Arzashkun or Arṣashkun (
Armenian: Արծաշկուն) was the capital of the early
kingdom of Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
in the 9th century BC, before
Sarduri I moved it to
Tushpa in 832 BC. Arzashkun had double walls and towers, but was captured by
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campaig ...
in the 840s BC.
Name
Arzashkun seems to be the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
n form of an
Armenian name ending in -ka formed from a proper name Arzash. The root of Arzashkun may ultimately be
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
''*harg-'' or *
h₂erǵ-', meaning "bright, white", by way of
Proto-Armenian
Proto-Armenian is the earlier, unattested stage of the Armenian language which has been reconstructed by linguists. As Armenian is the only known language of its branch of the Indo-European languages, the comparative method cannot be used to re ...
intermediaries "Arcesk'o" and then "Arčešo" (genitive: "Arčišoy").
Arzashkun was hidden, and protected from attack, by a dense forest almost impassable to a regular army.
Location
The precise location of the city is uncertain. It has been located variously by different scholars as along the shore of
Lake Van
Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
, near
Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia;
az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü;
ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê;
hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich;
arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is l ...
, near
Malazgirt, or at Bostankaya between Malazgirt and
Patnos.
According to
Robert Hewsen and Armen Petrosyan, Arzashkun was at the northeastern shore of Lake Van, probably near the site of old Arjesh, now inundated by the waters of Lake Van.
Arzashkun recalls the names Arsene and Arsissa, applied by the ancients to part of Lake Van. This is likely modern
Erciş. It may also be connected to
Lake Erçek
Lake Erçek ( tr, Erçek Gölü, hy, Արճակ լիճ, ku, Gola Erçekê) is an endorheic salt lake in Van Province in eastern Turkey, about east of Lake Van. The lake sits at an elevation of about , and has an area of and a mean depth of . Th ...
, located to the immediate east of Lake Van.
Alternately, Arzashkun might represent the Ardzik of the Armenian historical records, located west of
Malasgert.
Fall of Arzashkun
At the headwaters of the river
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
, there appears in the ninth century, B.C., an organized state of
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
. Shalmaneser regarded it as so menacing to
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
's interest that he undertook an expedition in 857, claimed to have destroyed the capital Arzashkun, penetrated as far as
Lake Van
Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...
, and left his inscription on
Mount Irritia
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
.
[Aram and Israel - Page 105 by Emil Gottlieb Heinrich Kraeling]
Shalmaneser on his ''Black Obelisk'' records this campaign:
:(35-44) In the third year of my reign, Ahuni, son of Adini, was frightened before my mighty weapons and retreated from Til-barzip, his royal city. I crossed the Euphrates. I seized for myself the city of Ana-Assur-utir-asbat, which lies on the other side of the Euphrates, on the Sagur river, which the Hittite people called Pitru. When I returned, I entered the passes of the land of Alzi; the lands of Alzi, Suhni, Daiaeni, Tumme, Arzashkunu, the royal city of
Arame, the
Armenian (king), Gilzânu, and Hubushkia (I conquered
See also
*
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
*
Sugunia
*
Lake Erçek
Lake Erçek ( tr, Erçek Gölü, hy, Արճակ լիճ, ku, Gola Erçekê) is an endorheic salt lake in Van Province in eastern Turkey, about east of Lake Van. The lake sits at an elevation of about , and has an area of and a mean depth of . Th ...
References
{{Authority control
Urartian cities
Former populated places in Turkey