Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centred on the highlands around Lake Van, in present eastern Turkey, with territory reaching into Armenia and northwestern Iran. Its rulers, who were rivals of the Assyrians, built fortresses on rocky hills, including the capital at Tushpa near modern Van, and developed irrigation works, metalworking and a cuneiform script adapted from Assyrian. Urartian inscriptions record military campaigns by kings such as Sarduri I and Argishti I. The kingdom was weakened by Assyrian and nomadic attacks and disappeared in the sixth century BCE, and it is often seen as an ancestor of the later Armenian kingdom of the region.
Before and after
- from c. 930 BCE to 720 BCEKingdom of Israel
- from c. 930 BCE to 586 BCEKingdom of Judah
- from c. 911 BCE to 609 BCENeo-Assyrian Empire
- 10th century BCEFounding of Arezzo
- from c. 860s BCE to 590s BCEUrartu
- from c. 818 BCE to 715 BCETwenty-third Dynasty of Egypt
- from c. 814 BCE to 146 BCEAncient Carthage
- from c. 808 BCE to 167 BCEMacedonia
- from 9th century BCE to 4th century BCEAchaemenid dynasty
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The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 9th century BCE.