Ishpuini (also Ishpuinis) () was

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Urartu 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, Wo ...

. He succeeded his father,

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 Lutipr ...

, who moved the capital to

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 ...

(Van). Ishpuini conquered the

Mannaea Mannaea (, sometimes written as Mannea; Akkadian: ''Mannai'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Minni'', (מנּי)) was an ancient kingdom located in northwestern Iran, south of Lake Urmia, around the 10th to 7th centuries BCE. It neighbored Assyria and Urart ...

n city of

Musasir Muṣaṣir (Assyrian cuneiform: and variants, including Mutsatsir, Akkadian for ''Exit of the Serpent/Snake''), in Urartian Ardini was an ancient city of Urartu, attested in Assyrian sources of the 9th and 8th centuries BC. It was acquired b ...

, which was then made the religious center of the empire. The main temple for the war god

Haldi Haldi may refer to: * Ḫaldi, an Urartian god * Haldi, Baltistan, a village in Pakistan * Haldi, Estonia, a village * Haldi River, a river in West Bengal, India * Turmeric (''haldi'' in Indic languages), a spice ** Haldi (ceremony), application o ...

was in Musasir. Ishpuini's kingdom was then attacked by the forces of the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n King

Shamshi-Adad V Shamshi-Adad V () was the King of Assyria from 824 to 811 BC. He was named after the god Adad, who is also known as Hadad. Family Shamshi-Adad was a son and successor of King Shalmaneser III, the husband of Queen Shammuramat (by some identified ...

. 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 Nairi (, also ''Na-'i-ru''; ) was the Akkadian name for a region inhabited by a particular group (possibly a confederation or league) of tribal principalities in the Armenian Highlands, approximately spanning the area between modern Diyarbakır ...

", "Glorious King", and "King of the Universe". Ishpuini was succeeded by his son,

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 n ...

. Apart from the

Kepenek Castle The Kepenek Castle (), is a historical Urartian castle on the mountain slope in the central district of Muş, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively sm ...

inscription, another inscription proving the existence of the

Urartian 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, Tushp ...

Kingdom in the geography of

Muş Muş (; ; ) is a city in eastern Turkey. It is the seat of Muş Province and Muş District.İl Beled ...

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 Korkut (, ) is a town in Muş Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Korkut District.İlçe Be ...

district. In the inscription, the war fought by the Urartian king Menua is mentioned:

References

Kings of Urartu 9th-century BC monarchs 810s BC deaths {{ANE-bio-stub

See also

References