces and the formation of a unified Armenian state.

The merger process was led by kingdom Biayna, who managed to unite others kingdoms Armenian Highlands in the fight against a common enemy. According to Assyrian sources, by the end of 860 BC. A united state arose, the territory of which covered the southern and western coasts of Lake Van.

In my work, I focus on the kings who ruled the country, from Aram I to Rusa II, on their state activities. It is impossible to talk about Urartu without touching on Ancient Assyria. Throughout its existence, Urartu fought with Assyrian troops for territory, of course, there were other enemies, but the Assyrians from time immemorial have been the main opponents of the Urartian state.

Also in our work we will talk about writing, religion, construction and the economy of the state of Urartu.

Also in our work we will give a couple of examples that prove that Urartu is an Armenian state.

Chapter 1. “Formation of the state of Urartu”

1 "Country of Nairi"

The name “Urartu” became widespread in the works of scientists of the 19th century, when large-scale excavations were carried out on the territory of ancient Assyria, Assyrian cuneiform texts were deciphered and read. Only at the beginning of the 20th century were the cuneiform inscriptions left by the kings of Urartu collected, studied and translated, and the name “Biaina” was read for the first time. In their inscriptions, the Urartian kings called their state "Biaina", while Assyrian sources called the country "Urartu". In the Bible, Urartu is referred to as “the country of Ararat”.

Urartu was first mentioned in the cuneiform writings of King Salmonazar I (reigned 1280<#"justify">According to the source of Assyrian cuneiforms and the teachings of Movses Khorenatsi, the first king of Urartu was Aram I, who ruled at the beginning of the 9th century BC. Urartu was located around Lake Van (Nairi). During the reign of Aram I, the Assyrian king Salmonazar III made several attempts to conquer the territory of Urartu (859, 857 and 845 BC), but they were unsuccessful. In his cuneiform writings, Salmonazar III boasted that he had ravaged almost everything on the territory of Urartu, but none of the sources mentions that he captured the capital of Urartu - Van (Tushpa), and this indicates that the Assyrians always received a worthy rebuff from the army of Aram .

The image of Aram can be characterized based on the teachings of Movses Khorenatsi; in his work “History of Armenia” he writes: “Aram accomplished many feats in victorious battles. He also expanded the borders of Urartu from all sides.” Also, Khorenatsi, based on the teachings of Mar Abas, writes:

“King Aram I was very hardworking. He was a patriot of his homeland. He believed that it was better to die for his homeland than to see “outsiders” take over his land.”

1.2 “Strengthening the state of Urartu”

The heyday of the state of Urartu was during the reign of Sarduri I (845-825 BC) and his son Ishpuin.

Three cuneiform writings of Sarduri I have been preserved near Lake Van. It was during the reign of Sarduri I that the first cuneiform writings appeared in Urartu. They were in Akkadian. On one of them it was written: “This was written by Sarduri I, the Great King, the King of the country of Nairi, that King who has no equal, who is not afraid of wars, the King who collects tribute from all kings.”

King Ishpuin (also referred to as Ushpina in Assyrian cuneiform) (825-810 BC) during his reign there were internal wars in Assyria, this contributed to the fact that peace reigned in Urartu, so he became famous for what he did construction. The main legacy of Ishpuin was the city of Musasir - the religious center of Urartu, which was located south of Lake Urmia.

Ishpuina passed on his throne to his young son Menua, but he remained the king's chief adviser.

Father and son in the city of Van, on a rock called the Mher Gate, left a cuneiform writing in which they listed all the gods worshiped by the inhabitants of Urartu. This cuneiform is the main source about the Urartian gods.

1.3 "Urartu - a powerful state in Western Asia"

Urartu Assyria state Armenian

After the death of Ishpuin, Menua ruled Urartu for another 24 years (810-786 BC). During the reign of Menua, more than a hundred cuneiform scripts were written, which tell how he expanded the borders of his state, and how construction developed in Urartu.

King Menua undertook a series of campaigns that expanded the border of Urartu. As a result of these campaigns, he captured the countries of Manu, Pushta and Parsua. Also, during his campaigns, he expanded the borders in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates River. He was also the first to reach the Araks River, thereby opening the Ararat Valley to the Urartian people. On the slope of Mount Ararat he built the city of Menukhinili.

Behind long years During his reign, Menua maintained good relations with Assyria. The cuneiform records mention only two battles that took place far from the capital Urartu

The absence of confrontations with Assyria allowed Menua to focus on construction within the country. Menua's most famous structure is a canal 80 kilometers long, 4.5 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. Fourteen cuneiforms were placed along the sides of the canal. The canal provided water to the city of Van (Tushpa). The people of Urartu called the canal the River of Semiramis (Shamirama). Movses Khorenatsi says that Queen Semiramis herself participated in the construction of the canal.

After his death, Menua left an heir, Argishta I (786-760 BC). During his reign, Argishty I successfully repelled the attacks of the Assyrians. Argishty I undertook a number of successful campaigns against the country of Manu, thereby expanding the borders of Urartu. Having annexed the Arart Valley to his state, he built the city of Argishtikhinili there.<#"justify">In the 7th century BC. A tribal union of the Medes was formed. With the capital of Ecbothan. Led by their ruler Kashtariti, the Medes rebelled and gained independence from the Assyrians in 673 BC. Allied with Babylon, the Medes conquer Assyria in 612 BC. The battles continued until 605 BC. After the collapse of Assyria, their entire territory was divided between the Medes and Babylon.

At the end of the 7th century BC. Urartu had difficulty fighting off the invasions of the Scythian and Cimmerian tribes. The territory of Urartu gradually shrank, and those under control ceased to submit to the central government. kings and tribes. The power of the Urartian kings extended only to the territory adjacent to Lake Van from the east.

In one of the Babylonian chronicles there is a mention that in 610 the Medes conquered Urartu, but the Bible mentions that Urartu still existed until the 90s of the 6th century, the last king of the Great State of Urartu was Rusa III.

Chapter 3. “Culture, economy and state government structure of Urartu

1. "Social order"

The largest slave owner in Urartu was the king. He had supreme ownership of the land. Slaves worked on his lands, most of whom were prisoners. As a result of successful wars, entire peoples moved to the royal lands. So, in the carved on stone slab In the inscriptions of King Sardur we read that in one year he captured and drove away from other countries 12,750 youths, 46,600 women, 12,000 warriors, 2,500 horses, and many other livestock. The king owned palaces with untold riches, a huge number of livestock, gardens, and vineyards. Captured artisans worked for him. The slave-owning class also included members of the royal family, priests, regional rulers, and military nobility, who owned large farms based on the labor of slaves.

Priests formed a significant and influential part of the slave-owning class. A large number of temples were built in the country, possessing enormous wealth. The temples had their own farm, where slaves worked. The priests carried out the ideological function of the state. As a result of successful military campaigns, the kings donated part of the spoils to temples.

The bulk of those exploited were slaves. Their labor was widely used in the construction of irrigation structures, water pipelines, fortresses, palaces of the nobility, temples, roads, outbuildings king and other slave owners. The main source of slavery was captivity. For this purpose, military campaigns were carried out in neighboring countries. Most of the slaves were appropriated by the king and the slave-owning nobility. Only a small part of them fell to ordinary soldiers. Slaves were a completely powerless part of the population. They were brutally exploited. Sources indicate such a form of slave protest as mass escapes.

The bulk of the free population were peasant farmers. They were united into rural communities. Communal peasants paid taxes and carried out various duties. They were involved in the construction of irrigation systems, roads, performing military service, and supplying horses for the tsarist army.

In the cities lived merchants and artisans who were famous for processing iron, copper, precious metals, stone, and wood. Most of the artisans apparently belonged to slaves. Some of the farmers also lived in the cities, who cultivated the king’s land and were on state support, without having their own farm. In the fortified cities, which were administrative centers, officials of the local apparatus also lived and garrisons were stationed.

3.2 "Government system"

The slave state of Urartu was a monarchy. At its head was the king, who owned the supreme, temporal and spiritual power. The center of government was the royal court, where the main positions were occupied by members of the royal family. Urartu, like other countries of the Ancient East, was characterized by the presence of three departments: the financial or department for the robbery of its own people, the military, or the department for the robbery of neighboring peoples, and the department of public works.

Extensive irrigation work was carried out in Urartu, without which it was impossible to manage the economy. An important link in the state apparatus was the armed forces needed to repel the attacks of Assyria, Scythians, Cimmerians, to conquer and rob other peoples, to keep exploited slaves and communal peasants in obedience. The army consisted of permanent royal detachments, and in the case of a military campaign, also of detachments brought by the rulers of the regions, and militias. At that time, the army was well organized: there were war chariots, cavalry, foot troops of archers, and spearmen. As written Assyrian sources testify, in Urartu there were areas where horses were specially raised and trained for cavalry.

The local government apparatus at that time was clearly organized. The entire territory of Urartu was divided into regions headed by regional commanders appointed by the king. They had military, administrative, financial, and judicial powers. The administrative center of the region was in the fortified city. In their area, the rulers essentially had unlimited power, which in some cases led to protests against the king, especially when he suffered a military defeat. In an effort to limit the power of regional rulers, Tsar Rusa I disaggregated the regions.

3.3 "Economy of Urartu"

In Urartu, the main productive force was agriculture and cattle breeding. The construction of canals contributed to the development of agriculture, in addition to the Menua canal, a 25-meter water canal was laid out not far from the capital, which was called the Rusa I water canal. The water canal has still been preserved, not far from modern Yerevan, which supplies water to the Ararat Valley from the Rzdan River through a tunnel. Gardening and viticulture flourished.

In the mountainous areas, the bulk of the population was engaged in cattle breeding.

Craftsmen have achieved great success. During excavations in Urartian fortresses and cities, military weapons, jewelry, dishes made of bronze, iron, silver, gold, various types of stones, clay, bone and other materials made by Urartian craftsmen were found. Pieces of clothing and carpets made of wool, fiber and animal skin were also found.

3.4 “Construction in Urartu”

The Urartian kingdom left a rich cultural heritage. Urban planning has reached a high level of development. Fortress cities were built, becoming administrative and military-political centers of the region, region, district. The fortress city had a citadel where the regional commander lived. Here, in huge clay containers with a capacity of more than 1000 liters, large reserves of food for military and government needs were stored. The city itself, in which ordinary people lived, spread around the citadel. Many fortresses of that period have been excavated on the territory of the Republic of Armenia - Erebuni, Teishebaini, Argishtikhinili, etc.

In construction, stone, clay, and less often brick were mainly used. The architecture of the palaces and houses was simple, the buildings were one-story, the roofs were made of wood, reeds and covered with clay. The inside of the living quarters was decorated with frescoes and wall paintings; stone sculptures of gods and mythical animals were placed at the entrance. Hewn stones were used in the construction of temples. On a stele found in the palace of the Assyrian king Sargon II, an image of the capture and plunder of the sanctuary of the god Khaldi in Musasir was preserved. The architectural structure of the temple resembled the famous Hellenistic temple of Garni.

3.5 "Cuneiform"

We learn a lot about the history and culture of Urartu from the cuneiform inscriptions of the Urartian kings. The inscriptions of the Assyrian kings were also written in cuneiform. Urartu quickly mastered Assyrian cuneiform and adapted it to their language.

The language of the Urartian inscriptions is not Indo-European, but the so-called Urartian. It has long been deciphered, all the inscriptions have been read. This language was probably spoken by the ruling elite, the population of the Biaynili region, lying east of Lake Van. After the formation of the united state, this language became the official state language of the Urartian kingdom. Construction inscriptions were made on it, letters were written. But on the vast territory of the state, which united numerous state entities and tribal unions of the Armenian Highlands, the spoken language was Indo-European Armenian. These languages ​​existed in parallel. They contain many borrowed words, which indicates long-term contact and interpenetration of these languages. After the fall of the Urartian kingdom, the Urartian language ceased to be the official state language, its writing was forgotten, its speakers were completely assimilated and absorbed by the Indo-European majority of the population of the Armenian Highlands. The non-Indo-European population fully participated in the completion of the process of formation of the Armenian people and language.

3.6 "Religion of Urartu"

In religion, the state religion was paganism. There were more than a hundred gods in the Urartian pantheon. They are listed in the cuneiform "Door of Mher", which was written during the reigns of Ishpuin and Menua. For each god it is written how many sacrifices must be made. Most of all was required for the god Khaldi, who was the patron of kings. The second and third places were occupied by the War God Teishebaini and the Sun God Shivini. After them came their wives and other deities.

Among the Urartian gods there were also Gods of rivers, lakes and mountains.

Apparently, there were legends about this Gods that have not reached us, but their traces have been preserved in ancient legends Armenian people.

Conclusion

In his course work we examined the features of the development of the ancient powerful state of Urartu, located on the Armenian Highlands. Having studied the history of Urartu, we found out how difficult the fate of this state was; from the very beginning of the state’s emergence, it fought for territory with the mighty Assyria. But in the end the state fell at the hands of the Medes.

Who can call themselves the ancestors of the Urartians? Undoubtedly, the state in question was multinational, but the bulk of the population were Armenians.

This proves several facts, which we present below:

)Two brothers rebel against their father, the Assyrian king, kill him, and find refuge in Urartu (Assyrian sources). The Fourth Book of Kings of the Old Testament contains the same events, only it says that they fled to the state of Ararat.

2)The Armenian epic “Sasuntsi David” describes the same events and says that the brothers fled to Sasun (southwest of the Armenian Highlands)

)Movses Khorenatsi, describing these events, writes ...they came to us

)In the 6th century BC. The kingdom of Akhimineta was created, which left us evidence in three languages: Akkadian, Elamite and Old Elmite and Elamite. The Persians call the territory Armenia-Armina. In some places the same territory is indicated as Uruatri (Akkadian), Bianstron inscription (Darius I). Urartu and Ararat are the same word; Ararat appeared earlier from them.

)Professor Meshantsev says that the main deity of the Urartians is Khaldi, this is the same Armenian god Hayk.

Bibliography

1.Melik Bashkhyan: “History of the Armenian people” 1988

2.Khachikyan. A. E: “History of Armenia” (Brief essay). Second edition, additional. Yerevan 2009

.Chobanyan P: “History of Armenia” 2004

.Sargsyan G: “History of Armenia” 1993

.Chistyakov I.O: “History of the domestic state and law.” part one 2007

.Novoseltsev, A.P.: “The most ancient states on the territory of the USSR.” 1985

.Barkhudaryan V.B: “History of Armenia.” 2000

.Harutyunyan N.V. “Biainili - Urartu. Military-political history and issues of toponymy." St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2006.

9.Piotrovsky B.B. "Kingdom of Van (Urartu)". Moscow: Publishing House of Eastern Literature, 1959.

Melikishvili G.A. "Urartian wedge-shaped inscriptions". Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1960

Bagrat Ugubabyan. "Collection of conversations. Yerevan" 1991

R. Ishkhanyan. Illustrated History of Armenia. Book 1. Yerevan 1990

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Forgotten State: Urartu

The fate of the ancient state of Urartu had a significant impact on the formation of many Caucasian cultures, especially Armenian. The name “Urartu” (presumably means “high country”) was given to the state by the Assyrians back in the 10th-9th centuries. BC. In those days, after the collapse of the powerful Hittite kingdom, Assyria sought to expand the degree of its influence on the tribes of the Armenian Highlands to the north of its territory. The southern tribes of the highlands suffered the most from the aggressive raids of the Assyrians. Therefore, the process of uniting tribes against Assyrian aggression began in the south of the Armenian Highlands. According to the chronicles of Assyria in 860 BC. The process of forming a union state was completed, covering the lands south and west of Lake Van. The association was led by the Biayni tribe. Subsequently, the people of Urartu began to call their country after this tribe. Historians of the present time prefer to call this state the Kingdom of Van.

Chronicle sources of knowledge about Urartu

Uninformative brief inscriptions in cuneiform of the Urartians themselves give an idea mainly about the political life in the country. The most important among them are the Khorkhor chronicle of King Argishti I and the inscription of Sarduri II. The first mentions the military campaigns of the ruler Argishti against Assyria, the second mentions the victorious campaigns of Sarduri, the son of Argishti. The reign of Sarduri II dates back to the 8th century. BC, when Urartu finally defeated Assyria and entered its era of prosperity. Cuneiform writings from the times of kings Ishpuin and Menua (9-8 centuries BC) report successful wars with neighboring tribes and the expansion of the state’s borders to the south from Lake Urmia and north to the Araks River.
The rest of the Urartian ancient sources contain only references to the construction of important state objects (palaces, hydraulic structures, fortresses, temples), and very rarely - account records and religious inscriptions.
Assyrian chronicles occupy a special place in the study of the history of Urartu. With their help, it was possible to compile an approximate chronology of historical events of the Biayni state. The earliest mention of Urartu was recorded in the chronicle of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I in the 13th century. BC. It tells about the numerous predatory raids of the Assyrians on the tribes of the Armenian Highlands, which were not yet united. From the cuneiform writing of King Shalmaneser III it follows that the first ruler of Urartu was Aram I, who successfully repulsed the aggressive offensives of Assyria. As a result, the Assyrians plundered almost the entire territory of the kingdom of Biayni, but their capital, Tushpa, was never captured and robbed.
Information about the events of the late 8th century that is most important for the history of Urartu. BC. contained in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king Sargon II. It is only thanks to them that historians today know about the great military campaign of 714 BC, when the Assyrians captured and destroyed the religious center of the state of Urartu - Masusir.
After the collapse of Assyria in the 7th century. BC. the state of Urartu repels the raids of the Scythians and Cimmerians with heavy losses and last time mentioned in the Babylonian Chronicles in 612 BC. in connection with the capture of the remaining territories of the Urartians by the Medes.

Social and economic life of Urartu

Cattle breeding and agriculture occupied a special place in the Urartian economy. They bred special breeds of horses and cultivated large areas of land for wheat, millet and barley. Artificial canals were used to irrigate crop areas. Most of them have survived to this day. For example, a canal from the Hrazdan River still irrigates the lands of the Ararat Valley. Viticulture and gardening were quite widely developed.
All types of handicrafts flourished in the state. Household items, jewelry, weapons, jewelry made of precious metals, bones, stones and clay, found in ancient Urartian buildings and cities, indicate a fairly high technology for processing product materials.
Construction in Urartu was a developed industry. The Urartian fortresses are particularly well thought out, reaching 20 meters in height in some areas. In the lower part, the walls of the fortresses were rarely thinner than one meter. Raw bricks and stone blocks were mainly used in construction.
Residential buildings in their own way architectural style were primitive - one-story buildings with wooden roofs covered with clay. The interior of the premises was decorated with wall paintings and frescoes. The temples were built from carefully crafted stones and resembled Hellenistic religious buildings.
The state of Urartu had a slave-owning system, where the largest slave owner was the king. Thanks to military campaigns, according to the chronicles of the Urartians, the lands were populated by thousands of captive slaves. It happened that captured peoples were completely resettled into the possessions of a new slave owner. All members of the royal dynasty, the military elite, priests and regional rulers belonged to the highest caste.

Culture and religion of Urartu

The Urartians quite quickly adopted the Assyrian cuneiform script and adapted it to their language. They also had their own hieroglyphic writing. Official language Urartu was Urartian, belonging to non-Indo-European. Judging by the deciphered inscriptions, it was spoken only by the slave-owning class. Ordinary residents spoke Indo-European Armenian language, after the collapse of the Kingdom of Van, which became the main one in the Armenian Highlands.
Paganism dominated in Urartu with a very extensive pantheon - more than 100 gods. For each god there was a certain number of victims. The main divine ruler was the god Khaldi. The Biaini people had legends about each god that are lost today. But their echoes can be traced in the culture of the ancient Armenians.
The Urartian culture is distinguished by its originality and high development. Metal craftsmen who created artistic masterpieces from bronze stand out. The works were distinguished by expressiveness and grace.
Urartu influenced many cultures of neighboring states. The Assyrians adopted their experience in art and metallurgy. After the collapse of the Biaini state, the peoples inhabiting the current territory of Armenia remained for a long time under the influence of the Urartian culture. This is evidenced by many architectural monuments, legends and the language of ancient Armenians.

In connection with the development of iron metallurgy, the development of agriculture and crafts, the process of social development of the tribes inhabiting the Armenian Highlands and Transcaucasia is accelerating. At the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. a number of small slave-owning states arose here, the most important of which was Urartu, which grew up in the 9th-8th centuries. BC e. to one of the largest states of antiquity. Urartu included some of the territories that are now Soviet republics Transcaucasia. Thus, the emergence of the most ancient class society on the territory of our Motherland is connected with the history of Urartu.

Urartu

Natural conditions

The Armenian Highlands are located east of the Asia Minor peninsula and separated from it by the Upper Euphrates valley.

This territory is occupied mainly by mountain ranges (the Armenian Taurus in the south and parallel mountain ranges further to the north) and is cut through by valleys, the most important of which are the valley of the Aratsani River (Murat-su), a large tributary of the Euphrates flowing to the west, and the valley of the Araks River , flowing in an easterly direction. In the center of the southern part of the highlands is the bitter Lake Van. It is adjacent to the east by a relatively low-lying fertile area; to the north of the middle reaches of the Araks is located (already on the territory of present-day Soviet Armenia) the Airarat lowland with the Hrazdan (Zanga) river crossing it, a tributary of the Araks flowing from the freshwater Lake Sevan.

The country communicates with Mesopotamia through the valleys of the Greater Zab and Bokhtan rivers, as well as the western passes through the Armenian Taurus and the Upper Euphrates valley. In the northern direction, the pass from the Upper Euphrates valley leads to the valley of the Chorokha River, which flows into the Black Sea at Batumi and connects the Armenian Highlands with the mountainous and forested region of Pontus, as well as with the humid, forested Colchis.

To the east, the Armenian Highlands are separated by mountain ranges from southern Azerbaijan (in modern Iran), the most important area of ​​which is the fertile, hilly plain adjacent to the bitter Lake Urmia (Rezaie) to the south.

Compared to other areas of the ancient civilizations of the East, the entire described territory was significantly less convenient for agriculture, which was possible here (in the valleys and lowlands) mainly based on the use of water from mountain streams. For a long time Much more important than agriculture was cattle breeding, with cattle being driven to summer pastures in the mountains. The rapid development of slave relations occurs here only at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. in connection with the mining of iron in these areas (which, like copper, these territories were relatively rich in) and with the transition to agriculture and crafts based on relatively high technology. More advanced bronze and then iron tools made it possible, in particular, to lay irrigation canals in rocky soil, which significantly advanced the development of agriculture in mountainous areas.

Only those areas of the described territory that are now part of the USSR have been archaeologically well explored. Information about the southern regions is provided mainly only by written sources.

The ancient population of the Armenian Highlands

As far as can be judged, the main part of the described territory, including the Upper Euphrates valley and the southern parts of the Armenian Highlands, was, at least from the 2nd millennium BC. e., inhabited by Hurrians and related tribes. The eastern part of Pontus, Colchis and the Western Caucasus were, in all likelihood, inhabited in the Bronze Age mainly by Abkhaz-Circassian and possibly Kartvelian tribes. Further in the interior of the continent there was a strip of closely related cultures created, apparently, by “proto-Hittite” and Kartvelian tribes, and in the eastern part of this strip lived tribes of unclear ethnicity, possibly related to the later population of the Eastern Caucasus and Azerbaijan. These cultures are represented by remarkable finds in the graves of tribal leaders in Trialeti (Georgia) and Kirovakan (Armenia). This also probably included the culture of the Hayasa tribe, who lived in the Upper Chorokhi region and were in close relations with the Hittite kingdom. According to some researchers, the Hayasa tribe subsequently became the core of the Armenian nation.

In the western parts of the Armenian Highlands already in the 2nd millennium BC. e. There were also tribes who spoke Indo-European languages ​​close to the Hittite group. It is possible that the oldest basic vocabulary and the main features of the grammatical structure of the later Armenian language go back to the languages ​​of these tribes or to the language of any one of them.

The eastern part of the Armenian Highlands - the strip from the Araks Valley through the area of ​​Lake Van to the upper reaches of the Greater Zab - was, in all likelihood, already in the 2nd millennium BC. e. occupied by tribes who were later called Urartians in Assyrian sources; in language they were related to the Hurrians. The ethnicity of the tribes located even further to the east, living on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan, has not yet been established for such an early time.

The southwestern parts of the Armenian Highlands (probably this is the territory that Hittite sources call the country of Hurri) in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. depended on Mitanni or even were part of this state. Since the time of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma, they have come under the influence of the Hittite kingdom.

In the period following the fall of the Hittite kingdom, around 1200 BC. e., the Mush tribes penetrate into the valley of the Upper Euphrates and up to the upper reaches of the Tigris. Along with the Mushki, in the eastern territories of the former Hittite kingdom (northwest of the Upper Euphrates), at the same time the tribes of the Kaskians and others, who probably belonged to the Abkhaz-Circassian tribes of the Koban-Colchian culture, played a large role.

First clashes with the Assyrians

The most significant slave state with which the tribes of the Armenian Highlands had to deal since the 15th century. BC e., there was Assyria.

In the first half of the 13th century. BC e. The troops of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser I appear already in the depths of the Armenian Highlands. His inscription states that he defeated Uruatri (apparently the name of the tribal union) in “three days,” that is, in three battles. The purpose of his campaign was apparently to capture slaves for the slaveholding farms of Assyria. Shalmaneser also fought with the tribes, which he designates as “Kutians.” These tribes lived between Uruatri and the Upper Tigris Valley. Subsequent Assyrian kings during the XIII-XI centuries. also repeatedly raided the Armenian Highlands. Most important had campaigns carried out by Tiglath-pileser I (1115-1077), during which Assyria became a constant threat to the tribes of the Armenian Highlands.

The threat from Assyria forced these tribes to unite and act as tribal unions, which appear in Assyrian sources under the names Uruatri and Nairi. At the head of the militias of the “Nairi countries” were “kings”, who, apparently, were still leaders of tribes or tribal unions. Some of these tribal alliances, such as the Diauehi in the Chorokha Valley, proved extremely persistent, and it is quite possible that their “kings” were already something more than just tribal leaders, and that class relations and a state began to take shape there.

The campaigns of Assyria in the area of ​​the Armenian Highlands ceased in the 11th century. BC e. due to the invasion of the Arameans into Mesopotamia.

The first states on the Armenian Highlands

During the XI-X centuries. BC e. there is a consolidation of rudimentary state entities in a number of highland centers. The most important centers were: Diauehi (“the country of the Taohs” according to ancient Greek authors) in the Chorokha valley and the areas adjacent to it from the southeast; Alzi in the Aratsani Valley; Shubria north of the upper Tigris; Khubushkia or "kingdom of Nairi" in the Bokhtan valley south of Lake Van; Kumeni (center of the cult of the god of rain and thunder Teisheba) and Ardini-Musasir (center of the cult of the sky god Khaldi) in the Greater Zab valley; a little later - Mana to the south of Lake Urmia, etc. Probably during this period, the state of Biainili, which the Assyrians called Urartu, emerged in the area of ​​Lake Van, the successor of the Uruatri tribal union.

The penetration of the Assyrian variety of the Akkadian cuneiform system, which was then used in Urartu, probably dates back to this time. Even earlier, a distinctive Urartian hieroglyphic writing developed, perhaps under the indirect influence of Hittite writing, which, although it had a narrower scope of application, was not completely supplanted by cuneiform.

The new rise of the Assyrian power at the end of the 10th century. BC e. again led to clashes between Assyria and the tribes and states of the Armenian Highlands. But only the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III dared to penetrate deep into the highlands in 859 and 856. BC e., first encountered Urartu. The events of these campaigns are depicted on the reliefs of the bronze casings of the temple gates, located in the Assyrian city of Imgur-Ellil (now the village of Balavat). These reliefs allow us to judge the military affairs and weapons of the Urartians of the 9th century. Urartian warriors are depicted here in belted shirts, in helmets with crests, with small round shields and short straight swords - weapons generally similar to the Hittite-Syrian ones. The warriors defending the walls are also armed with bows. The same reliefs depict the Assyrians taking away captured goods in large clay vessels placed on carts, and the theft of naked prisoners in neck stocks, which shows the predatory nature of the Assyrian campaigns, the purpose of which was to capture slaves.

Rise of Urartu

Shalmaneser's raids did not crush Urartu and did not affect the central, most fertile regions east of Lake Van. It was after 856 that the strengthening and consolidation of the young Urartian state took place, at the head of which we meet by 832 BC. e. King Sarduri I - the first of the Urartian pareys, from whom his own inscriptions have reached us, although not yet in the Urartian language, but in the Assyrian dialect

Apart from the campaign against Shubria in 854, the Assyrians from 856 BC. e. did not disturb the mountaineers. But by 832, they apparently began to consider the strengthening of Urartu dangerous. A series of Assyrian campaigns to the north begins again. These campaigns were perhaps also connected with the struggle that began at that time in Northern Syria. The goal of this struggle for Assyria was to seize the routes along which Mesopotamia was supplied with iron, as well as the very sources of this raw material, now so necessary for the Assyrian army. The main mining sites for iron ore were at that time in the southeastern corner of Asia Minor; but, apparently, Urartu was also a supplier of iron and therefore was closely connected economically and culturally with the cities of Northern Syria, which specialized in the intermediary trade of this metal.

Assyrian, campaign 832 BC. e. was carried out along the same route as the campaign of 856, but was unsuccessful. The victory of Sarduri I aroused hopes of liberation among the small kingdoms dependent on Assyria, and Shalmaneser III sent in 829 and 828. troops to suppress liberation aspirations in Khubushkiya, Musasir and on the western coast of Lake Urmia.

Already at this time, the Urartian king styled himself not only “King Biainili” and “ruler of Tushpa,” but also accepted the title of “great king, strong king, king of multitudes, king of Nairi.” This title repeats, with the word “Assyria” replaced by the word “Nairi”, the title of the Assyrian kings. The young Urartian state challenged Assyria to fight for dominance in Western Asia.

The policy already outlined by Sarduri I was continued by his son Ishpuini, without encountering serious resistance from Assyria.

Quite early, his son Menua became the de facto co-ruler of Ishpuini, although during his father’s life he did not bear the royal title. During the joint reign of Ishpuini and Menua, Urartu's power in the east was further expanded; The country of Mana on the southern coast of Urmia was occupied, and the Urartian troops penetrated even further to the south.

Thus, Urartu posed a serious threat to Assyria in the east. However, the continuous struggle of the Maneans against the Urartian government made the position of the Urartians in these regions, which are part of modern South Azerbaijan, precarious. These areas had to be conquered by them again and again. Assyria also tried to capture these areas, but it also met with fierce resistance from the Manei tribes.

By the time of Ishpuini, the main areas of the central part of the highlands were already firmly assigned to Urartu. During the joint reign of Ishpuini and Menua, the Urartian campaigns in Transcaucasia begin. The first objects of these campaigns were, apparently, the regions of the upper reaches of the Araks and Kura, located in the vicinity of the kingdom of Diauehi.

The ordering must be attributed to the time of Ishpuini and Menua government controlled Urartu. At this time, a system of governorships headed by regional commanders was introduced. Subsequently, this system was introduced, apparently on the Urartian model, also in Assyria. In the field of religious cult, the pantheon of deities that sanctifies state power is systematized, and the number of obligatory offerings of livestock to sanctuaries is established.

The strengthening of the Urartian state continued during the sole rule of Menua, which began shortly before 800 BC. e. Soon after this date, the Assyrians lost their upper Euphrates provinces, and the entire upper Euphrates valley fell into the hands of Urartu. This, naturally, led to a clash between Urartu and the kingdom of Diauehi, closely associated with the Upper Euphrates region. King Diauehi was forced to pay Menua a rich tribute, including gold and silver. It should be noted that the Urartians received tribute in metal almost exclusively from areas located along the Upper Euphrates route and its continuation in the valley of the Chorokha River; along this route, metals, in particular silver and iron, reached the Black Sea coast, where they were possibly acquired by Greek colonists who began settling in Sinope, Trebizond, etc. already in the 8th century, and more firmly - from the 7th century. BC e.

The Urartians also strengthened significantly during the reign of Menua in the Araks Valley. Here, on the northern slopes of Mount Ararat, the Menuakhinili fortress was built, which was supposed to be the starting point for further campaigns in Transcaucasia.

But most important part Menua's activity was construction. During his reign, many irrigation canals were built throughout the country, including the so-called “Shamiram Canal,” which still supplies the city of Van with water. Many defensive structures were also erected. The large scale of construction became possible due to the excess work force, which arose as a result of the importation of slaves captured in numerous Urartian campaigns.

The period of the highest power of Urartu

Around 780 BC e. The son of Menua, Argishti I, ascends the throne, under whom Urartu reaches its highest power. From his reign came one of the largest ancient Eastern inscriptions - the huge “Khorkhor Chronicle”, carved on the steep slopes of the Van rock. From this chronicle it is clear that at the beginning of his reign, Argishti repeated Menua’s campaign against Diauehi, turning this country, at least partially, into an Urartian governorship. Then, passing along the southern periphery of Colchis (in Urartian inscriptions - Kulha), he advanced to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bChildyr Lake and the upper reaches of the Kura, and from there, bypassing Mount Aragats, he returned through the Araks valley. Somewhat later, Argishti created a new administrative center for Transcaucasia (already on the left bank of the Araks) - Argishtikhinili (modern Armavir). Having thus strengthened its positions in the north-west, Argishti the next year moved to Asia Minor, where he occupied the city of Melid (modern Malatia) and probably established connections with the cities of Northern Syria. In 774, a clash occurred between the Urartians and the Assyrians far to the southeast, in the valley of the Diyala River, already on essentially Babylonian territory. Thus, the Urartians increasingly embrace Assyria from the flanks. Subsequently, Argishti made a series of campaigns in Transcaucasia, in the Urmi region and in the outlying Assyrian provinces.

The number of prisoners brought by Argishti from campaigns and, probably most of them then turned into slavery, was large: for example, in one year alone he captured almost 20 thousand people. Such a number of slaves was excessive for the relatively poorly developed slave industry of Urartu, so some of the prisoners were killed on the battlefield. Some of the men may have been accepted into the Urartian army. For example, Argishti I resettled 6,600 prisoners from Aratsan and Asia Minor - probably for the construction of defensive structures, and perhaps as a garrison - to the fortress of Erbu, or Erebu, which he founded (now Arinberd near the city of Yerevan). The remaining prisoners were driven to Biainili - the central part of the state. Along with slaves, the Urartian kings captured a lot of livestock during their campaigns.

Public relations

We still have little information about the social structure of the Urartian kingdom. Still, it is clear that tribal remnants were strong in him; power belonged to representatives of the royal family, as well as military and service nobility, whose origins perhaps went back to the local noble families of various Urartian tribes. The importance of the nobility was reflected, among other things, in the large role played in the army by the “aristocratic” types of weapons - chariots and cavalry. The noble Urartians had large land holdings, and probably a significant part of the slaves fell into their hands. Even larger lands and especially huge herds of cattle belonged to the temples.

The bulk of the adult population apparently consisted of ordinary free soldiers who owned land that was individually owned or perhaps owned by large families, most likely within a rural community. Warriors also had slaves. Apparently, some of the slaves were also communally owned: some Urartian sources indicate that captive slaves were distributed not only to warriors, but also to “countries,” i.e., entire tribes or communities. The kings were probably the supreme owners of a significant part of the land on which ordinary free people sat - in particular, the owners of numerous lands that were developed for the first time at that time or that had previously been ruined and were not irrigated.

However, we have no data that there was a large royal agricultural economy in Urartu, as, for example, in ancient Sumer. The fields belonging to the royal economy were relatively small, and the products of field farming came to the kings mainly in the form of taxes from the population. Numerous royal slaves were probably used in construction, as well as in gardening and in large royal workshops, where products received in the form of taxes were processed, weapons were made for the army, etc. Garrisons and other troops of the governors were concentrated in the royal fortresses scattered throughout the country . There were also warehouses for fodder and bread for the army, wine storerooms, and workshops.

Dwellings excavated in the city of Teishebaini (now the site of Karmir-Blur, on the territory of Soviet Armenia near the city of Yerevan) give an idea of ​​the daily life of the population of the Urartian state. Apparently, they were inhabited by people who worked in the workshops of the citadel, served as part of the garrison and in lower positions in the administration.

The houses were apparently built in entire blocks at once, simultaneously with the founding of the Urartian fortress. Each family lived in a dwelling that had an irregular shape, consisting of two or three rooms, only half of which was covered with a roof resting on pillars. The other half served as a courtyard. There was also a hearth dug into the ground. The residents of these houses did not have their own permanent storage facilities for food supplies, and did not keep livestock at the house. Some researchers believe that they received regular food allowances from the fortress administration.

As in other countries of the ancient East, there was almost no furniture in the Urartian house; The main utensils were clay vessels. They cooked food, stored grain and small things. Boxes, spoons, and scoops were made from bone and wood. The population's food was made mainly from barley, millet, legumes, and sesame oil; Grapes and raisins were well known, and wine and beer were produced in large quantities. Some tools of the Urartian farmer are known - iron sickles, coarse grain grinders made of two stones that replaced millstones, mortars, grinders, etc.

The life and way of life of the rural population of the Armenian Highlands can be judged from later information (about 400 BC) preserved by the Greek writer Xenophon. In his time, villages consisted of groups of semi-underground dugouts, where the upper opening served as the entrance to the room, a skylight, and a chimney. How the Urartian slave lived, we cannot yet judge, but we must assume that his life was even more pitiful than the life of free farmers, and the only value remaining with him was his life, saved for hard work, while his the tribesmen were exterminated by the victorious Urartian troops.

Although the wars were waged by the Urartians with the usual cruelty of that time and their campaigns led to the mass deportation of the population and the devastation of the territory, nevertheless, the consequences of the Urartian conquests were different than the consequences of the contemporaneous Assyrian conquests. Unlike Assyria, Urartu could not meet the growing needs of its power for agricultural products; therefore the Urartians paid Special attention development of agricultural production through the development of empty and devastated lands and the expansion of irrigation.

Urartian army of the 8th century. was, apparently, in its structure and weapons (plate armor, pointed bronze helmets, large round shields etc.) similar to Assyrian.

Urartian slave society was not ethnically homogeneous. It included not only the Urartians in the narrow sense of the word - the Biayins, the inhabitants of the area near Lake Van. Both society as a whole and the Urartian army were multi-tribal and multilingual. Over time, the struggle not only between its various social strata, but, it is believed, also ethnic components should have escalated. The significance of this struggle for the fate of the state of Urartu was reflected later. But in the period we are considering, internal contradictions have not yet matured.

Conquests of Sarduri II

At the beginning of the reign of the new Urartian king, Sarduri II, who ascended the throne around 760 BC. e., the favorable situation for the Urartians generally remains. However, Sarduri had to fight repeatedly in the country of the Maneans, southwest of Lake Urmia, and even further to the south, right up to the valley of the Diyala River, and the Urartians met here with increasingly fierce resistance. By the end of Sardur's reign, the kingdom of Mana and other areas of this outskirts managed to finally achieve independence.

A number of Sarduri’s campaigns were sent to Transcaucasia. Unfortunately, due to the fact that a large stele (stone pillar) in a niche of the Van Rock with an inscription containing the annals of Sarduri II has not been completely preserved, the sequence of his campaigns is not entirely clear to us.

The number of captured prisoners is increasingly increasing; Thus, in one year of Sarduri II’s three campaigns against Manu, in Transcaucasia and the western regions, he brought 12,735 young men and 46,600 women.

The most important direction of the Urartu state's campaigns was the southwest. Sarduri II twice made a trip to Kumakha (Commagene), from where the route to Syria opened. He destroys Kumakha, subjugates it and enters into relations with Northern Syria (the city of Arpad). With the help of alliances, the influence of Urartu spread all the way to Damascus, and the Syrians acted together with the Urartians against Assyria, which threatened them all.

Warriors with Assyria

Sarduri II also succeeded in subjugating the country of Arma, possibly identical with Shubria, on the southern slopes of the Armenian Taurus.

By 745 BC. e. a decisive battle between Urartu and Assyria became inevitable. Assyrian sources note a number of clashes with Urartu during 781-778, as well as in 766. This does not exhaust the number of such clashes. The outlying regions subordinate to Assyria, here and there, gradually came under the rule of Urartu. If the Assyrians were still forced to put up with the ever-increasing power of the Urartian state, this is explained by the difficult internal situation of Assyria, which had been shaken since the end of the 9th century. internal turmoil.

In 745 BC. In Assyria, the reign of a new king, Tiglath-Pileser III, begins, with whose accession the period of unrest and civil strife ends and a new period of strengthening of the Assyrian power begins. Tiglath-pileser III carried out a number of significant reforms in his state. At the same time, he apparently used the most important achievements of Urartian state practice.

Tiglath-pileser managed to significantly strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Assyrian army. Apparently, as early as 743, Tiglath-pileser invaded Commagene to divide the forces of the Sarduri and the Syrians. In the battle of Kishtan and Khalpa, he managed to inflict defeat on his allies: Sarduri was forced to flee across the Euphrates, leaving his entire camp in the hands of the Assyrians. After this, Tiglath-pileser returned to Assyria part of the provinces north of the upper reaches of the Tigris and during 745-738. Arpad subdued. But, apparently, only in 735 did he manage to invade deep into Urartu and even besiege Tushpa. However, he was unable to take the Tushpa citadel on the Van rock (According to another interpretation of the text, Sarduri was defeated by Tiglath-pileser in 743 near Arpad, and the battle of Kishtan and Khalpa took place at the beginning of the campaign in 735 BC).

Sarduri II died at the end of the 30s of the 8th century, and Rusa I ascended the throne of Urartu. It was a difficult time for the state. The centrifugal forces of the Urartian state, hitherto restrained by the force of arms of the Urartian kings, now received scope for action. Local kings and even governors from the highest Urartian nobility were separated from the king of Urartu. We know about the circumstances of the beginning of Rusa's reign mainly from an inscription composed in Akkadian and Urartian, which was erected by Rusa near Musasir, and from the surviving reports of Assyrian spies in Urartu.

According to one Assyrian source, Rusa subsequently erected a statue in the Musassir temple depicting him on a chariot, with the inscription: “With my two horses and one charioteer, my hand took possession of the royal power of Urartu.” Although these words contain boasting, they still more or less correctly convey the historical situation: the position of Rusa at the beginning was very difficult. He, however, managed to cope with the uprising of the governors and again subordinate to his power the small but religiously, politically and strategically important kingdom of Musasir. It is believed that Rusa reformed and disaggregated the governorships. New fortresses were created - administrative centers, including in Transcaucasia, on the shores of Lake Sevan. But as soon as Ruse managed to put the Urartian state back together, he was faced with a serious external danger - the invasion of the Cimmerians.

Clashes with the Cimmerians and Scythians.

The Cimmerians were one of the nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes (or group of tribes) of the Northern Black Sea region, which during the 8th century. BC e. infiltrated into Transcaucasia and Asia Minor. According to Assyrian spies, the country in which the Cimmerians were at that time was located next to Guriania (Kuriani), one of the western or central Transcaucasian regions. Rusa's campaign against the country of the Cimmerians ended in defeat for him. The Cimmerians broke into Urartian territory, devastating and destroying everything. In their onslaught on Urartu, they probably united with outlying tribes striving for liberation, and perhaps with slaves. The Cimmerians thus posed a serious threat to the very existence of the slave-holding Urartian state. However, the Cimmerians, like the Scythians who later broke through the territory of modern Azerbaijan, did not know how to take fortresses, and the fortresses were the backbone of the Urartian state. The Cimmerians limited themselves only to raids on Urartian territory. Later there were cases when they even entered the service of Urartu or Assyria, forming mercenary troops.

The campaign of Sargon II to Urartu in 714 BC. e.

Ruse I managed to safely lead the Urartian state out of this serious crisis. But as the strength of Urartu grew, the inevitability of a new clash with Assyria was brewing. Apparently, in preparation for this, Rusa establishes relations with Phrygia and with the small kingdoms located in the Taurus Mountains in the west. In the east, he supports anti-Assyrian groups in Man - a country that has meanwhile become a strong and independent state, covering almost the entire territory of what is now South Azerbaijan - and in the neighboring Median and other tribes and kingdoms. New king Assyria, Sargon II, could only maintain his influence in these areas through continuous campaigns. In 714, Sargon set out on a punitive campaign in the area east of Lake Urmia. Rusa decided that the moment had come to inflict a decisive defeat on Assyria, and moved at the head of his troops with the goal of getting to Sargon's rear. But in time, Sargon, warned by his agents, came out to meet him. In the battle on Mount Uaush (Bushi, near Sakhend near Lake Urmia), Sargon II completely defeated the army of Rusa. Rusa fled to Tushpa and, unable to withstand this new failure that befell him, committed suicide (713 BC).

As for Sargon, he walked through Urartu, destroying everything in his path, burning settlements, demolishing fortresses, destroying canals, gardens and crops, capturing or burning food supplies. The detailed report about this campaign that has come down to us, compiled by the Assyrian court historiographer in the form of a letter to God, is the most complete source about inner life Urartu.

The king of Khubushkiya (the country of Nairi) came out in advance to meet the winner with gifts, but Urzana, the king of the country of Musasir, did not do this. Sargon and a small detachment suddenly crossed the mountain range and took Urzana by surprise. He fled, and his palace and the temple of the god Khaldi were plundered by the Assyrians. This temple, although it was located outside the Urartian territory itself, was the main sanctuary of the Urartian tribes; The coronation ceremonies of the Urartian kings took place here. Naturally, the temple was a repository of countless treasures. A detailed inventory of the things captured here by Sargon has reached us. This inventory indicates high level development of Urartian craft.

The defeat of 714 and what happened during the last two decades of the 8th century. BC e. Assyria's complete subjugation of Syria and adjacent parts of Asia Minor forced subsequent Urartian kings to radically change their foreign policy. They no longer dare to compete with Assyria in the southwest and southeast, but direct their forces mainly to the north, in Transcaucasia, and to the west, to Asia Minor.

Urartu under Rus II.

A new period of strengthening of the Urartian state begins under Rus II, who ascended the throne in the 690s or 680s BC. e.

Rusa II carried out large construction both in the capital and especially in Transcaucasia. The construction of a large canal dates back to the time of Rusa II, diverting water from the Zangi River and irrigating the Airarat Valley. A new administrative center, Teishebaini, was built here, where rich tribute from the surrounding areas flocked. On the steep bank of the river stood a citadel, where administrative buildings were located. A correctly planned city lay at the walls of the citadel. Huge reserves found in Teishebaini various types grain, warehouses of bronze products, an oil workshop, tools, weapons, remains of wall painting and other monuments that give a vivid idea of ​​the culture, art and life of the Urartians. Noteworthy are the numerous cultural connections established between the population of Urartu and the Scythians, both living at that time in Eastern Transcaucasia and other places in Western Asia, and living in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. In the Urartian court art of the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. there is a noticeable great similarity with the features of Assyrian art. Apparently, the culture of the Urartian nobility of this time was largely subject to Assyrian influence.

According to one of the inscriptions of Rusa II, he made a campaign in the south-eastern part of Asia Minor, in Phrygia and against Halitu - this is apparently how the Urartians called the region of the mountain people of the Chaldai (Khalibs of the Pontic Mountains, considered by the Greeks to be the most ancient suppliers of iron products; do not mix with the Chaldeans of Babylonia). The Cimmerians acted this time, apparently in alliance with Urartu. It is believed that the campaign of the Cimmerians is discussed in Greek sources, which report the death of the Phrygian soar Midas and the destruction of the Phrygian kingdom. From this time on, Lydia's role increased in Asia Minor.

Although there were sometimes border skirmishes between Urartu and Assyria under Rus II, and the intentions of Rus and the Cimmerians sometimes aroused distrust in Assyria, in general peaceful relations remained between both states. When in 673 BC. e. The Assyrian king Esarhaddon defeated the small mountain kingdom of Shubria, where fugitive slaves and farmers were hiding, he handed over the Urartian fugitives he discovered to Ruse. For his part, Rusa, around 654, sent an embassy to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in order, apparently, to calm the fears of the latter, who expected attacks against Assyria from Urartu, the Cimmerians and the Scythians. The neutrality of these. forces was important for the victory of Ashurbanipal in the war that followed in the coming years with Babylonia and its many allies.

Decline and death of Urartu

In the 640s BC. e. Sarduri III becomes king of Urartu. We have almost no news about his reign, but, undoubtedly, it was very alarming. The Scythians, who by this time had defeated the Cimmerians, together with the oppressed population of the outskirts of the Urartian kingdom, became, in all likelihood, a serious force that threatened the existence of the state of Urartu. At least Sarduri III in the early 30s of the 7th century. BC e. in a letter to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, for the first time in the history of Urartu, he no longer recognizes himself as the “brother” of the Assyrian king, that is, the king of a power of equal importance, but as a “son”. He thus recognizes, albeit formally, the supremacy of Assyria. New enemies - Media, Scythians - threatened the old states of the ancient East, and internal social contradictions weakened these states. That is why Urartu, like neighboring Mana, now seeks to rely on the seemingly unshakable power of Assyria.

Further events in the history of Urartu are unknown to us; we only know the name of another Urartian king - Rusa III, son of Erimena. The state of Urartu, like Mana, was drawn into the maelstrom of events that brought the death of Assyria. In 610 or 609, Median troops, during a war aimed at destroying the Assyrian state, apparently occupied Tushpa. However, judging by Hebrew data, in the 90s of the 6th century. BC e. Urartu, Mana and the Scythian kingdom (in Azerbaijan) continued to exist, however, as kingdoms dependent on Media. By 590, when the war broke out in Asia Minor between Media and Lydia, the remnants of Urartian independence had probably already been eliminated.

The destruction of Teishebaini (Karmir-Blura) in Transcaucasia also dates back to approximately this time. Before its occupation by enemies, the citadel was apparently uncontrollably in the hands of the city’s population; the central Urartian government had apparently ceased to exist. The citadel was taken, burned and plundered by troops armed with arrows of the Scythian type - perhaps Scythians in the Median service or the Medes themselves, who had weapons similar to the Scythians.

Urartian culture. Religion

The material at our disposal, unfortunately, does not make it possible to judge the literature, science and other areas of culture of Urartu. However, we can say that, for example, the style of the Urartian royal inscriptions influenced - probably through Media - the style of the Persian kings. The Persian syllabary cuneiform, the origin of which remains unclear, perhaps also goes back, through Media and Manu, to the Urartian cuneiform cursive.

Monuments of material culture of Urartu speak of high development crafts, especially metalworking. Magnificent art products made of bronze (figured furniture, figurines, artistic weapons, etc.), made from a wax model, with carvings and chasing, covered with forged gold leaf, carvings on red marble (facing the walls of the palace in Rusakhinili, near Tushpa), numerous paintings in Erebu (Arinberde) and Teishebaini - all these monuments clearly speak of a craft that was already specialized and had a long tradition of craftsmanship. Urartian craft technology was of great importance for the development of Transcaucasian and Scythian crafts.

In the Urartian religion, a large place was occupied by the cults of the deities of mountains, waters and various natural phenomena, especially the sky god Khaldi and his wife Uarubani, the god of thunder and rain Teisheba (Hittite-Hurrian Teshub), the sun god Shivini, etc. In Musasir, the god Khaldi was dedicated a temple somewhat reminiscent of a Greek one - with ridge roof, pediment and portico-colonnade. This temple is known to us from an Assyrian image. The most common type of sanctuary was the so-called “gate of God,” judging by some data, niches in the rocks where, according to Urartian beliefs, deities lived. Many rituals were performed, apparently, under open air and were accompanied by abundant sacrifices of livestock.

At the time of the creation of the state, the cults of Urartian deities were brought together into a well-known system: the main place was occupied by deities who were considered the patrons of royal power and the most important centers of the state. The campaigns of the Urartian kings in the inscriptions were passed off as the campaigns of the supreme god Khaldi himself. The religious center of Urartu - the temple of the main god Khaldi - lay, as already indicated, outside the Urartian state proper, in Musasir. The Urartian kings donated large numbers of slaves and especially cattle from their war booty to both this temple and the temples and sanctuaries of Tushpa and other important settlements. Trophies, handicrafts, and statues of kings and their relatives were also donated to temples. The sanctuaries were very rich, and the priesthood probably had great weight and importance in the state.

Historical significance of Urartu

The Urartian state played a big role in the formation of the peoples of Transcaucasia and the Armenian Highlands and their states. The kingdom of Urartu itself was an association that included an ethnically diverse population that had not yet managed to turn into nationalities and largely retained a tribal structure. The Greek writer Herodotus knew this territory in the 5th century. BC e. four ethnic groups: the Saspeirs (corresponding to the Kartvelian tribes), the Matiens (apparently corresponding to the Hurrians), the Alarodians (Urartians) and the Armenians (Armenians). In connection with the formation of class society and the state, the formation of nationalities took place on the periphery of the former Urartian state; small tribal groups speaking a variety of tribal languages, especially archaic Hurrian dialects, merge into larger ethnic units. The process of creating nationalities occurs mainly around two centers - Georgian in the north-west and Armenian in the south-west and in the center. Thus, the end of the history of Urartu is simultaneously the beginning of the history of the Georgian and Armenian peoples.