A Way through the Hills. The Formation of Uratu-Biainili in the Lake Van Region

Abstract

As a Near Eastern Iron Age kingdom, Urartu-Bianili, the powerful Iron Age Anatolian rival of the Assyrian Empire, presents a particular fragmented political context different to the much more centralized Assyria and rather more integrated Hittite New Kingdom. Its own administrative assets made a crucial difference and were at the core of its uniqueness; just as unique was the historical background of ‘Urartu,’ that arose from a resilient conflict between lowlands (the valley where they settled in) and the highlands (where large semi-nomad slices of population lived). This was a factor in developing a competitive political form of domination able to expand through the valleys of the Taurus, Zagros and Caucasus ranges and to last for several centuries.

How did that happen is the most interesting and still hidden aspect of Urartu-Bianili’s political structure, as it involves the understanding of rather mysterious different social-agencies, development patterns and political processes related to the entire historic development of the highland kingdom.

Throughout this dissertation and using advanced GIS spatial analysis, I analyzed the known landscape of Urartu with the perspective aim to explain how the kingdom adapted to, changed and ruled the Highlands of Eastern Turkey. The results describe a fluid political entity arranged on a geographical constricted, yet dense network of fortresses and power nodes. A specific and effective design.