arshba.ru

13th century BC

Urartu (Ararat, Biainili, Kingdom of Van, Urartian: KURbi-a-i-na, Armenian: Ուրարտու, Turkish: Urartu, Persian: اورارتو‎) — an ancient state in southwestern Asia, located on the territory of the Armenian Highlands (modern Armenia, eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan). The existence of Urartu as a tribal union is documented from the 13th century, and as a state — from the 8th century BC. Urartu ceased to exist in the 6th century BC. In the first quarter of the 1st millennium BC, Urartu occupied a dominant position among the states of the Near East.

Origin of the Nairi/Urartu tribes

Due to the fact that the population of Urartu was ethnically heterogeneous, the origin of the Urartians in recent scholarly literature refers specifically to the origin of the ruling tribe, the bearers of the written Urartian language. Regarding the Urartian element itself, there is a scholarly consensus about the direct connection of the Urartian language with Hurrian, as well as about the probable spread of the Urartians across the Armenian Highlands from the Rawanduz area (in the territory of today's West Azerbaijan province), where the ancient city of Musasir was located. It is likely that the ancient Urartian city of Musasir was located on the territory of the original settlement of this tribe.

The scarcity of archaeological material and the absence of writing among other "Nairi tribes" does not allow us to speak with certainty about their origin. Researchers consider it probable that the population of Urartu included both sedentary and nomadic populations, and with varying degrees of certainty assume the presence of various groups of migrants in Urartu from the southeast, northeast, and west. At the same time, it is indisputable that the population of Urartu included a large mass of Hurrian population, possibly also designated by the Assyrians by the word "Nairi," which remained after the collapse of the state of Mitanni.

Separately and deeply studied was the question of the origin of the Proto-Armenian tribes within Urartu, that is, the tribes bearing the Proto-Armenian language. The ethnogenesis of the Armenians naturally represented an interest in Armenia, and besides, for political reasons, it was important for Armenia to confirm the autochthony of Armenians on the Armenian Highlands, which gave the issue additional urgency. In world historiography, the prevailing opinion is that the Proto-Armenian tribes (probably the Mushki of Assyrian sources) migrated to the Armenian Highlands from the west and settled in the territory of historical Armenia before the formation of the state of Urartu — at the end of the 2nd millennium BC (the modern Turkish province of Malatya on the site of historical Melitene). In Armenian historiography, the (possibly politically motivated) tendency prevails to speak of the autochthony of Armenians on the Armenian Highlands in the area of Hayasa, based in particular on the Armenian hypothesis of Ivanov-Gamkrelidze, which has been rejected by most linguists. For more details, see Ethnogenesis of the Armenians.

Urartian language

Belongs to the Hurro-Urartian language family. Word formation and inflection were carried out through agglutinative suffixes. Ergative sentence construction.


Materials:

Maps of the period