Urartu

MÖ 9. yüzyıldan itibaren Tuşpa merkezli olarak ortaya çıkan Urartu Krallığı’nın kuruluş süreci kaynakların kısıtlı olması nedeniyle tam anlamıyla açıklığa kavuşturulmuş değildir. Bu dönem genellikle Assur yazıtlarında geçen ‘Uruatri’ ve ‘Nairi’ gibi birtakım tanımlamalarla açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. MÖ 13. yüzyıldan itibaren Assur kaynaklarında coğrafi birtakım adlandırmalar olarak kullanılan bu terimlerden Uruatri’nin Urartu Krallığı ile ilişkisi ancak MÖ 9. yüzyıldan itibaren kurulabilir. Bu ilişkinin kurulabilmesinde ise Urartulu kralların Assur karşısında ciddi bir siyasi rakip haline dönüşmesi etkilidir...

Bu çalışma, "Ardahan Kale ve Kuleleri" adlı kitabın bölümlerinden biridir. Bu kitap içi bölümde, Ardahan'ın Eskiçağ'dan Türk fetihlerine kadar tarihçesi üzerinde durulmuş ve şehrin isminin kökenine ilişkin bir başlığa yer verilmiştir.
  Son yıllarda yapılan bilimsel araştırmalarla birlikte Eskiçağ ve Ortaçağ arkeolojik vaziyetinin Transkafkasya (Güney Kafkasya) arkeolojisiyle
oldukça örtüştüğü anlaşılan Ardahan, Doğu Karadeniz ve Kuzeydoğu Anadolu Bölgeleri ile Transkafkasya’yı birleştiren stratejik bir coğrafi konuma sahiptir. Batıda Karadeniz sahil şeridinin son ili Artvin ile
komşu olan Ardahan’ın güneyinde Erzurum ve Kars illeri, kuzeydoğusunda Gürcistan ve doğusunda Ermenistan yer alır. Transkafkasya ülkelerinde, özellikle Tunç ve Demir Çağları kültürlerine ilişkin hatırı sayılır araştırma ve arkeolojik kazı yapılmışsa da bu bölgenin komşusu olan Kuzeydoğu Anadolu için aynı değerlendirmeyi ne yazık ki yapamamaktayız. Özellikle Ardahan ili, Anadolu coğrafyasında arkeolojik araştırmaların en az yürütüldüğü yerlerden biri olmuştur. Bu nedenle şehrin tarihi ve arkeolojik geçmişi üzerine toplanan veriler, akademik anlamda tatmin edici bir düzeye erişememiştir. Yine de inanıyoruz ki, 2008 yılında kurulan Ardahan Üniversitesinin bünyesinde gerçekleştirilmekte olan ve yakın gelecekte daha da kapsamlı bir şekilde sürdürülecek bilimsel çalışmalar, şehrin tarihi, sanat tarihi ve arkeolojik
dokusunu çok daha detaylı bir şekilde yansıtacaktır.

Özet:  Kağızman, tarihin en eski çağlarından itibaren yerleşim görmüştür. Denizden 1600 m. yükseklikte Kars İline bağlı bir ilçedir. Bölge başta Aras Irmağı olmak üzere su kaynakları bakımından zengindir. Anadolu'yu Orta Asya'ya bağlayan doğal yolların merkezi konumundadır. Bölgenin zengin olan tarihi dokusu, her araştırma yılı sonrası zenginleşmekte ve yeni bulgularla, bölge tarihine ışık tutmaktadır. Bu makaleyle Kağızman Bölgesinde Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığının izinleri ile yürüttüğüm tarihi ve arkeolojik araştırmaların değerlendirmesi yapılmıştır.

The Kingdom of Urartu faced many challenges apart from overcoming geographical
difficulties in order to implement its settlement policy in its heartland – the Van Lake
Basin. Founding new cities, creating lands suitable for agriculture and securing the
necessary population in order to supply its military strength were just some of them.
Settling nomadic and seminomadic tribes and securing the manpower that were to
build new cities and establish new farmlands also meant economic success for the
kingdom that was to follow. The continuity of this success was only possible with a
standardized settlement policy. Obtaining the population that were to be settled and
their addition into the kingdom meant establishment of new cities and new campaigns.
A policy of slave procurement, whose rules were already established by Assyria, was
an important factor for obtaining the population Urartu needed. Although it is not
known how this enslaved population was treated in the general Urartian population, it
is certain that they were part of the production, fought for the kingdom and have taken
part in foundation of new cities.

1988 Stephan Kroll contributions to “Bastam II, 75-106  II. Grabungsbericht, 155-163  VI. Die Kleinfunde, 165-173  VII. Die Keramik. The complete volume is available from the AMAR website: http://digital.library.stonybrook.edu/cdm/ref/collection/amar/id/88283

The article discusses how eastern chronological benchmarks can contribute to the absolute chronology of archaic Scythia. Given the dates of the fall of Urartu (ca. 640 BC) and the Rysaikino inscription (the late 8th century BC), the early Scythian chronology shows up as follows: the Scythians appeared in the North Caucasus as early as in the mid-8th century BC; they invaded Transcaucasia and the north-western Iran in the late 8th century BC; articles executed in the Scythian animal style and weapons from the destroyed centres of Urartu should be dated to the mid-7th century BC at the latest.

Archaeological tourism is a sector which enhances consciousness to protect archaeological remains, economically supports national and local resources, and provides an income. The aforementioned sector is a subdivision of culture tourism, and by trips made to archaeological sites, museums and historical sites which introduces the development of cultures to people, thereby, leads to helping increase their level of knowledge. Van- Ayanis Castle which is an important Urartian castle and settlement, should be a destination of archaeological tourism and as a historical site should be opened to tourism in this regard. The archaeological remains of Ayanis are located in the Ağartı Village of Tuşba Municipality of Van Province. In 1989, excavations began in the castle and in later years were continued by various researchers with an interdisciplinary approach.
Having witnessed settlement during the Urartian Age which was one of the most important civilizations of the Mid Iron Age, in Ayanis remains settlements of both royalty and public have been brought to light. Ayanis castle started to become a destination of archaeological tourism, through the approximately 2650 years old adobes being unearthed with systematic excavations. For the castle and the shore just below it, to be transformed from a daily place of passage to a condition were conscious visitors can lodge and the employment opportunities of the local rural population can be increased, the “Project of Tourism, Archaeopark and Recreationat Ayanis Fortress and it’s Vicinity"should be implemented.

The article titled "THE WORSHIP OF SUN-DISK IN ORNAMENTAL MOTIVES OF URARTIAN BRONZE BELTS" continues the series of articles especially dedicated to the elucidation of the problems and their particularities concerning the classification of Urartian bronze belts based on the meaningfulness and special significance of their ornamental motives. The depiction of Sun-Disk in Urartian bronze belts serves as a credible source of information and a reliable evidence about the fact that the ancient Urartians worshiped Sun not only as ordinary celestial body, but also as mythological embodiment of Divine Celestial Forces. One of the important key figures of such an embodiment was the depiction of Urartian god of Sun Shivini (one of the main deities of Urartian Triad consisting of Main Gods of Urartian religious pantheon - Haldi, Teisheba and Shivini) whose key figure  was often depicted as part of ornamental motives of Urartian bronze belts. Numerous depictions of Winged Sun Disk of different varieties, shapes and forms, as well as their combinations with portraits of Urartian Sun God Shivini, often presented as combination details or even as the immediate part of the portrait itself witnesses about the special mythological significance of such depictions in ornamental motives of Urartian bronze belts. The great varieties of such depictions testifies that in the life of the ancient Urartians the particular objects of Urartian bronze belts were regarded as worshiped  objects of special religious significance that were carrying in their ornamental motives sacred mythological values, serving, according to their believes, as reliable connection between the Earthly World of Men, Heavenly World of Gods and  Divine Celestial Objects of Worship such as Sun.

NEW version (paper by A. Kassian added as an additional source).

This Excel file provides a searchable list of Hurrian and Urartian basic lexicon, summarizing various sources, incl. G. Wilhelm, M. Salvini, I. Wegner and A. Kassian. It is intended as a stepping stone for researchers who want to try and understand the origin of Hurro-Urartian by comparing their basic lexicon against other languages and language families.

Ivory carving, which is thought to enter Anatolia as a result of highly advanced commercial and cultural relations of the 1st Millennia BC, spread to a wider area and every region created their own school once it became a tradable product. The ivory artefacts found in Urartian settlements such as Altıntepe, Toprakkale and Karmir Blur suggest that Urartu was not indifferent to ‘Ivory Artefact Carving’, which is also known to exist in the 1st Millennia BC in Syria, Iran, Assyria, Phoenicia, Phrygia, and some of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms. Technical competence seen in these artefacts brings up the question of whether they came to the Urartian lands via commercial activities such as import and export between these small states or it was Urartu’s own development of turning this art into local production.

Based on the principle of chrononology, in a light of archaeological and phylilogical data, as well as visual art sources, the present study focuses on aspects of the cult and iconography of fire in the Urartian State. In order to have an in debth study, we draw parallels between the current study and the Neo-Assyrian and Post-Urartian (especially Achaemenid and Armenian) sources. In the context of Urartian iconography we discuss the images, which could be connected to fire. In this respect, the image of first deity depicted on Andzav shield (fig. 2) is especially noteworthy, which obviously also carries the functions of god of fire. As some scholars, we also suggest that the Urartian supreme god Haldi is represented here. In our opinion, the image of the “Earthly Haldi” is possibly depicted on the shield, where he is represented as a king, warrior, a hero and a human, the provider of security and the protector of the Urartian State’s power and benevolence. The creation of a similar image could absolutely correspond to the royal ideology of the Urartian State. In our opinion, the cuneiform writing DHal-di (fig. 2), depicted above this deity in all probability shows that he is the main god of the Urartians. We tend to think that there are similiraties between the images of the first deity on Andzav shield and “royal archer’’ depicted on some Early Achaemenid coins (fig. 33, 34).
In the article we also bring forward the following aspects, which  can be important to understand the role of fire in the Urartian kingdom: the climate factor, relating to the long and severe winters of the Armenian Highland, which suggest the wide use of fire and some of its cultic aspects in the region, cremation rite, burning live animals as a form of sacrifice, ritual ceremonies and practices in Ayanis temple already discussed in the scientific literature (Çilingiroğlu 2004, 2005, Baştürk 2009. ) and the possible influence of the Urartian fire cult to Post-Uratian (especially Persian and Armenian) religious ideology. In conclussion, we would like to emphazise that this topic should be re-examined, and only discussions and further excavations can provide new data about this study.

Հենվելով ենթադրյալ կառուցման թվականից մոտ 400 տարի հետո ապրած Ստեփանոս Օրբելյանի (~1250÷1305թթ) նկարագրության վրա [1], սյան կառուցումը թվագրվում է 904÷906թթ [2]: Ս.Այվազյանը և Ա. Բադիշյանն իրենց արժեքավոր ուսումնասիրության մեջ [3] նշում են, որ Տաթևի սյունն իր ձևով ու կառուցման մեթոդներով մոտ է կանգնած նախաքրիստոնեական նմանատիպ կոթողներին: Հայտնի է, որ 16-րդ դարում Առաքել Սյունեցի արքեպիսկոպոսը սյան գլխի նախկին խաչքարի փոխարեն տեղադրել է նոր խաչքար, որն էլ կանգուն է մինչ օրս: Անզեն ու ոչ մասնագիտական աչքով իսկ կարելի է նկատել, որ խաչքարը հետագայում ներմուծված, իր ձևով ու չափսերով սյան ընդհանուր տեսքին օտար էլեմենտ է: Խաչքարը կարծես հսկայական սյան վրա դրված մի խաղալիք լինի, որն ուր որ է կընկնի: Ակնհայտ է, որ սյան նախնական տարբերակում խաչքարի տեղում եղել է սյան չափսերին ու բնույթին համեմատ մի այլ խորհրդանշան: Սյունը կառուցված է ծակոտկեն կապտավուն բազալտից, իսկ ներկա (հավանաբար նաև նախկին խաչքարը) տուֆային ապարից: Հավանաբար նախորդ խաչքարը եղել է սյան տեսքին ավելի անհամաչափ, ինչն էլ Առաքել Սյունեցուն ստիպել է փոխել այն: 10-րդ դարի սկզբում սյան վերնամասի ձևափոխումն ու խաչքարի տեղադրումը կարող էր ներկայացվել որպես ամբողջական սյան կառուցում: Սա Ճիշտ այն երևույթն է, ինչ նախաքրիստոնեական պաշտամունքային կառույցների հիմքի վրա եկեղեցի կառուցելը, վիշապաքարերն ու Քաջանց երկրի արքաների արձանագրությունների կոթողները խաչքարերի վերածելը: Սյան գործառույթի մասին արտահայտված տեսակետները անհիմն ու անտրմաբանական են (հոգևորորականների ոգեղեն-էներգետիկ ուժի ստուգում, երկրաշարժերի նախազգուշացում կամ թշնամու հեծելազորի մոտենալու ահազանգ): Վստահաբար, հոգևորականներն այնպիսի ոգեղեն ուժ չունեին, որպեսզի մտքով սյունը տատանեին: Եթե սյունը ճոճվում է երկրաշարժից, ապա ոչ թե նախազգուշացնում, այլ փաստում էր, որ երկրաշարժ եղավ, ինչը սյունից հեռու գտնվող մարդու համար էլ է ակնհայտ: Իսկ որպեսզի սյունը ճոճվի շատ ձիերի ոտքերի դոփյունից, ապա նրանք պիտի լինեն շատ մոտ՝ տեսանելի հեռավորության վրա: Մի խոսքով, մանկամիտ բացատրություններ են: Նմանատիպ կոթողների օրինակները ցուցում են, որ, նախապատմական ժամանակներից սկսած, դրանք մեծ ի մասամբ ունեցել են պաշտամունքային նշանակություն (երբեմն էլ կանգնեցվել են որպես հիշարժան պատմական դեպքերիի հիշեցում): Կարծում եմ, Տաթևի սյունն իր նախնական նշանակությամբ նույնպես պաշտամունքային է եղել և կանգնեցվել է նախաքրիստոնեական ժամանակներում: Նրա գագաթային մասը ձևափոխել են, վրան կանգնեցրել խաչքար, դարձրել քրիստոնեական կառույց և դրանով մթագնել և մոռացության տվել կառույցի նախնական նշանակությունը: Շատ հավանական է, որ սյան գագաթային մասը

Urartu halkının tapındığı en önemli tanrılardan olan Haldi, Teiseba, Şivini, Hutuini ve İnuannau hakkında kısa bir bilgilendirme sunumudur. Fazla ayrıntıya girmemek adına olabildiğince kısa tutulmuş ve öğrencinin Urartu dini ile ilgili en azından genel hatları bilmesi için hazırlanmıştır.

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Simpson, E., ed. The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

The Adventure of the Illustrious Scholar: Papers Presented to Oscar White Muscarella, edited by Elizabeth Simpson, is a Festschrift celebrating the career of one of the foremost archaeologists of the ancient Near East. Oscar Muscarella is a former curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a formidable scholar who has excavated at sites in Turkey, Iran, and the United States. He has published eight books and nearly 200 articles, excavation reports, and reviews on topics ranging from the arts of antiquity and the importance of connoisseurship, to the difficulties of dating and the problems of forgeries, the looting of ancient sites, and the antiquities trade. The forty-seven contributors are experts in the areas of Muscarella's interests and are major scholars in their fields. This volume constitutes an unusual, important, and timely addition to the archaeological and art historical literature.

After the violent destruction of major Urartian centers in the middle of the 7th. century BCE there is only scant evidence for continuing settlement in the area of the former kingdom of Urartu. An important feature is the ongoing Urartian pottery tradition, which can be observed with slight alterations of the old shapes. Additionally new shapes come into use which were first found at Median sites like Nush-i Jan and Godin II. This Median tradition can be observed at sites like Bastam, Van Kalesi mound, Nor Armavir or Horom. The stratigraphic evidence also shows the levels where this pottery were found are later than the Urartian imperial period. So this tradition is not Urartian any more but should be called tentatively “Median”.