Urartu and the origins of the Armenians
The kingdom of Urartu rises around Lake Van and the Ararat plain; after its fall, Armenians appear in the historical record in the same highlands, though exactly how the two are connected is still debated.
- Urartu — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
In the ninth century BCE a powerful kingdom grew up in the highlands around Lake Van, in what is now eastern Turkey. The Assyrians, its great rivals, called it Urartu; its own kings called it Biainili. Urartian rulers built fortresses, canals and vineyards across the Armenian plateau, and in 782 BCE King Argishti I founded the fortress of Erebuni, on a hill that is now part of Yerevan. Urartu was weakened by Assyrian and nomad attacks and had disappeared by the early sixth century BCE.
- Urartu — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
Soon afterwards, in about 520 BCE, the Persian king Darius I’s inscription at Behistun names “Armina” as a province of his empire, and the Greek historian Herodotus mentions Armenians a few decades later. Who they were and where they came from is debated. Armenian belongs to its own branch of the Indo-European family, unlike Urartian, so many historians think Armenian speakers became dominant in the highlands as Urartu collapsed, absorbing earlier peoples; others believe they were already there. Either way, the Armenians took shape on the same plateau, and the medieval chronicler Movses Khorenatsi’s story of the patriarch Hayk gave them a founding legend that is still loved.
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
Armenians descend from Hayk, a great-great-grandson of Noah who defeated the tyrant Bel and settled near Ararat; Armenians call themselves Hay and their land Hayastan after him. Many Armenians also see Urartu as an early Armenian state, or at least as part of their ancestry.
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
Armenian is an Indo-European language, while Urartian was not. Many scholars think Armenian speakers arrived in or spread across the highlands around the time Urartu declined, and mixed with the Urartian and other local populations; others argue Armenian speakers were present much earlier. Most agree that today's Armenians are, genetically and culturally, heirs to the many peoples of the ancient highlands, Urartians among them.
- The Armenians — A. E. Redgate, Blackwell (1998)
- Urartu — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
Why it matters today
Armenians think of themselves as one of the oldest peoples still living in their homeland, and Yerevan proudly dates its founding to the Urartian fortress of Erebuni in 782 BCE. The debate over origins is not just academic: in a region where neighbours dispute who was "there first", ancient roots feel like proof of belonging.