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Urartia
Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wolfram (2008). "URARTU IN IRAN". ''Encyclopædia Iranica''. Its kings left behind cuneiform inscriptions in the Urartian language, a member of the Hurro-Urartian language family. Urartu extended from the Euphrates in the west to the region west of Ardabil in Iran, and from Lake Çıldır near Ardahan in Turkey to the region of Rawandiz in Iraqi Kurdistan. The kingdom emerged in the mid-9th century BC and dominated the Armenian Highlands in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Urartu frequently warred with Assyria and became, for a time, the most powerful state in the Near East. Weakened by constant conflict, it was eventually conquered, either by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC or by Cyrus the Great in the middle of the 6th centur ...
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Urartian Language
Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, near the site of the modern town of Van in the Armenian highlands, now in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Its past prevalence is unknown. While some believe it was probably dominant around Lake Van and in the areas along the upper Zab valley, others believe it was spoken by a relatively small population who comprised a ruling class. First attested in the 9th century BCE, Urartian ceased to be written after the fall of the Urartian state in 585 BCE and presumably became extinct due to the fall of Urartu. It must have had long contact with, and been gradually totally replaced by, an early form of Armenian, although it is only in the 5th century CE that the first written examples of Armenian appear. Classification Urartian is ...
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Urartu Religion
Urartian religion is a belief system adopted in the ancient state of Urartu, which existed from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. It was typical of despotic states from the Near East. The Urartian religion was polytheistic in nature and derived from the earlier beliefs of Mesopotamia and Anatolia. As in other beliefs of the ancient Near East, Urartu had a , patronizing various phenomena. The main deity was Haldi. The worlds of humans and gods were united through ritual sacrifices. The Urartian religion absorbed the motifs of the tree of life, the serpent and the winged solar disk characteristic of the ancient Near East. Against the background of Mesopotamian beliefs, Urartu was distinguished by a high level of religious tolerance, which was conditioned by the multinationality of the state. Sources for the study of Urartian religion Sources for the study of the Urartian religion are scarce. Scholars have a limited number of documents that describe the rituals and belief system o ...
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Proto-Armenian Language
Proto-Armenian is the earlier, unattested stage of the Armenian language which has been reconstructed by linguists. As Armenian is the only known language of its branch of the Indo-European languages, the comparative method cannot be used to reconstruct its earlier stages. Instead, a combination of internal and external reconstruction, by reconstructions of Proto-Indo-European and other branches, has allowed linguists to piece together the earlier history of Armenian. Definition Proto-Armenian, as the ancestor of only one living language, has no clear definition of the term. It is generally held to include a variety of ancestral stages of Armenian between Proto-Indo-European and the earliest attestations of Classical Armenian. It is thus not a proto-language in the strict sense, but "Proto-Armenian" is a term that has become common in the field. The earliest attestation of Armenian is the 5th-century Bible translation of Mesrop Mashtots. The earlier history of the language i ...
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Menua
Menua ( ariations exist, also rendered Meinua or Minua, was the fifth known king of Urartu from c. 810 BC to approximately 786 BC. In Armenian, Menua is rendered as ''Menua''. The name Menua may be connected etymologically to the Ancient Greek names Minos and Minyas. A younger son of the preceding Urartian King, Ishpuini, Menua was adopted as co-ruler by his father in the last years of his reign. Menua enlarged the kingdom through numerous wars against the neighbouring countries and left many inscriptions across the region, by far the most of any Urartian ruler. He organized a centralised administrative structure, fortified a number of towns and constructed fortresses. Amongst these was Menuakhinili located near Mount Ararat (its exact location is uncertain, perhaps at Bulakbaşı, east of modern-day Iğdır). He briefly co-ruled with his son, Inushpua, but was succeeded by another son, Argishti I. Menua also had a daughter named Tariria, after whom a certain vineyard was n ...
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Rusa I
Rusa I (ruled: 735–714 BC) was a King of Urartu. He succeeded his father, king Sarduri II. His name is sometimes transliterated as ''Rusas'' or ''Rusha''. He was known to Assyrians as ''Ursa'' (which scholars have speculated is likely a more accurate pronunciation of the name) and possibly ''Urzana''. His birth name may have been ''Uedipri''. Rusa I built the fortress of Rusahinili (''Rusa-hinili'', city of Rusa), modern ''Toprakkale'', located near the modern city of Van in eastern Turkey. Background Before Rusa's reign had begun, his father, King Sarduri II, had already expanded the kingdom to southeastern Anatolia, and had managed to retake various Anatolian territories from Assyria during a brief period of weakness in the Assyrian Empire. The succession from Sarduri II is not entirely clear. There's also attested a king Sarduri III, so Rusa may have been his son. When Rusa I inherited the throne, the Assyrians continued campaigns against him. The Assyrian king ...
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Tushpa
Tushpa ( ''Tosp'', ''Tushpa-Van'', Akkadian: ''Turuspa'', from Urartianbr>tur-, ''to destroy''i.e. victorious) was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from ''Biainili'', the native name of Urartu. The ancient ruins are located just west of Van and east of Lake Van in the Van Province of Turkey.Tushpa, site information
Retrieved 13 June 2023.
In 2016 it was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey. It was possibly pronounced as "Tospa" in ancient times as there was no symbolic ''O'' equivalent in

Argishti I
Argishti I, was the sixth known king of Urartu, reigning from 786 BC to 764 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Alternate transliterations of the name include ''Argishtis'', ''Argisti'', ''Argišti'', and ''Argishtish''. Although the name is usually rendered as ''Argišti'' (read: ''Argishti''), some scholars argue that ''Argisti'' is the most likely pronunciation. This is due to the belief that the Urartians used the cuneiform symbol ''š'' to voice an ''s''-sound, as opposed to representing the digraph ''sh''. A son and the successor of Menua, he continued the series of conquests initiated by his predecessors, apparently campaigning every year of his reign. He was involved in a number of inconclusive conflicts with the Assyrian king Shalmaneser IV. He conquered the northern part of Syria and made Urartu the most powerful state in post- Hittite Asia Minor. He also expanded his kingdom north to Lake Sevan, conquering ...
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Sarduri II
Sarduri II (ruled: 764–735 BC) was a King of Urartu, succeeding his father Argishti I to the throne. The Urartian Kingdom was at its peak during his reign, campaigning successfully against several neighbouring powers, including Assyria. Reign The succession from Sarduri II is not entirely clear. There's also attested a king Sarduri III, so Rusa may also have been his son. Sarduri II notably expanded Urartian territory by conquering the northern region of Colchis, as well as Melid and Kummuh in the Euphrates valley. Urartian sources refer to campaigns of Sarduri II against a place called "Babilu", which has sometimes been identified with Kassite regions that were formerly part of Babylonian Empire In 743 BC, at a battle located somewhere in Kummuh, the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pileser III, defeated Sarduri and his anti-Assyrian coalition, forcing the Urartians back across the Euphrates. Sarduri II was so confident in his power that he erected a massive wall at Tushpa (m ...
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Sarduri I
Sarduri I (ruled: 834 BC – 828 BC), also known as Sarduris, Sedur, and Asiduri, was king of Urartu. He was known as Ishtarduri to the Assyrians. It is unclear whether Sarduri's father, Lutipri, was a king of Urartu. It is possible that Lutipri was not a king and that Sarduri established a new dynasty. Sarduri I is most known for moving the capital of the Urartu kingdom to Tushpa (Van). This proved to be significant as Tushpa became the focal point of politics in the Near East. His kingdom was influenced by the Neo-Assyrian Empire through architecture, royal titles, and the usage of Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ... in early Urartian inscriptions. He was succeeded by his son, Ishpuini of Urartu, who then expanded the kingdom. The title Sa ...
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Lake Sevan
Lake Sevan () is the largest body of water in both Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater Alpine lake, high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia. The lake is situated in Gegharkunik Province, at an altitude of above sea level. The total surface area of its basin is about , which makes up of Armenia's territory. The lake itself is , and the volume is . It is fed by 28 rivers and streams. Only 10% of the incoming water is drained by the Hrazdan River, while the remaining 90% evaporates. Sevan has significant economic, cultural, and recreational value. Its sole major island (now a peninsula) is home to a Sevanavank, medieval monastery. The lake provides some 90% of the fish and 80% of the crayfish catch of Armenia. Sevan was heavily exploited for irrigation of the Ararat plain and hydroelectric power generation during the Soviet period. Consequently, its water level decreased by around and its volume reduced by more than 40%. Later, two Water tunne ...
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Ishpuini
Ishpuini (also Ishpuinis) () was king of Urartu. He succeeded his father, Sarduri I, who moved the capital to Tushpa (Van). Ishpuini conquered the Mannaean city of Musasir, which was then made the religious center of the empire. The main temple for the war god Haldi was in Musasir. Ishpuini's kingdom was then attacked by the forces of the Assyrian King Shamshi-Adad V. Ishpuini fought and defeated Shamshi-Adad. Ishpuini was so confident in his power that he began using names meaning everlasting glory, including, "King of the land of Nairi", "Glorious King", and "King of the Universe". Ishpuini was succeeded by his son, Menua. Apart from the Kepenek Castle inscription, another inscription proving the existence of the Urartian Kingdom in the geography of Muş is the Alazlı/Tirmet inscription. The inscription in question is located 25.5 km east of Muş province and 6.2 km south of Korkut district. In the inscription, the war fought by the Urartian king Menua is mentioned: ...
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Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turkish people, Turks, while ethnic Kurds in Turkey, Kurds are the Minorities in Turkey, largest ethnic minority. Officially Secularism in Turkey, a secular state, Turkey has Islam in Turkey, a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city. Istanbul is its largest city and economic center. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya. First inhabited by modern humans during the Late Paleolithic, present-day Turkey was home to List of ancient peoples of Anatolia, various ancient peoples. The Hattians ...
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