Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / The Van Kingdom: Urartu, Waterworks, and a Lost Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about medieval and modern Armenia — the Bagratids, the genocide, the first republic. But I want to go way back, before Armenians were even called Armenians. Before the word 'Armenia' appears in any historical record. Luna: Okay, you have my attention. How far back? Lucas: To the Iron Age, around 860 BCE. There was a kingdom called Urartu — you might hear it as the Kingdom of Van. It ruled the highlands around Lake Van, in what's now eastern Turkey. And it was a heavyweight. It traded blows with Assyria, built massive fortresses, and created an irrigation system so good that some canals are still used by farmers today. Luna: Still in use? That's incredible. Lucas: It really is. The Urartians were master hydraulic engineers. They cut tunnels through solid rock, built aqueducts, channeled mountain streams to water the volcanic plains around Van. One canal built by King Menuas around 800 BCE — they call it the Menuas Canal or Shamiran Canal — still carries water to the city of Van. Over 2,800 years old and still flowing. Lucas: And that's not even the most impressive part. Their capital, Tushpa, was built on a massive limestone outcrop right on the eastern shore of Lake Van. It's a natural fortress. You can still walk up there and see the foundations of temples, palaces, and storerooms. The walls are cyclopean — huge blocks fitted together without mortar, like you see at Mycenae or in Inca walls. Luna: So they were contemporaries of the Greeks and the Assyrians. How did they survive? Lucas: They were tough, well-organized, and they had iron. The Assyrians called them 'the strong people of Nairi.' For centuries, Urartu was Assyria's main rival to the north. Under kings like Argishti I and Sarduri II, Urartu expanded deep into what's now Armenia, Iran, and even parts of Syria. Argishti I founded the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BCE — that's the origin of the name Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia. Luna: Wait, Yerevan is that old? Over 2,800 years? Lucas: Exactly. Erebuni was a fortified city with a temple to the god Haldi, the chief deity of Urartu. Archaeologists have found cuneiform tablets and wall paintings there. It was a show of power — a statement that Urartu was in the Ararat plain to stay. And, for a while, it worked. Urartu's influence stretched from the Euphrates to the Caspian. Lucas: But the Assyrians never let up. King Sargon II mounted a massive campaign in 714 BCE that destroyed the temple of Haldi at Musasir and crippled Urartu's economy. The Urartian king Rusa I committed suicide in shame. The empire never fully recovered, though it limped on for another century. Luna: So Assyria was the main enemy. What happened to Urartu in the end? Lucas: It's a bit of a mystery. Around 590 BCE, the kingdom just collapsed. There's no record of a final battle. The cities were abandoned gradually. Some scholars think it was a combination of internal decay, climate change, and pressure from new groups — like the Medes and the Scythians. The Urartian people didn't disappear; they probably merged with local populations, becoming part of what later would be called Armenia. Luna: And that's where the name 'Armenia' comes from? Lucas: Possibly. The first known use of 'Armenia' is in the Behistun Inscription, carved by the Persian king Darius I around 520 BCE. It lists 'Armina' as one of the provinces of the Achaemenid Empire. That's the same region as Urartu. So there's a direct geographical and cultural continuity. The language changed — Old Armenian is related to Phrygian and Greek, not to Urartian — but the land, the irrigation systems, the fortress sites — they were passed down. Luna: You know, thinking about the work that must have gone into those canals and fortresses, it's remarkable that we can still see echoes of it today. And that connection, the way it ties into modern Yerevan and the landscape — it makes the history feel alive. Lucas: Absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that makes this show worthwhile — seeing how the past is still present. If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small thing that keeps us going. Luna: Yeah, it really matters. We don't have sponsors, so it's just people like you who find value in these conversations. And we're grateful. Lucas: Alright, back to Urartu. So the kingdom left behind a lot of inscriptions — mostly in cuneiform, recording kings' deeds and dedications to the gods. But here's the thing: we can read them, but we still don't fully understand the Urartian language. It's related to Hurrian, an ancient language of northern Mesopotamia, but it's not well preserved. So we know the names of kings and gods, but we don't have Urartian literature or poetry. It's all bureaucratic. Luna: So it's like we have the skeleton but not the soul. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes archaeology so fascinating — and so frustrating. We have the fortress walls, the canals, the metalwork. Urartian bronze cauldrons and ivory carvings have been found as far away as Greece and Etruria. They were part of a trade network. But their stories, their myths, their sense of humor — lost. Luna: Is there any continuity from Urartu into later Armenian culture? I mean, besides the name Yerevan? Lucas: That's a debated question. Some Armenian historians, especially in the Soviet era, emphasized Urartu as a direct predecessor to Armenia — partly to claim deep roots in the region. But linguistically, Urartian is not related to Armenian. Culturally, some motifs in Armenian folk art might echo Urartian patterns, but it's hard to prove. What's clearer is the geographical and agricultural inheritance. The irrigation systems, the terraced farming on mountain slopes — that's a continuity of practice, if not of bloodline. Luna: And the fortresses. I've seen pictures of the Van Fortress — it's stunning, that sheer cliff face. Lucas: It is. And it's not the only one. Urartu was a fortress culture. They built strongholds on almost every hilltop in the Van basin. Some of them, like the fortress at Cavustepe or the one at Toprakkale, have been excavated and you can see the storage rooms for grain and wine. They were preparing for sieges all the time. And the engineering is so good that the walls are still standing. Lucas: One of the most impressive sites is the Sarduriburg — the fortress of Sarduri II, at Van itself. The entrance is a monumental gate with cuneiform inscriptions. The king boasts about building it 'for the greatness of the land of Urartu and to humiliate the enemy.' It's blunt and proud. Luna: I love that. 'To humiliate the enemy.' No subtlety. Lucas: Right. And that's the voice of Urartu we get — the voice of power. Because almost every inscription is about conquest, building, and offerings to the god Haldi. The state religion was centered on Haldi, who was a warrior god. His temple at Musasir was so revered that the Assyrians bragged about sacking it. Luna: Were there any other gods? Lucas: Yes, the Urartian pantheon had dozens. The most important after Haldi were the god of storms, Teisheba, and the sun god, Shivini. Kings often built temples to all three. And there were female deities too — the goddess Saris, associated with the earth, or sometimes the moon. But our knowledge is limited because the inscriptions are formulaic. Lucas: What's fascinating is that Urartu fell around 590 BCE, but its legacy didn't. The Achaemenid Persians took over the region and used the same irrigation systems, the same fortress sites. And later, the Armenian kingdoms of the Orontids and Artaxiads inherited that infrastructure. So in a way, Urartu built the framework that made classical and medieval Armenia possible. Luna: So when we talk about Armenian history, we're really standing on Urartian foundations. Lucas: Literally and figuratively. The oldest written records from the Armenian highlands are Urartian. The first fortified cities, the first roads, the first large-scale agriculture — it all starts with Urartu. They were the first state in this region that could mobilize thousands of workers, manage a bureaucracy, and project military power across hundreds of kilometers. Luna: And they were rivals with Assyria, which is one of the most powerful empires of the ancient world. Lucas: Exactly. The fact that Urartu held its own for nearly 300 years against Assyrian pressure is a testament to its strength. And when Assyria started to decline in the late 7th century, Urartu might have had a chance to reassert itself — but then came the Medes and the Scythians, and it all unraveled. Luna: It's almost like the pattern we've seen in later Armenian history — a powerful civilization caught between larger empires, eventually crushed. Lucas: There is a tragic echo, isn't there? But Urartu's story is also one of resilience. The people didn't vanish. Their genes, their place names, their farming techniques — they all persisted. The very name of Mount Ararat, which is so central to Armenian identity, might come from 'Urartu.' The Bible's 'Mount Ararat' is probably a corruption of that name. Luna: So the mountain where Noah's Ark supposedly landed is named after this lost kingdom. Lucas: That's the prevailing theory. In the Book of Genesis, it says the ark came to rest on 'the mountains of Ararat' — but that's a translation of the Hebrew 'Ararat,' which refers to the region of Urartu. Over centuries, it became attached to the specific mountain we now call Mount Ararat. So the kingdom lives on in one of the most iconic symbols of Armenia. Luna: That's a beautiful way to think about it. A kingdom that built canals still flowing and gave a mountain its name. Lucas: Yeah. And when you stand on the shores of Lake Van and look up at the fortress of Tushpa, you're looking at 2,800 years of history in one view. The same lake, the same mountain, the same irrigation water. That's why I love this part of history — it doesn't stay in the past. Luna: It's a great reminder that the past is never really gone. It's just waiting to be noticed.