Anatolian Civilizations and Historical Sites - TEDA

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS:10x19 antik kentler 8/1/11 10:50 AM Sayfa
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world’. It is possible to derive from these documents that the Urartians
became very strong during the reign of Sarduri and that they also entered
Syria. They defeated the Assyrians during the war fought in 753 BC, thus
opening the Mediterranean trade route and they began to trade with the
Etruscans in Greece and Italy. This information is accessed through the
metal Urartian works found in Greece and Italy.
Having gone down to the Mediterranean, Sarduri II turned towards the
east afterwards, subjugated 23 castles here and reached the Black Sea. In
the meantime, Tiglatpileser III ascended to the Assyrian throne, freed
Assyria from its inner disarrays and headed towards the north. The two
armies confronted each other in 743 BC enroute from Ad›yaman to
Gölbafl› and the Assyrians won the battle. As a natural outcome of this,
the riches of the Lebanon Mountains and Amanos Mountains were now
left to Assyria. The Assyrians did not settle for that and attacked the heart
of the Urartians-their capital Tushpa. They were not able to fell the
castle; however they returned to their country after ravaging it. This shook
the authority of the Urartians and some of the border tribes split from
them. The Kingdom of Urartu that first rose during Sarduri II, later started
to decline.
Sarduri II died in 730 BC and was buried in his grave in Van Castle. He
was succeeded by his son Rusa I (730-713 BC). During his reign, the
Cimmerians-who had migrated from the River Volga to Black Sea
plateaus-started to descend to the south fleeing from the Scythian raids,
entering the land of Urartu. Rusa I was defeated by the Cimmerians and
was also subsequently defeated by the Assyrians, consequently dying in
his grief in 713 BC. He was succeeded by his son Argishti II (713-685 BC),
who also had to fight with the nomadic Cimmerians. Even though Argishti
II was defeated by them, he accepted to work in the Urartian army as a
mercenary soldier under an agreement they signed. The Urartians
defeated the Assyrian army in 705 BC, killing the Assyrian King Sargon.
Thereafter, the Urartians directed the Cimmerians towards the west and
they proceeded towards Anatolia and defeated the Phrygian army in 696
BC. It is known that the Phrygian king committed suicide in grief by
drinking the blood of a bull. After the defeat by the Cimmerians, Argishti
II reigned for 22 more years, during which he established the Alt›ntepe
Castle in Erzincan. After he died in 685 BC, his son Rusa II (685-645 BC)
succeeded him. During this king, the Urartians restored their power. No
other king commissioned as many castles to be built as Rusa II did. Among
these castles were Karmir-Blur, Toprakkale, Adilcevaz, Kef Castle and
Ayanis Castle. During this period which was a peaceful period with the
Assyrians, Rusa II relocated the capital from Van to Toprakkale-which he
named Rusahinili-and turned Lake Keflifl into a dam to meet the water