Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / The Armenian Highland: Urartu, Behistun, and Ancient Roots
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've done a lot of episodes on medieval Armenia, the genocide, the diaspora. But I realised we've never really dug into the very beginning — the Iron Age kingdom that existed here before the name 'Armenia' even shows up in the historical record. I'm talking about Urartu. Luna: Urartu — that's the kingdom centred around Lake Van, right? Lucas: Exactly. The Assyrians called it Urartu, but the people themselves called their land Biainili. And their capital was Tushpa — what's now the city of Van in eastern Turkey. This kingdom flourished from about the 9th to the 6th century BCE, and it's absolutely key to understanding Armenian origins. Lucas: You know, before we dive deeper — and this is something I don't say often — but the reason we can spend time on corners like Urartu is that this show is listener-supported. A small group of people chip in through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's what keeps us ad-free and able to produce these deep dives. Luna: Yeah, it's a great model. And it lets us go niche without worrying about sponsors. Lucas: Right. So back to Urartu. The kingdom emerged when the Assyrian Empire was at its peak. The Assyrians were expanding north into the mountains, and the local tribes consolidated into a state to resist. The first king we know of is Sarduri I, around 840 BCE, who built a fortress at Tushpa and left inscriptions in Assyrian cuneiform. Luna: Wait — he used Assyrian script? Not a local language? Lucas: Good catch. Early Urartian kings wrote in Assyrian, but within a few generations they developed their own cuneiform system for the Urartian language, which is related to Hurrian. So it's not Indo-European — not directly ancestral to Armenian. That's one of the big debates: is there continuity between Urartu and the Armenians who appear later? Lucas: The Soviet historian Igor Diakonoff argued that the Armenian language entered the region with the Medes or Phrygians, and that Urartu was a separate non-Armenian state. But other scholars point to the survival of Urartian place names — like the name 'Ararat' itself, which appears in the Bible but comes from 'Urartu'. And the Armenian tradition claims descent from Hayk, a legendary figure, not from Urartian kings. Luna: So the connection is more contested than I thought. Lucas: Very. But regardless of direct lineage, Urartu left an enormous mark. The fortress of Erebuni, founded by King Argishti I in 782 BCE, is considered the predecessor of modern Yerevan. Argishti built it as a garrison city, and the name 'Erebuni' likely gave us 'Yerevan'. So the Armenian capital has an Urartian foundation. Lucas: And Urartu was technologically advanced. They built massive irrigation canals — some still in use today near Van. They had elaborate fortresses carved into cliffs, like the one at Van itself. Their chief god was Haldi, and they built temples to him. The kingdom was a major power, rivaling Assyria. Luna: What happened to Urartu? Did Assyria destroy it? Lucas: Assyria weakened it, but the final blow came from the Medes around 590 BCE. After that, the region became part of the Median Empire, and then the Achaemenid Persian Empire. And here's where the name 'Armenia' first appears: in the Behistun Inscription, carved by Darius the Great around 520 BCE. It lists 'Armina' as one of his satrapies. Luna: So the first written mention of Armenia is in a Persian monument. Lucas: Exactly. And that inscription is trilingual — Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian. The Old Persian version says 'Armina', and it's generally accepted that this refers to the region formerly held by Urartu. So there's a transition: the Urartian political structure collapses, but the land retains a distinct identity that the Persians recognise as Armenia. Lucas: What's fascinating is that the Behistun Inscription also mentions a rebellion in Armenia. Darius says a man named Arakha, son of Haldita, claimed to be a king of Babylon and led a revolt, but Darius crushed it. The name 'Haldita' means 'servant of Haldi' — the Urartian god. So even a century after Urartu fell, the old religious identity still mattered. Luna: That's a really concrete link. So Urartian culture persisted into the Achaemenid period. Lucas: Yes. And the satrapy of Armenia within the Persian Empire was a major administrative unit. The Persians used local elites to govern, and those elites — the predecessors of the nakharar families we talk about in later episodes — likely claimed descent from Urartian nobles. So the thread is there, even if the language shifted. Lucas: One more thing about Urartu: they left behind thousands of cuneiform inscriptions, mostly on stone. They record building projects, military campaigns, and religious rituals. The British Museum and museums in Yerevan have many of them. And one of the most famous is the 'Sarduri Inscription' from Van, which declares: 'Sarduri, son of Lutipri, king of kings, received tribute from all kings.' Luna: King of kings — that's a title that would echo through Persian and later Armenian rulers. Lucas: Exactly. So when we talk about Armenian identity, Urartu is the deep foundation — the first organised state on the Armenian Highland. The debate about ethnic continuity is ongoing, but the cultural and territorial continuity is undeniable. And for listeners who want to see this history, the fortress of Erebuni in Yerevan is an open-air museum where you can walk the same walls Argishti built. Luna: I'd love to visit that. It's amazing that a 2800-year-old fortress still defines the city. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's the story — Urartu may have fallen, but its bones became Armenia.