The Early Urartian Kings Ishpuini and Minua’s Search for a Royal Architectural Idiom as Reflected in the Lower and Upper Anzaf Fortresses

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

In the early 1st millennium BC, Urartians built a powerful kingdom centered at Van Fortress overlooking Tushpa and ruled over Eastern Anatolia, modern Armenia, and northwest Iran. Apart from the Madır Burcu inscriptions at Van Fortress, little is known about the founding king, Sarduri I (r. 840-830 BC). His son and successor, Ishpuini (r. 830-820 BC), is accredited as the founding king of the Urartian Kingdom, because recognizable Urartian traits emerged in the archaeological record during his reign. Ishpuini’s religious, architectural, and military reforms were continued by his son, Minua (r. 810-780 BC), with Ishpuini’s search for a royal building program in particular culminating in the emergence of a royal architectural idiom with clear rules and standards under Minua’s reign. This study examines the differences in the topographical location and architectural elements of two excavated settlements at Anzaf that reflect the observable changes from the reign of the father to that of the son: the Lower Anzaf Fortress that is attributed to Ishpuini and the Upper Anzaf Fortress that was constructed by Minua, which lasted until the end of the kingdom similar to the royal architectural idiom created at this site.