Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / Armenia's First King: The Rise of Urartu under Aramu
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've covered a lot of Armenian history on this show—the epic battles, the dynasties, the genocide. But I realized there's one crucial chapter we've only touched on in passing: the very beginning. The kingdom that set the stage for everything that came after. Luna: You mean before the Artaxiads, before even the nakharars? Lucas: Exactly. I'm talking about Urartu—the Iron Age kingdom that flourished on the Armenian highlands from around the 9th to 6th centuries BCE. And specifically, I want to focus on its first known king: a figure named Aramu. Luna: Aramu—I've seen that name in Assyrian inscriptions, right? Lucas: That's exactly where we find him. Our main source for Aramu is the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, who campaigned repeatedly against Urartu. In the Kurkh Monolith—a stone inscription from 853 BCE—Shalmaneser boasts of conquering 'the land of Urartu' and lists Aramu as its king. The name itself is striking: Aramu, Arma, Aram—it echoes later Armenian names like Aram and Ara the Beautiful, which some scholars see as evidence of cultural continuity. Luna: So Urartu is the earliest known state in the region, and its king has an Armenian-sounding name. Lucas: Right. But it's not that simple. Urartu was actually a confederation of tribes around Lake Van, not a unified nation yet. Aramu appears to have been the first leader to consolidate these groups into a kingdom strong enough to draw Assyrian attention. And Assyrian attention was not something you wanted. Shalmaneser III was one of the most aggressive Neo-Assyrian emperors—he led campaigns every year, smashing cities and collecting tribute. Luna: How did Aramu and his kingdom fare against that? Lucas: The Assyrian records say Shalmaneser defeated him, burned his cities, and marched victoriously. But here's the thing: Urartu didn't disappear. After Aramu, the kingdom actually grew stronger. His successors—men like Sarduri I and Ishpuini—built a fortress capital at Tushpa, modern Van, and expanded into the mountains. Within a century, Urartu was a rival empire, with its own cuneiform script, advanced irrigation systems, and a pantheon that included Haldi, the chief god. Luna: So Aramu was the first to unite them, but he lost to Assyria. Yet his kingdom survived and thrived. Lucas: That's the pattern we see over and over in Armenian history: defeat on the battlefield, but long-term resilience. And it raises a big question that historians still debate: were the Urartians the direct ancestors of the Armenians? Luna: I know that's been a contentious issue. Some scholars say yes, others say no. Lucas: It really is. On one side, the Urartian language is not Indo-European—it's related to Hurrian, a language of northern Mesopotamia. Armenian, of course, is Indo-European. That suggests the Urartians were a different people. But on the other side, there's strong evidence of cultural and genetic continuity. The kingdom's heartland is the same as later Armenia. The gods and place-names seem to have been absorbed. And the name 'Armenia' itself first appears in the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, around 520 BCE, as 'Armina'—likely derived from 'Urartu' via Old Persian. Luna: So the Persians called the land Armina, which became Armenia. Lucas: Exactly. And the biblical name 'Ararat' is also a variation of Urartu—Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia, is literally named after this ancient kingdom. So whether the Urartians were 'Armenian' in the ethnic sense, they were certainly the foundational state that Armenian identity grew out of. Luna: That's fascinating. Are there physical remains of Aramu's kingdom we can still see? Lucas: The most dramatic is the Van Fortress, built on the cliffs above Lake Van. It's attributed to Sarduri I, Aramu's successor, but it sits on a site that was already fortified in Aramu's time. The walls are massive—cyclopean masonry, with blocks weighing several tons. And there are irrigation channels, rock-cut tombs, and cuneiform inscriptions. One inscription from Sarduri's reign calls him 'king of the four quarters,' a title borrowed from Assyria, showing that Urartu was consciously imitating imperial power. Luna: They were building an empire of their own. Lucas: They were. And they almost matched Assyria. At its peak under Argishti I, around 780 BCE, Urartu stretched from the Euphrates to the Caspian Sea. They built fortresses, temples, and a network of canals that still water the region today. But then came the nomadic Cimmerians and Scythians, and internal decline, and eventually the Medes and Assyrians finished them off. By 590 BCE, Urartu was gone—but its legacy lived on in the name and the land. Luna: So when we talk about Armenia's deep roots, we're really talking about Urartu. Lucas: Exactly. And you know, it's incredible to think that a kingdom from 2800 years ago still shapes how people today identify with this land. That's part of why we keep making these episodes—to trace those threads. Luna: And speaking of keeping the show going, I know we're ad-free and listener-supported. If people enjoy these deep dives, they can chip in at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo—it really helps us keep researching these stories. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group of listeners who make this possible, and we're grateful. But back to Aramu—there's one more thing I want to touch on. The Assyrian accounts paint Aramu as a defeated enemy, but the fact that he's named at all tells us he was a significant threat. Shalmaneser III didn't bother naming every petty chief. By singling out Aramu, he showed that Urartu was already a force to be reckoned with. Luna: So Aramu was like the first 'named' Armenian in recorded history—through the eyes of an enemy. Lucas: Exactly. And that enemy perspective is all we have. No Urartian texts mention Aramu directly—the earliest Urartian inscriptions come from his successors. So we're left with Assyrian propaganda: Shalmaneser's version of events. But even in that biased account, we can glimpse a leader who united a fractured highland and set a kingdom on a path that would last for centuries. Luna: It's humbling to think that this one name, from a stone inscription, is the first flicker of Armenian statehood. Lucas: It really is. And it connects directly to later history. When Tigranes the Great called himself 'King of Kings,' he was consciously reviving the imperial ambitions of Urartu. The same mountains, the same valleys, the same sense of being a buffer between empires—it all starts with Aramu. Luna: So next time I see Mount Ararat, I'll think of that. Lucas: And of Aramu, who may have looked up at that same mountain, 2800 years ago, and dreamed of a kingdom that would outlast him. And it did.