(P. Zimansky)
While the history of the Kingdom of Van played out within a reasonably well-defined chronological frame, specific dates can only be assigned on the basis of a small number of synchronisms in Assyrian records. We cannot confidently give beginning or end dates to the reign of any Urartian ruler, and in some cases we are even uncertain of the sequence in which they ruled. The end of the kingdom is particularly obscure, with putative dates for its demise ranging over more than half a century.
Urartian royal documents regularly give the patronymic as well as the name of the king in whose name they were composed, and by linking names of fathers and sons it is possible to put together a chain of rulers spanning more than a century. This begins with Sarduri, son of Lutipri, whom Shalmaneser III (858—824) mentions in 830, and ends with Sarduri, son of Argishti, mentioned by Tiglath-pileser III in 735. What chronological information we have on these kings is summarized in the table below:
There are many inscriptions in the name of Minua and Ishpuini together, suggesting a co-regency of some sort. Minua’s son Inushpua is also mentioned in one of these, but there is no evidence he ever ruled
Argishti’s Annals, carved on the Van citadel outside a royal tomb, recount eighteen annual campaigns. Some scholars have linked the Assyrian synchronism with one of his campaigns against Assyria
After Sarduri II, there is less certainty. Three different kings named Rusa left royal inscriptions, and the Assyrians do not give their patronymics, so in some cases it is unclear to which king the synchronism should be assigned. Until quite recently, the accepted sequence of ‘later rulers’ was:
No other Urartian king left inscriptions, although individuals whose names appear to be royal — Rusa, son of Rusa, and Sarduri, son of Sarduri — are mentioned on the legends of seal impressions on bullae and tablets discovered in archaeological context in sites founded by Rusa, son of Argishti. The final Assyrian synchronism is provided by the Annals of Ashurbanipal, which mentions a Sarduri c. 640. There is no solid evidence for the existence of a unified Urartian kingdom after this, although there is a reference to the kingdom of Ararat in the book of Jeremiah (51:27), ostensibly dated to 594.
Recently, it has been demonstrated that the ‘traditional’ scheme is almost certainly wrong, but there is no consensus on a new one. A newly discovered stele shows that Rusa, son of Erimena, created irrigation works for the city of Rusahinili Qilbanikai (Toprakkale), and we know that city was in existence in the time of Rusa, son of Argishti. Thus Rusa, son of Erimena, cannot come at the end of the sequence of Rusas, and it is possible that he may stand at the beginning. Art associated with him is closer in style to that of Sarduri II than Rusa, son of Argishti, and it is not ruled out that he is the Rusa against whom Sargon campaigned in his celebrated eighth campaign of 714. Moving him to late C8 would make it almost certain that Rusa, son of Argishti, was the Rusa mentioned by Ashurbanipal in 655, and the last effective ruler of Urartu.
World History
