A K I N G D O M O F F O R T R E S S E S

Figure 9.1 Map of Urartian sites

EARLY URARTU, NAIRI, AND BIAINILI

There is no simple answer to the question of where this improbable empire came from. One must distinguish between the land called Urartu, which has a long history through which it changes its geographical position somewhat, and the specific political entity that emerged around 830 BC and disappeared in the late 7th century BC. The latter was called Biainili by its own kings, but other peoples of the time, most importantly the Assyrians, called it Urartu. This is the same word modern Bibles write as Ararat; the original Hebrew did not have vowels and by the time they were put in, the original pronunciation of ‘rrt had long been forgotten. “Urartian”

317

A K I N G D O M O F F O R T R E S S E S

is also routinely used today to refer both to the prevailing language and to the culture of the kingdom.

It is the geographical concept for which we first have evidence. The variants Uratri and Uruatri1 are found in inscriptions of energetic Assyrian king Shalmaneser I (1274–1245 BC). Campaigning in the territory immediately north of Assyria, he claims to have overwhelmed a disorganized resistance:

[A]t the beginning of my vice-regency, the land Uruatri rebelled against me. I prayed to the god Asˇsˇur and the great gods, my lords. I mustered my troops (and) marched up to the mass of their mighty mountains. I conquered the lands Himme, Uatqun, Masˇgun (or Bargun), Salua, Halila, Lu¯ hu, Nilpahri (or S/Zallipahri), and Zingun–eight lands and their fighting forces; fifty-one of their cities I destroyed, burnt, (and) carried off their people and property. I subdued all of the land of Uruatri in three days at the feet of Asˇsˇur, my lord.2

It appears that Shalmaneser encountered a group of small, tribally organized societies, incapable of coordinated action and perhaps not entirely sedentary—a far cry from the later Iron Age kingdom. What Uruatri means geographically at this time, aside from a general location north of Assyria, is unclear.

Another geographical term of significance for this initial phase of eastern Anatolia’s history is Nairi, which was invaded by another powerful Assyrian ruler, Tiglath Pileser I (1115–1077 BC). He had to cross the Euphrates and push through the mountains to reach its distant and previously unsubdued kings who lived on the shore of the Upper Sea in the west. The latter is usually assumed to be Lake Van. The upshot of the campaign sounds rather like raids into Uruatri— scores of kings are captured, cities are burned, and booty, mostly in the form of livestock, is taken back to Assyria.3

It is perhaps significant that the first native Urartian king to leave an inscription, writing around 830 BC in the style and language of the Assyrians, called his kingdom “Nairi.” By this time, however, he was in control of a politically unified area which the Assyrians themselves were calling Urartu.

There is scant archaeological evidence for settled populations in the key area of the Lake Van basin in the 13th and 12th centuries, when the Assyrians claim to have traversed the area. Just how wild the mountains north of Assyria were before the Iron Age became clear in 1998, when 13 stelae of an unknown and unexpected type were discovered in Hakkâri (Figure 9.2). Their dating is not precisely known, but it is difficult to disagree with their discoverer’s conclusion that they represent a tradition closer to the peoples of the Eurasian steppes than the Ancient Near East and probably date to some period late in the Late Bronze Age.4

Most of the archaeological evidence we have for the early Iron Age comes from graves, and substantial habitation sites do not appear in the Van region until the 9th century, when they arise as part of the process that culminates in the formation of the creation of Biainili’s empire.5 Cemetery sites do show a kind of cultural unity that distinguishes the Van basin from the areas

318

A K I N G D O M O F F O R T R E S S E S

Figure 9.2 Stele from Hakkâri (after Sevin 2001: 86)

south and west of Lake Urmia. The pottery in particular shows continuity with what later came to characterize the Urartian state, in contrast to the early Iron Age gray ware traditions of northwest Iran.6 The most extensively published of these tombs are found at Karagündüz, located in the mountains not far from Van. These consist of rectangular subterranean burial chambers containing the bones of numerous individuals—in one case as many as eighty (Figure 9.3).7 The tombs were clearly re-entered many times, and as new interments were made, the bones of bodies previously placed here were pushed aside. Men, women, and children were all represented. The grave goods include necklaces of semi-precious stones the offerings of metal are small, but elaborate. Curiously, bronze is quite rare and the weapons, bracelets, pins, and rings that one would expect to be made of it are instead fabricated from iron.8 There is no significant settlement of the period directly associated with this cemetery.

The Assyrians, who made numerous incursions into the highlands in the 9th century as they were re-establishing their own empire, inadvertently give us a chronology of rapidly changing social and political conditions in Nairi and Urartu. When Assurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) inaugurated his new capital at Calah (Nimrud), tribute poured in from neighboring states, among which were gifts from Gilzanu and Musasir, locations later associated with Biainili. No unified kingdom of Urartu participates in this.9 The next Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III

319