Who are the Urartians?
The Urartu Kingdom is a historic nation in southwest Asia that was centered in the mountainous area southeast of the Black Sea and southwest of the Caspian Sea, according to the Britannica encyclopedia. Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northwest Iran currently control the area. Urartu, which was mentioned in Assyrian sources as early as the early 13th century BCE, possessed a significant amount of political clout in the Middle East between the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.
The Armenians took over the region in the sixth century BCE, replacing the Urartians. The name "Urartu" is Assyrian. The Urartians gave their nation the name Biainili and their capital, Tushpa (Turushpa), which was situated in the present-day city of Van. The majority of Urartian settlement remains between four lakes: Çildir and Van in Turkey, Urmia in Iran, and Sevan in Armenia, with a sparse extension westward to the Euphrates River.
This means that Armenians lived in Armenia for a long time before 1918 and the collapse of the Soviet empire.
The origin of Yerevan
It is untrue that Armenian historians are attempting to connect the name of the city, now known as Yerevan, with that of the Erebuni Fortress, also known as Irpuni, which was constructed during the reign of Urartu Argistinin Tsar I (782 BC). The name eventually changed to Yerevan (Erebuni = Erevani = Erevan = Yerevan) as Urartian and Armenian linguistic elements merged. Another theory for the name of the city, Yerevan, is that it was given to it in honour of the founder of the Armenian city of Yervandashat and the last king of the Orontid dynasty, Yervand (Orontes) IV.
Furthermore, it is evident from the cuneiform inscription that King Argishti I ordered the construction of the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni on the site of present-day Yerevan in 782 BCE to serve as a fort and citadel defending against attacks from the north Caucasus. In Erebuni and the region around it, irrigation canals and man-made reservoirs were constructed at the height of Urartian power.
The following is written in cuneiform on the wall of Erebuni Fortress:
By the greatness of the God Khaldi, Argishti, son of Menua, built this mighty stronghold and proclaimed it Erebuni for the glory of Biainili [Urartu] and to instil fear among the king’s enemies. Argishti says, "The land was a desert, before the great works I accomplished upon it." "By the greatness of Khaldi, Argishti, son of Menua, is a mighty king, king of Biainili, and ruler of Tushpa."[Van].
