Argišti I, was the sixth known

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...

, reigning from 786 BC to 764 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. Alternate transliterations of the name include ''Argishtis'', ''Argisti'', ''Argišti'', and ''Argishtish''. Although the name is usually rendered as ''Argišti'' (read: ''Argishti''), some scholars argue that ''Argisti'' is the most likely pronunciation. This is due to the belief that the Urartians used the cuneiform symbol ''š'' to voice an ''s''-sound, as opposed to representing the digraph ''sh''. A son and the successor of

Menua Menua ( ariations exist, also rendered Meinua or Minua, was the fifth known king of Urartu from c. 810 BC to approximately 786 BC. In Armenian, Menua is rendered as ''Menua''. The name Menua may be connected etymologically to the Ancient Greek n ...

, he continued the series of conquests initiated by his predecessors, apparently campaigning every year of his reign. He was involved in a number of inconclusive conflicts with the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n king

Shalmaneser IV Shalmaneser IV ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Salmānu is foremost") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 783 BC to his death in 773 BC. Shalmaneser was the son and successor of his predecessor, Adad-nirari III, and ruled during a p ...

. He conquered the northern part of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and made Urartu the most powerful state in post- Hittite

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. He also expanded his kingdom north to

Lake Sevan Lake Sevan () is the largest body of water in both Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater Alpine lake, high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia. The lake is situated in Gegharkunik Province, at an altitude of abov ...

, conquering much of

Diauehi Diauehi (Modern ka, დიაოხი , Urartian ''Diauehi'', Greek ''Taochoi'', Armenian '' Tayk'', possibly Assyrian ''Daiaeni'') was a tribal union located in northeastern Anatolia, that was recorded in Assyrian and Urartian sources dur ...

and the Ararat Valley. After an uprising by the inhabitants of the newly conquered regions, Argišti deported them and repopulated the area with subjects from other parts of his empire.Adam T. Smith. ''The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities.'' University of California Press. 2003

/ref> In those territories, Argišti built Erebuni Fortress in 782 BC, settling it with 6,600 prisoners of war from Hatti and Supani. He also founded the fortress of Argištiḫinili in 776 BC, on the site of Armavir, the first capital of the later Kingdom of Armenia. Inscriptions belonging to the Urartian king Argišti I were found in

Kepenek Castle The Kepenek Castle (), is a historical Urartian castle on the mountain slope in the central district of Muş, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively sm ...

, located on a hill near

Muş Muş (; ; ) is a city in eastern Turkey. It is the seat of Muş Province and Muş District.İl Beled ...

. He was succeeded by his son Sarduri II. Philologist Armen Petrosyan proposes an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

etymology for the name ''Argišti'', deriving it from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

root 'white bright', 'swift, fast', from which also Greek 'white, bright' and 'quick'; this etymology was suggested by Robert Eisler. Petrosyan also considers possible a connection with Greek 'best'.

References

External links

Erebouni at Armenica.org

Kings of Urartu 8th-century BC monarchs City founders History of Yerevan {{Armenia-royal-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links