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P.10. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARMENIA

THE BIRTH OF ARMENIA AND  THE ORIGIN OF THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE

 

Photo: Ancient Nairi bronze figurine, early iron-age.

In 6,000 B.C., Armenia as a nation was first settled by the Thracian-Phrygian tribes that crossed in Anatolia  From the Balkans. In 5,000 B.C,  Nineveh in Ashur (Assyria) is inhabited. In 4.750 B.C., the first Assyrian temple is erected. In 4,000 B.C., Armenia began mining metals. Around 3,000 B.C., the Hayasa-Azzi tribes first inhabit Urartu. In 2,500 B.C., two Assyrian cities Arbel and Nineveh prosper and their trade flourishes. They become very influential cities in the Middle East. In 1760 B.C., Hammurabi king of Babylonia conquers Assyria  and ends the first Assyrian empire. In 1,500 B.C., Mitanni rules Assyria. In 1,363, B.C., Ashur-Uballit establishes  the Assyrian Empire.  In 1,260 B.C., the Assyrians scribes and inscriptions mention Urartu  for the first time.  In 1,240 B.C., Babylon is ravaged by the Assyrians. Around 1,200 B.C., the Assyrians resist incursions by the Urarturians and the Mushki. 1,114 to 1,076 B.C. mark the reign of Tiglath-Pileser the first over Assyria. In 1,155 B.C., Elam and Assyria attack Babylonia and put an end to the Kassite rule.  Around 1,000 B.C., the Phyrgians and the Thracians immigrate to Urartu. Around 1,000 B.C., the Urarturians conquer and overrun the majority of the lands of the mighty empire  of Assyria. Around 934-935 B.C., Assyria regains and captures the lands lost to the Urarturians. Around 900 B.C., The Urarturians adopt the Assyrian cuneiform script. In 860 B.C., Aramu becomes the first king of Urartu. Around 859 B.C., the Assyrians regain their lands from the hands of the Urarturians. Around 856 B.C., the Assyrian king Shalmeneser the third defeats Aramu, the first king of Urartu. Around 820 B.C., Van becomes the capital of Urartu during the reign of Sardur the first. Around 800 B.C., under the monarch Menva, the Kingdom of Urartu flourishes, prospers and expands.  In 782 B.C., at Erebuni, King Argishti the first erects the first Armenian royal capital. In 760 B.C., king Sarduri the second annexes northern Syria. Around 743 B.C., Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser the third defeats the Urarturians and gains northern Syria. In 738 B.C., Assyria attacks Phoenicia and captures Byblos and Sidon. The year 735 B.C. marks the beginning of the Assyrian incursions in the kingdom of Urartu. In 734 B.C., king Tiglath-Pileser the third of Assyria captures Tyre in Phoenicia. In 721 B.C., king Sargon the second of Assyria attacks and captures Samaria, the capital of Israel and deports thousands of Israelites who become the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. In 714 B.C., the Uraturian king  Rusa is defeated by the Assyrian king Sargon the second who first attacked and destroyed Mettati, Urartu’s ally. Because of its wealth, abundance and prosperity Urartu had to pay a very heavy ransom. To the Assyrian king. Sargon imposed upon the Urarturians: One ton of gold, five tons of silver and thousands of objects, materials, tools, and instruments such as 393 silver cups or chalices, 25, 212  bronze shields, 305, 412 bronze swords, etc.) The year 707 B.C. marks the beginning of the multiple attacks of Cimmerians on Urartu. In 701 B.C., Assyria attacks Israel, ravages Jerusalem and captures almost  all the cities and ports of Phoenicia after fierce battles with the Phoenician and a long standing siege of the half-isle of Tyre, exactly as it happened with Alexander the Great of Macedonia who took him 9 months to seize the whole land and the small island of Tyre. In 689 B.C., The Assyrians destroy Babylon. Around 680 B.C., at Rusahinili, Uraturian king Rusa the second builds a new capital for his new kingdom. From 671 to 651 B.C., the Assyrian rule Egypt. In 612 B.C., Nineveh  in Assyria falls under the attacks of the armies of Medes and Babylonia. In 609 B.C., Babylonia and Medes joins forces and conquer Assyria. They defeat Ashur-Uballit the second, the last Assyrian king at Harran.  In 590 B.C., the Uraturian capital Rusahinili is decimated and completed destroyed by  Medes. In 590 B.C., Urartu was sacked, burned and totally ruined. The Uraturian kingdom begins to fall and declines and never to rise again. In 585 B.C., Urartu is  totally annihilated by the Scythians.

 

P.11. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

 

Photo: SACRED TREE WITH ATTENDANTS. Detail of an Urarturian bronze helmet of King Sarduri the second, 760-743 B.C. This continuous portrayal of the Tree of Life guarded by heavenly beings in ancient Armenian art pervaded the Urartian  mythology, folklore, religion and culture. This scene persistently appeared on personal seals, cups, statues, shields, belts, helmets, wall paintings, arches, gates, columns, entrances, grand foyers, niches, palaces windows,  public buildings and warriors military equipment.

In the early twentieth century, a long forgotten magnificent kingdom and a cradle of civilization was rediscovered in the Anatolian highlands of Asia Minor. Not until 1936 was the first systematic and scientific excavation of an edifice or a fortress of that lost civilization begun. And that was, the ancient Kingdom of Urartu (a name created by the Assyrians) which was centered around Lake Van. Sometimes, historians refer to Urartu as the kingdom of Van. The first Uraturians were called Nairi by the Assyrians and inhabitants of Asia Minor and their homeland was frequently called  Urartu,  while the Uraturians referred to their nation as the Land of Biani. The ancient Phoenicians in Tyr (Today, city of Sour in modern  Lebanon) and Sidon (Today, city of Saida in modern Lebanon) and the Hebrews knew the Uraturians and had exchanged trade and commerce with them. The Hebrews gave the Uraturians the name of Ararat as it was mentioned in the bible. And Ararat became Armenia in Greek, Coptic, Latin and Arabic. A short segment in the Book of Jeremia ,  in the fourth reign year King Zedekiah, circa 594 B.C., the Urarturians were  referred to as Ararat. Another passage in the Bible told the story of the sons of Senharib (Sennocherib) who have killed their father and took refuge in the land of Ararat “Urartu”. Coming on the wave of the Indo-European migrations into Asia and the Mediterranean, the cultures were in close contact with those that developed in Mesopotamia, sharing ethnic and cultural totems among them.  

Photo: Vase representing the seven recorded planets, circa mid-bronze age.

Federations formed and reformed between the "tribes" in the region during most of the Bronze Age.   The territory was described as a rich land between the rivers, with their head at the "mountains of the gods" (described as "Arartu" in "Gilgamesh", a ca. 4000 BC Sumerian story, considered the first epoch.   In the same epoch the land of Arartu was called the birthplace of humankind, the font of civilization, and to travel there and back, a person had to "go by land, return by water", which perfectly describes the mountainous and river terrain in Armenia).   When the Massoretic scholars were in their first process of vocalizing the text of the Old Testament, they inserted the vowel “a” into their own language’s words, thus 'Urartu' mistakenly became 'Ararat'. The Assyrian kings Salmanazar the first, Tukulti-Ninurta the first, Teglath-Phalazar the first and Salamanazar the third campaigns against Urartu were vividly recorded and described how advanced the Urarturians were in metallurgy, art, architecture, sculpture gold and silver  artwork, military crafts and, particularly, how  formidable the Urarturians were in their resistance and military tactics. The Assyrians records included lengthy descriptions of the magnificent Uraturian fortresses, the Urarturian  bronze and iron swords and shields, their cities, fortifications and ramparts. Assyrians and Hittites feared only one enemy: The People of The North. They meant by that: The Urarturians! In time of war, the ancient Urarturians-Armenians were an incredible war machine. In time of peace, they were remarkable artists, sculptors, engineers, architects, designers, irrigation geniuses, temples and cities builders, in short, they were the most advanced artists of their time.  Urartians arose from the Hurrians and used a language identical to Hurrian. These strong and tenacious inhabitants of mountains and high hills erected gigantic and great fortresses throughout their highlands. Palace, castles, ramparts, fortresses, cities fortifications ruins and sites remains reveal a majestic past and a glorious and economic might.

 

P.12. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

 

Urarturians were remarkable artists especially in sculpture, architecture, palaces and houses exterior and interior design embellished with unusual and innovative balconies, verandas, windows, towers, entrances and gates made from carved stones and ornamented iron. The interiors of their houses were decorated with exquisite bas-reliefs, motives, circular and rectangular patterns and compositions embossed with an astonishing variety of colors and shades. Many houses, regardless of the social, political and economical status of their inhabitants, had an integral water supply and practical drainage system. Their gold and silver artwork, figurines and statues enriched with mythological patterns, symbols and designs ranging from images of sacred trees protected by angels, magi, genii to monarchs, kings, priests, gods and goddesses. Urarturian architecture was predominant and influential in the Middle East, Near East  and Asia Minor. One of its most characteristic features was the blind arch which later on in will be copied and adapted by Persians, Greeks, Italians, Phoenicians, Hittites, Assyrians and the majority of the inhabitants of Asia Minor. Similar thing will happen again in the years and centuries to come, when the Cilician architecture began to influence and shape up the architecture of the fortresses and castles of the Crusaders in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, Malta and Syria and the European majestic cathedrals and churches.

Photo: Erebuni, Uraturian God.

Right after the fall of the mighty empire of the Hittites, and at the dawn of the first millennium B.C., a new kingdom was created in the eastern part of Anatolia in Asia Minor. This remarkable kingdom was Urartu which flourished from the 9^th  century  to the 6^th  century B.C. and enjoyed a formidable military and economical powers. The Urarturians were related to the Hurrians Hurrians and to the Hittites from whom originally they adopted many of their traditions and customs and particularly the shape and form  of monarch faces, beard style, hairdo and  attire they depicted later on  in their artifacts, tablets and inscriptions in the first millennium, but, later to  create their own style and way of life including  particular characteristics in art, architecture, fashion and metal work art. Urartu’s remarkable status, power and prosperity in the ancient world were recorded in 13^th century B.C. At the beginning, during the very early days of Urartu, Urarturians were grouped into a series of counties called  Nairi by the Assyrians and neighboring tribes before it became a mighty kingdom in 860 B.C. under Aramu,  its first king (860-840 B.C.) and followed by Sardur the first (840-830 B.C.) its second powerful king. Historically, Armenia as a nation was first settled in 6,000 B.C. by the Thracian-Phrygian tribes that crossed in Anatolia from the Balkans. The early Armenians established themselves as a new ruling and imposing aristocracy imposing their Indo-European language on their neighbors, surrounding nations and almost half of Asia Minor. In 590 B.C.

ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT URARTURIAN ARMENIANS: Where did the Urartians come from? Who are the Urarturians?

Often called the first kingdom or empire in Armenia's history, the Urartians are actually one of a long line of powerful entities that cultivated the Armenian Plateau and created the borders called "Greater" or "Historic" Armenia. They were a powerful tribe which belonged to a federation led by the Nairi. Before Urartu were the Nairi, before the Nairi the Metsamor Kingdom, and before that untold numbers of now anonymous kingdoms and states that sprung from the Indo-European race born on the Armenian Plateau, spreading their language, ethnic identity and the secrets of bronze, iron and astronomy to both Asia and Europe.

 

 

P.13. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

 

Photo: Close-up of Sarduri the second helm et, 8^th century B.C.

As a part of the land and people interchangeably called "The Nairi", Urartians were recognized as early as 2000 BC on Assyrian cuneiform as coming from the "land between the rivers", a land known to hold about 60 tribes and 100 cities.  Until their rise, Urartians were subservient to a tribe also called the Nairi, which were in turn one tribe among many, but they held a predominant position during the 2nd millennium BC, and became the namesake for the entire region.  Beginning about 2000 BC, the Assyrians used the term "People of the Nairi" to describe the peoples on the Armenian Plateau. The territory and people both were called Nairi, but the word meant "country or land of rivers", and contemporary Assyrian accounts describe about 60 different tribes and small kingdoms and about 100 cities included in this land.From what we know of the tribes in Nairi , indigenous customs and traditions  were similar to those found in Mesopotamia, and some  were of Semitic or Ugaritic origin.   This suggests that Ancestral Armenians are descendants of other, older cultures in the region.  However, recent discoveries and studies have turned the tables on history, showing that the cultures that developed the "Cradle of Civilization" are now pre-dated by Ancestral Armenians in Armenia's Cradle by at least 2000 years. The "people" in this description were an alliance of tribes led by a dominant tribe, the Nairi. 

They were by now more than tribes; they were city-states in a common alliance. The Nairi alliance was based around Lake Van, which together with the Ararat Valley has the most fertile land in Western Asia, as well as the largest mineral deposits in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. The Nairi were one tribe among many, but their name became synonymous with that for the entire region. From what we know of the tribes at this time, their customs and traditions were similar to others found in Mesopotamia, and they mixed Semitic or Ugaritic origins with their earlier Indo-European genetic and cultural roots. Among the tribes in Nairi was one called Urartu. About the word Nairi: The Armenian letter "i" (sounds like "ee") can be traced to 15th c. BC inscriptions for water.  Both the Nairi and the Haius used this sound/symbol, as did the Assyrians.   Thus, the word "nair" meant land, and "i" stood for   water/rivers.  The land of rivers north of Mesopotamia is that between the Euphrates and the Tigris, which flow from tributaries and sources above and below Mount Ararat. Ararat was already known as the mountain of the gods, and the territory was one of the major trade routes from Asia. The Nairi were considered a force strong enough to tackle both the Assyrians and Hittites, and populated a large territory rich in resources. They were attacked by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninutra I, and inscriptions found at the Assyrian palace at Assur tell how 43 kings of the lands of Nairi rose up against the Assyrians, were defeated and brought to Assur in chains. The Nairi offered ransom to the king, tribute was extracted from them, and a new honor was added to the official style of the Assyrian king, "king of the lands of Nairi". By the time Urartu rose in prominence it was already influenced by Indo-Europeans which originated in the Armenian Plateau, and held both genetic and cultural links with the tribes of Nairi as well as those that would later subsume it's place during the formation of the Yervanduni and Armenian Achaemenid Kingdoms. To better understand the Urartian Empire, we go back a few thousand years to the beginnings of Kingdoms and city-states on the Armenian Plateau, and to the Nairi, an often neglected period of Armenia's ancient history, which is now believed to have been the first true empire in Armenia's history.

 

P.14. History of the Civilization and Arts of Armenia from the Bronze Age to Present. By Maximillien de Lafayette. The Globe Weekly News

 

Photo: Cuneiform commemorating Erebuni birth, 782 B.C.

The Urarturians were conquered, vanquished  and overthrown by the Medes.  Short after its destruction, the magnificent kingdom of Urartu vanished from history and the memory of humankind and was totally forgotten. But, thanks to the discovery of the Scroll of the Dead Sea (Jars of Umran), the contemporary excavations in Mesopotamia, ancient Palestine and Umrit (Amrit, ancient Phoenician city in Syria), ancient Assyrian and Phoenician terra-cotta tablets and inscriptions found in cities in the Near East which contained accounts and historical records pertaining to the kingdom of Urartu and its remarkable cities and temples architecture , fortified cities, ramparts, garrisons  and fortresses of the kingdom of Urartu such as the garrisons of Erebuni, Karmir Blur, Toprakkale and the temple of Mousasir which were very-well known to the ancient civilizations and were mentioned in the official records of the Assyrian empire. Unfortunately, none of them survived.

 

Photo: Bronze plate of Balawat representing the campaign of Salamanzar the third against Urartu.

THE METAL WORK ART OF URARTU

Ancient Uraturians quickly realized and discovered that Armenia’s soil and terrains were rich and abundant with deposits of iron, copper, lead, aluminum, mercury, zinc, silver and gold.  Those discoveries caused the early development of  metal work and various metallurgies. Armenia began mining metals as early as 4,000 B.C. She was the major bronze, tin and copper supplier  to  Phoenicia, Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Urarturian art of metalwork and metallurgy was unquestionably very advanced. Urartu artifacts were exported to Ertruria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Phrygia. The excavations of the ancient Urartian site of Garmir-Ploor is considered as one of the most important archaeological discoveries and findings in the Middle East, the Near East  and  Asia Minor for they included carved ivory, stone, ceramics, metal figurines, pottery and an astonishing wide variety of  bronze domestic tools and utensils, military equipment  decorated with mythological symbols,  forms and animals, daggers, swords, helmets arrows, quivers, shields of an advanced metallurgy, as well as vases, bracelets, earrings and medallions in gold and varied sets of other jewelry.

Fortunately and unlike ancient Urarturian temples and fortresses which did not survive, many metal work, carved jewelry and other objects were found and kept in churches for safe keeping. Many of those treasurers and marvelous religious artworks in metal and precious stones are displayed or can be seen  in Jerusalem, Yerevan, Venice and Vienna.

Photo: Urarturian gold from the 9^th century B.C.

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