The Kingdom of Armenia

New Edition

Mack Chahin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136852503
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

While the majority of contemporary works on Armenia concentrate on the modern era, The Kingdom of Armenia takes its beginning in the third century BC, with the ancient literate peoples of Mesopotamia who had commercial interests in the land of Armenia, and continues with a comprehensive overview through to the end of the Middle Ages.

Part One:

The Kingdom of Urartu

1

The Land of Armenia

The Kingdom of Ararat (as in Hebrew tradition — Genesis VIII.4; Jeremiah LI. 27), Urartu (as known to the Assyrians) or Biaini or Biainili (as the natives called their country), was situated to the north and the south-east of Lake Van. ¹The fusion by conquest or treaty of a number of Hurrian chieftainships (see Chapter 2) had produced, by the thirteenth century BC, a powerful kingdom which, after the tenth century BC, under a succession of vigorous kings, expanded and occupied the region between the Upper Euphrates in the west and the Caspian Sea in the east (c. 46° longitude), the Caucasus mountains in the north and the Taurus Range in the south. Since c. 600 BC when the Armenians, a branch of the great Indo-European linguistic people, succeeded the Urartians, that area has been described as Armenia. I must emphasise, however, that it is thus described as a geographical, not a political region. Armenia’s political extent fluctuated enormously over a period of some 2000 years, down to the fifteenth century AD, subject to the vicissitudes of war and peace. After that, in spite of 500 years of Turkish occupation, the geographical area defined above continued to be called Armenia, just as, for example, Poland, though occupied in turn by Germans or Russians for centuries, has sustained its geographical and, like Armenia, its ethnic and linguistic identity.

The land of Armenia, then, is situated largely on an extensive plateau, surrounded by high mountains, well watered by rivers which perpetuate its natural fertility. The legendary Mount Ararat dominates the valley of the River Araxes, and its majestic mass overshadows the city of Erevan, capital of the modern Republic of Armenia, a northern remnant of the mighty empire of Urartu and its Armenian successors. Further south tower the volcanic massifs of Aladagh, Süpandagh and Hakkari Hills, encircling Lake Van. A series of escarpments extend the massif southwards into the Mesopotamian steppes, whereas to the west, the massif remains consistently high, as far as the Dersin, and some of the highest and most inaccessible peaks in the world are to be found there. The massif is the watershed which feeds the great Euphrates and Tigris, flowing southwards into the Persian Gulf, and the Araxes and Kura which empty into the Caspian Sea. South-eastwards, this mountainous land-system is broken by the extensive Lake Urmia, and then continues through Ustan Cheharum and the wild mountains of Kurdistan (the watershed of the Greater and Lesser Zab rivers, tributaries of the Tigris) to join the Zagros mountains, the protective eastern wall behind which the early civilisations of the ‘Fertile Crescent’ developed.

The severe Armenian winters are fortunately followed by hot summers which help the rapid growth of vegetation (barley grows as far as, and beyond, the 6500ft tree-line). There are excellent mountain pastures and extensive fertile valleys. Agriculture was always one of the main activities of the Armenian people, the valleys yielding their abundant crops of wheat, barley, millet, rye, sesame and flax, as well as vines. The uplands encouraged the breeding of sheep, goats and cattle, and the region was famous for its fine breed of Neaean horses. Dairy farming was an occupation of the summer months.

Agriculture, then, appears to have been among the principal sources of state revenue. The rich land, with its great forests, generous mineral deposits and an invigorating climate, coupled with the fact that it lay astride the trade routes between Further Asia and western Anatolia and the Mediterranean, was always a tempting prize for the ambitious kings of the south and the west, as well as for the barbarians of the north and the east. The rulers of Armenia from its earliest Urartian period (c.1400 BC) down to the fifteenth century AD had to be powerful enough in battle to withstand the hostile pressures on their borders; also, they had to possess above-average organising skill and considerable aptitude in the art of diplomacy to control the petty chiefs and princes in the many valleys and inaccessible mountain strongholds of their country, and to bring them and their warrior peoples within the hegemony of the kingdom. They were greatly assisted in this task by the east-west aspect of the Armenian Alps and the Taurus Range, which prevented an easy penetration of enemies from the south and the north. However, the same geographical features offered convenient routes not only to traders and their caravans, but also to invaders, particularly from the east and the west. Another important geographical factor which determined the country’s long political and cultural history is that since it is one of the important Eurasian crossroads, it is intimately interwoven with those of its changing neighbours.

2

The ‘Lost’ Kingdom of Urartu

The existence of Urartu (the pre-Armenian, pre 600 BC civilisation) was unknown, a ‘lost’ civilisation, until 1823, when a French scholar, Jean Saint-Martin, chanced upon a passage in the History of Armenia by the fifth century AD Armenian historian, Moses of Khoren (Movses Khorenats’i),¹ which aroused his curiosity. It tells the well-known Armenian legend of the unrequited love of Queen Shamiram (the Semiramis of Greek legend)² for Ara the Beautiful, a legendary king of Armenia. Her pride wounded, Shamiram went to war against Armenia, but in spite of strict orders to her warriors not to harm him, a stray arrow killed Ara. The distraught queen decided to remain in Armenia, the land of her hero. The story continues colourfully:

After these events, Shamiram remained but a short time on the Plain of Armenia, which is called, after Ara, ‘Ararat’. She travelled southwards, while it was still summer, journeying leisurely through the valleys and the flowering countryside. Impressed by the scenery around her, the purity of the air, the limpid springs which gushed out everywhere in abundance, and the gentle murmur of the rivers, she said: ‘In this delightful land, where the climate is so temperate and the water so pure, a city shall be built, our royal residence in Armenia, where we shall spend one quarter part of the year; the remaining months, consisting of the colder seasons, we shall pass in our city of Nineveh.’ Searching carefully for a suitable site, Shamiram came upon a valley as she approached it from the east; its western extremity skirted the shores of the great salt lake Van, where she observed an oblong-shaped mountain, its northern slopes gently falling towards the valleys, while the southern, cliff-like face rose sheer to a high peak, pointing towards the sky. Not far to the south, a flat valley bordered upon the eastern side of the mountain, and extended towards the shores of the Lake, where it broadened out like a gorge. Across this land of marvels, crystal-clear waters tumbled down the mountain sides into the valleys and ravines below and united at the broad base of the mountain to form a great river. To the east of that smiling mountain-side, there was a smaller hill. Here, the energetic, sensual Queen Shamiram, inspired by the beauty of the region, decided to build her city. She caused 12,000 workmen and 6,000 skilled craftsmen to be brought from Assyria and from other parts of her empire, to work on wood, on stone, on bronze and on iron. By forcing the pace of the workers she completed in a short time a magnificent city (which she called Shamiramakert) consisting of wonderful palaces, each of two or three storeys high, made of stones of various colours. Each district of the city had a distinctive colour, and each was separated from its neighbour by a broad street. There were also artistically designed and decorated baths in the midst of the city. Part of the river was diverted by canals to supply the city’s domestic needs, to water its gardens, orchards and vineyards and to perpetuate the fertility of the earth. She then had a magnificent palace built for herself and she peopled the city with a huge population. The whole city was girt with immense walls for its protection. Now, the eastern side of the mountain had such a hard surface that even an iron-pointed stylo could not impress a single line upon it; yet, palaces, long galleries and strong-rooms for the queen’s treasure were hewn out of its side. Over the whole surface of the rock, as if it were on wax, she caused a great many characters to be traced. The sight of these marvels throws everyone into amazement.³

On Saint-Martin’s suggestion, the French government commissioned a young German professor, Friedrich Eduard Schultz, to go to Van to investigate. At Toprak Kale, a hill about 400 feet high near Van, Schultz discovered, carved upon the smooth wall of an ancient citadel, long cuneiform inscriptions, the Vannic inscriptions. The first dates back to the ninth century BC. Although he could not read cuneiform, Schultz was able to make precise copies to take back with him to Paris. Unfortunately, tragedy overtook him in the mountains of Kurdistan, near Julamerk, where he and his party, including two Persian non-commissioned army officers, were attacked and murdered by bandits. This event was reported by Major Sir Henry Willock to Captain Harkness, Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, in 1834, and published in the Society’s journal of that year. But Schultz’s copies of the Vannic inscriptions reached Paris safely, where they were published in the Journal asiatique in 1840.

We now know that the modern town of Van is on the site of Tushpa, the capital of the Kingdom of Urartu (or Ararat). The Urartians were also called Khaldians (often spelt Haldians) or the children of Khaldi, after their god, and the kingdom was a theocracy in which Khaldi was supreme. All work was carried out and wars waged in the name of Khaldi; the king called himself the servant of Khaldi, and it was Khaldi who delivered the armies of Ashur, the corresponding Assyrian god, to the king of Ararat. The inscriptions reveal Urartu as a great and powerful kingdom — indeed, a splendid empire — which had for nearly seven centuries, from c. 1300 BC to 600 BC, successfully defied the might of Assyria, prevented its expansion northwards, and for a considerable time dominated Western Asia, including Assyria itself.

It was not for many years after 1840 that systematic excavations at Van were undertaken, for in the years following 1840, the considerable remains of the Assyrian cities of Calah (Gen. X.11) or Kalhu (Nimrud) and Nineveh (Kuyunjik), were being uncovered for France by the Italian archaeologist Paul Emile Botta, and the Englishmen Austen Henry Layard and H.C. Rawlinson, and Hormuzd Rassam, an Armenian, were commissioned by the British Museum. Although Botta’s attempts to open up the mound of Kuyunjik were unsuccessful (he was never convinced, until later in the 1840’s when Layard proved him wrong, that Kuyunjik was indeed the site of Nineveh), according to Layard,⁴ ‘to him is due the honour of having found the first Assyrian monument’. Layard then continues to describe how a peasant informed Botta that he would find all the sculptured stone he was looking for in the mound on which the peasant’s own village was built. At first sceptical, Botta later sent an agent with some workmen to investigate:

After a little opposition from the inhabitants, they were permitted to sink a well in the mound; and at a small distance from the surface they came to the top of a wall which, on digging deeper, they found to be lined with sculptured slabs of gypsum. M. Botta, on receiving information of this discovery, went at once to the village which was called Khorsabad. Directing a wider trench to be formed, and to be carried in the direction of the wall, he soon found that he had entered a chamber, connected with others and surrounded by slabs of gypsum covered with sculptured representations of battles, sieges, and similar events. His wonder may easily be imagined. A new history had been suddenly opened up to him — the records of an unknown people were before him … numerous inscriptions accompanying the bas-reliefs, evidently contained the explanation of the events thus recorded in sculpture, and, being in the cuneiform or arrow-headed character, proved that the building belonged to an age preceding the conquests of Alexander; for it is generally admitted that after the subjugation of the west of Asia by the Macedonians, the cuneiform writing ceased to be employed … M. Botta had discovered an Assyrian edifice, the first probably which had been exposed to the view of man since the fall of the Assyrian empire [at the end of the seventh century BC].⁵

Unfortunately, owing to a fire in ancient times which had seriously damaged the building, the gypsum slabs had been reduced to lime, and they began to disintegrate on being exposed to the air. But the French government, who were financing Botta, quickly sent out the artist, Eugène Flandin, who arrived at Khorsabad just in time to sketch the bas-reliefs, which were thus recorded for posterity. By 1845, Botta had completely uncovered the monuments at Khorsabad, and ‘having secured many fine specimens of Assyrian sculpture for his country, he returned to Europe with a rich collection of inscriptions, the most important result of his discovery’. More than 100 rooms had been opened up in the excavated building which we now know was the magnificent palace built by Sargon II, King of Assyria (eighth century BC). Botta could not have known that Khorsabad was by tradition said to be on the site of an ancient city called Saraghoun (Sargon’s town) also known as Dur-Sharrokin (Fort of Sargon).

In 1845, Layard himself opened up various mounds around Mosul on the archaeological sites of Nimrud and Kuyunjik. Among the most dramatic of his discoveries at Nimrud were colossal stone sculptures of human-headed, winged lions (or bulls) guarding the entrance to a palace. Layard describes the discovery of these sculptures:

On reaching the ruins, I descended into the new trench, and found the workmen, who had already seen me as I approached, standing near a heap of baskets and cloaks. Whilst Awad [Layard’s servant] advanced and asked for a present to celebrate the occasion, the Arabs withdre...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Caucasus World
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Chronology of the Ancient Near East
• Maps
• Preface
• Introduction
• Prologue: Some milestones in the ancient history of the Near East
• Part One: The Kingdom of Urartu
• Part Two: The Kingdom of Armenia
• Plates
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index