Latest / The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History / The Armenian Highlands: Cradle of Ancestral Civilizations
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the great Armenian kingdoms — Urartu, the Artaxiads, the Bagratids — but today I want to go way back, to a time before any of that. Before the kingdom of Van, before even the name 'Armenia' shows up in any record. Luna: How far back are we talking? Lucas: Roughly 3500 BCE. The early Bronze Age. And the place is the Armenian Highlands, a region that was already home to sophisticated urban settlements. One of the most fascinating sites is Metsamor — and I don't mean the medieval fortress, but the much older settlement underneath. Luna: Wait — Metsamor? I've heard of it in connection with the Urartian period. There's an older layer? Lucas: Exactly. And it's extraordinary. The site has been occupied almost continuously from the 4th millennium BCE all the way into the medieval period. But the earliest layers belong to what archaeologists call the Kura-Araxes culture, named after the two rivers: the Kura and the Araxes. This was a culture that stretched across the Caucasus and into modern-day Iran and Turkey. Lucas: What makes them distinctive? Their pottery — a very specific black burnished ware, often with incised geometric patterns. And they were early metalworkers. They were smelting copper and arsenic bronze centuries before most of their neighbors. Luna: And you said they had urban centers? At Metsamor? Lucas: Yes. By around 2800 BCE, Metsamor had a massive cyclopean wall — huge stones fitted together without mortar, and it enclosed a citadel with a temple complex. Inside, archaeologists have found evidence of an observatory — a stone circle aligned with the rising sun at the solstices. So these people were tracking celestial cycles. Luna: That's incredible. So this wasn't just a village; it was a planned settlement with astronomy built in. Lucas: Absolutely. And it wasn't isolated. The Kura-Araxes culture had trade networks reaching as far as Mesopotamia. They were exchanging metals and obsidian for luxury goods. This was a dynamic, interconnected world. Lucas: Now, here's where it gets relevant to Armenian identity. The question of who the Armenians are — where they came from — is deeply tied to these early populations. The traditional story, recorded by Movses Khorenatsi, says the progenitor of the Armenian people is Hayk, a great-grandson of Noah, who fought the giant Bel and settled in the land around Mount Ararat. Luna: And that's a foundation myth, right? Not literal history. Lucas: Right. But it encodes a memory of migration. Linguistically, Armenian is an Indo-European language, and its closest relatives are Greek and the extinct Phrygian language of Anatolia. So there's a theory that the Armenians as a distinct group migrated into the Highlands sometime around 1200 BCE, after the collapse of the Hittite Empire. Luna: But the Kura-Araxes culture is much earlier. So they weren't 'Armenian' in the ethnic sense, right? Lucas: No, but they were the substrate. When the Armenians moved in, they encountered a population that had been there for thousands of years — people who built cyclopean walls and worshipped at observatories. And over time, language and culture blended. So the Armenian identity isn't just one migration; it's a layering of these earlier groups. Lucas: One of those earlier groups, by the way, was the Hurrians. They had a powerful kingdom called Mitanni that rivaled Egypt and the Hittites in the second millennium BCE. And some scholars argue that the Hurrian language, which is neither Indo-European nor Semitic, left traces in Armenian — particularly in religious vocabulary. Luna: So the Armenians absorbed the Hurrians? Or were they conquered? Lucas: More like absorbed. When the Hittites and then the Assyrians pushed into the region, Mitanni collapsed around 1300 BCE. But the people didn't disappear. They became part of the mix. And then around the 12th century BCE, we see a new name appear in Assyrian records: the Nairi. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I wrote about campaigning against 'the kings of the land of Nairi' — a confederation of small states in the Armenian Highlands. Lucas: The Nairi are often seen as the direct predecessors of the Urartian kingdom. And the Urartian language, inscribed on cliff faces at Van and elsewhere, is related to Hurrian. So there's a continuity from the Hurrian world through Nairi into Urartu, and then, gradually, into Armenia. Luna: That's fascinating. So the 'Armenian' identity is really a palimpsest — layer on layer. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes the Highlands so special. It's not just a single origin story; it's a convergence of cultures. And the evidence is in the ground. At Metsamor, you can see the Kura-Araxes pottery, then Urartian arrowheads, then Hellenistic glass, then medieval crosses — all at the same site. Lucas: Before we go deeper into Urartu, I want to mention something about how we approach this. You know, we don't run ads on this show — we choose to keep it entirely listener-supported. So if you enjoy these deep dives into Armenian history, and you want to help us keep going, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, and it really does make a difference. Every contribution lets us spend more time on research and bring you stories that might otherwise be overlooked. Lucas: Alright. So with that, let's turn to Urartu. What do we actually know about the kingdom that emerged in the 9th century BCE, centered around Lake Van? Luna: Well, the name 'Urartu' comes from Assyrian sources — it's what they called the region. The Urartians themselves called their kingdom 'Biainili'. Lucas: That's right. Biainili, from which we get 'Van'. And they spoke a language related to Hurrian. The first king we know by name is Arame, around 860 BCE, but the real founder of the kingdom was Sarduri I, who moved the capital to Tushpa — modern Van. Lucas: What's striking about Urartu is its engineering. They built massive fortresses with perfectly fitted stone blocks, some weighing several tons. They constructed an extensive network of canals and reservoirs to irrigate the plains. At the site of Çavuştepe, you can still see the foundations of a temple to the god Haldi, the chief deity. Luna: And they were constantly at war with Assyria, right? Lucas: Constantly. The Assyrian kings Shalmaneser III and Sargon II both claim to have defeated Urartu. But Urartu always bounced back. It wasn't until the 7th century BCE, with the rise of the Medes and internal decay, that the kingdom finally collapsed. Lucas: And that collapse opened the door for the Armenians — the people who would give their name to the land. The first unambiguous mention of 'Armenia' is in the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great, around 520 BCE. He lists 'Armina' as a province of the Persian Empire. Luna: So by the time of the Achaemenids, the Armenians are already there, speaking Armenian, and the Highlands are their home. Lucas: Exactly. And one of the most remarkable things is how much continuity there is. The Armenian language, despite absorbing many loanwords from Persian, Greek, and others, remains fundamentally Indo-European. The religion, too, had deep roots — gods like Vahagn and Anahit have parallels in the Urartian and Hurrian pantheons. Lucas: So when you look at a site like Metsamor, you're not just seeing a Bronze Age settlement. You're seeing the birthplace of a cultural tradition that would, through centuries of change, produce the Armenia we recognize today. Luna: It's amazing to think that those early astronomers, watching the solstices from their stone circle, were part of a story that's still being told. Lucas: And that's the thread we'll keep following. Next time, we'll dive into the kingdom of Urartu itself — the fortresses, the irrigation systems, and the showdown with Assyria.