ARMENIAN - Erevangala500

URARTIANS: THEIR LANGUAGE AND THEIR HERITAGE
We learn from the Assyrian records that, as early as 1274
B.C., Salamassar 1 (1274-1245) invades the land of the
Urartu, destroying eight contries and fifty one cities. The
land was apparently divided into several feudal states
lacking a central authority. According to Prof.
Goodspeed, Shalmaneser crossed the waters of the Upper
Tigris and marched along the southern spurs o f the
(Taurus) mountains tothe nead-waters o f the Euphrates,
where the chief peoples conquered by him were the
"Arami", the Arameans of the western Mesopotamia. His
son, Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208), conquered the
"Nairians" in eastern Anaotolia, defeated forty kings, put
the lands o f the Upper Sea (Lake Van) under his dominion
and forced them to pay tribute. Tiglat-Pleser. Who
describes in his inscriptions a victory (1114 B.C.) over a
united force o f twenty-three Nairi princes, mentions also
the name of Urartu together with that of Mushki and
Milit. We have already referred, in Chapter 7, to the Nairi
indicating the possibility that they may be the Neuri of
Herodotus, a Scythian tribe. We also pointed out our
belief that the Nairi is represented in the Scriptures under
the name o f Nahor, brother o f Abraham and father of Uz.
We had also analyzed the name and showed that its etymology
was Turkish: singular Nair (Neur, Nahor > n-air
fn-eur 'n-ahor) > Turk. On-Ur/On-Gur/On Oghur ("Ten
Oghur ) which is an name given later to the Hungarians.
Silahi Diker : “TEN THOUSAND YEA RS OF THE TURKS
AND THE WHOLE EARTH WAS OF ONE LANGUAGE”
The domination o f East and Southeast Anatolia by the
Assyrians thus continued for a few centuries. By 900
B.C., a new situation is observed:
"Civilization was on the rise again in eastern Asia Minor
where appeared the "Kingdom o f Urartu ", a native kingdom
that worshipped Hurrian gods, including Teshup,
and spoke a language akin to Hurrian; its people were
excellent builders and workers in metal, who on a Hittite
[really Hattia/Hurrian] foundation developed more brilliant
culture than this region has ever known."
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The people of the land of Urartu called it Khaldia after
the name of its god Khaldis. but to the Assyrians it was
known as Urartu or Uruatri. During the reign o f Sardur II
(764-735) the Urartian state reached its most extensive
limits. Remains o f Urartian settlements have been found
in the lands extending from Gok^egolu-Bayburt in the
north, Malatya in the west, Aleppo and Musul in the
south, and Lake Urmia or even the Caspian Sea in the
east.
Assyrian king Sargon II, in 714 B.C., intended to deal
with the threat of the Urartians. Althrough he defaeted
Rusa I, who committed suicide, and made peace with
them, he declared in his inscriptions that the Urartian
army had the best-trained horses in the world. "In advancing,
wheeling, retreating, or battle disposition, they are
never seen to break out of control." The Assyrians in this
battle had probably the help o f the Cimmerians.
According to Prof. Erzen, the Hurrians and the Urartians
had their roots in the same ancient eastern Anatoian
Chalcolithic culture and that they might even have come
as two branches of the same race having a language neither
Semitic nor Indo-European but rather an Asian language
agglutinative in general form. In fact, the Urartian,
due to its word creating capacity by adding suffixes to a
given root, has similarities with the Ural-Altaic languages.
Further, the gods and the godesses of the Hurrians and the
Urartians arre of the same origin. For exemple, Teisheba,
one of the main geities of the Urartians, is the Hurrian
chief god Teshup the Storm-god. The wives of these gods
are Huba and Hepat respectively. Urartian sun god
Shivini is identical to the Hurrian Snimigi. Capital city of
Urartu, today's "castle" of the city of Van, was Tusnpa,
related to the godess Tushpuea.
Oldest Urartian cuneiform inscriptions found are from the
end of ninth century B.C. However, Aramaic inscriptions
are also found in the ruins o f the Urartian city of
Teishebaini (Karmir Blur) which was apparently
destroyed by the Scythians. The effect of the Urartian
script, together with their culture and civilization, on the
neighbouring peoples is also stressed by Prof. Frye who
notes:
"It has been suggested that one must look fo r the origins
o f much o f the Achaemenid art, architecture and even
state protocel and writing in Urartu."
We have shown below, in the glossaiy, that the names of
Urartian gods and goddesses, of their cities, and of their
kings, whose names in order of their rule are
Aram/Aramu (ab. 840 B.C.), Lutipri (father of Sarduri I),
sarduri I (830-825 B.C.), Ishpuini/Ushpina (825-815),
Menua I (815-790), Argishti I (790-765), Sardur II (764-
735), Rusa 1 (735-714), Argishti II (714-685), Russsa II
(685-645) Sarduri III (645-635?), Sarduri IV (635?-?),
erimena (father of Rusa III) and Rusa III (last years o f the
7th century B.C.), all can be explained in Turkish