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Architecture In the field of architecture, the Urartians were highly evolved. These great architects equipped their domains with fortresses, cities and great irrigation works, such as canals and aqueducts. They always built near to mounts and hills, by choice and for strategic needs. In the top of these hills they built their emplacements, combining military, religious and commercial buildings, as well as extensive roads for transit of chariots, coaches and beasts. Much earlier than the greeks, the kings of Urartu developed the classic architecture, used later in the “acropolis complex”, as one entity that had official cult center of both the military power and the civic activity; and also provided shelter to the masses in case of wars or natural disasters. 1) Temples: The general level of Urartian temples was rectangular, although there have been also found some with square form. The interior of the sanctuary consisted in wide walls without windows, with cuneiform inscriptions in their upper part. These temples frequently had their entrances looking to the south, with the altar in the opposite side. Pillars sustained the roof, and the sanctuary measures were 40 by 50 feet. Inside the sanctuary, the walls were painted with frescos of large variety of color, with predomination of red, blue and black. Among the painted images, there were gods over lions, lances and rosettes, these last generally in series and in diagonal form. The lances were frequently offered as tribute to the gods. Inside the temples there were also found cauldrons over tripods, very common in that region. The importance of the Urartian temples in the history of world architecture is considerable, as it is the influence in the medieval armenian architecture. The facade and geometric motives of temples like Musasir’s anticipate the known Frigians models. Also their triangular chapitels antecede in 500 years the greeks, but the major influence is observed in the Medo and Persian temples. The monumental towered structure combined to a central construction with triangular or two water roof, main characteristic of Haldi’s Urartian temples, is very similar to the tomb of king Ciro of Persia from 6th century (before this Era). In structures such as the Temple of Haldi in Arin Berd, of square form with support in its four corners, it is observed the cruciform dome, prominent in the later christian armenian and georgian churches. 2) Tombs The tombs were inseparable part of the Urartian religion. The most studied tombs were those of Altintepe (golden hill), located in a hill at 60 meters high and 500 meters from the base. There were found three series of tombs belonged to the royal family of Argishti II. To build one of these tombs, which was almost intact, the Urartians had to penetrate 7 meters wide and 8 meters long in the rocky mountain. These tombs characterized by having three different and successive cameras. The entrance was 3 feet wide and it has some type of vestibule of 4 feet long. The first camera was 12 by 4 feet and it has a bronze cauldron full of bronze artifacts like belts, 2 metallic disks, statuettes, in addition to iron weapons. This cauldron was considered a method to avoid the plunderer perturbing the dead. Between the door and the cauldron there were two benches with silver wood feet. There also was a table with utensils, receptacles, horse harnesses and other objects. A second door communicated with the camera that was 13 by 8 feet, having two caskets with curved borders that could be perfectly open and closed. The caskets had no inscriptions. In one of both lied a man and in the other lied a woman. Outside the man casket there was clothing with gold, silver and bronze buttons, as well as iron arrow points. The body of the woman was completely dress with clothes with the same buttons, and she had a gold necklace with gemstones in her neck. This second camera was communicated to a third one, smaller than previous, that was 8 by 6 feet. In each wall there was a niche, and the floor of the room had a layer of reinforced wood with 8 pairs of bronze arcs. There was also a four feet table with receptacles and a solid silver scepter of 17 centimeters long, decorated with a lion head in each extreme. The table and benches were not higher than 50 centimeters and their feet had conic form. Part of the gold and silver treasuries found consisted in figures representing winged gods mounted in creatures also winged, like horses, bulls and lions. 3) Irrigation works They built great canals, among them we can highlight the construction of a big canal of 70 kilometers long that supplied with water the capital Van from the river Hoshap. This canal provided with water more than 25 villages. Such canals had in its route small fortresses and other installations with the purpose of avoiding sabotages or attacks. They also created underground canals, very commonly found in Persia later, with the intention of prevent the evaporation of the water before it comes to destiny. Having solved many of the agricultural aspects, the Urartians focused their attention on planning and urbanization. They were experts in this field, as the excavations in Toprakkale prove it. Writing and Language The inscriptions always began with an invocation to the supreme god Haldi and ended with curses or anathema for those who could destroy such inscriptions, in which the sacred triad was always mentioned. The first writing system found in the region is a composition of images engraved in rocks, with representations of the animal and mineral kingdom, as well as of daily situations. The writing used a character similar to that from the hieroglyphic-pictographic system, which demonstrate that the Urartian writing system was not the first one in the zone, but there were pre-Urartian habitants who could develop a symbol system to express their ideas. In a second stage, the cuneiform writing system began to be used, being the most advanced for that time. We must take into account that writing texts are not a reliable testimony about the language spoken by the society in which such texts were created. The language used by the scribers was often different from the language they and their partners spoke in ordinary life. There are innumerable examples of this; the Persian used the elamite as written language. According to the traditional theory, the Urartian language was colloquial, which is evidenced in the existence of dialects, imprecatory formulas and records of quotidian type. The Urartian language, also called Khaldio, Vanic or neo-Hurrian (due to its similitude with the original Hurrian), was an ancient language spoken in the northeast of Anatolia and used as official language of Urartu from 9th century to 6th century (before this Era). Based on the last investigations, it is believed that it descends from an older language, from which also comes just one more language: the Hurrian. Bilingual inscriptions in assyrian and Urartian allowed to decode this last one. In 1993 the german orientalist Johannes Fiedrich published the first real description of the Urartian language grammar. There are signals indicating that since the 8th century (before this Era) the Hurrian used in Armenia was already a dead language (not spoken), and just a few persons knew it. The Urartians replaced the assyrian cuneiform by the Urartian cuneiform system under the reign of their second monarch, Ishpuini. The adoption of a pure Indo-European writing was a very important step. The reason of this change can be the following: a) king Ishpuini adapted the Urartian language to an own cuneiform writing. This new language must be used in religious ceremonies and because of that it was the chosen. b) The Hurrian made an association with Urartu against the assyrian threat. The political aliance extended to the cultural and, specially, the religious plane. Thus the neo-Hurrian or Urartian was adopted as writing language. Some authors affirm that Urartian cuneiform comes from the Assyrian. We think that such idea is based in the fact that Urartians used the assyrian cuneiform in the beginning. However, the most recent studies proved the strong kinship with the Hurrian and Hittite cuneiform, which comes from the sumerian trunk. Art: It is remarkable the importance that art had for this people. The studies show that majority of the examples of currently known Urartian art can be classified as courtier art, and the purpose of this art was to transmit a strong impression of wealth, magnificence and power. This can be clearly observed in the king’s throne, which sculpted parts are distributed in several museums worldwide. The gold and many precious stones in its decoration show splendor and luxury. The expressive mythic creatures that carried were useful to scare those who stand in from of it, and protected the king from the malicious spirits. The shields and helmets were decorated with inscriptions of the Urartian kings, including series of figures of lions, bulls and other creatures that represented the power. Three concentric circles formed by the mentioned animals composed the decoration of circular shields. In the front of the helmets can be found representations of gods and sacred trees, surrounded by serpents with lion head. The purpose of these figures was to protect the warrior. The human figures personified in profile were typical of this people’s art. The Urartians also showed incomparable aptitude for a very realistic representation of animals, with bodies rich in ornaments. The Urartian art is basically decorative and ornamental, and very often graphs motives of the vegetal kingdom, which constitutes a very important part of this art. Processions of gods standing on animals and scenes of sacrifices were also found. There is a great variety of miniature art specially represented in seals with sacrifices scenes, god adoration and a procession of the king in his chariot being escorted by musicians and others. There are two main characteristics in the art, the schematization of animal figures and the elaboration of delicate geometric ornaments. E. Akurgal has classified this art in two different styles. The first called circular, which objects are from the 9th century (before this Era), and a second style called of relief, that is from the 8th century (before this Era). The connections between the Urartian and the mediterranean culture were established in the 9th century (before this Era), when an interrelationship between the syrian and Urartian culture appears. In the greek sanctuaries and in the etruscan tombs were found the typical Urartian bronze cauldrons. The similitude between the Urartian temple of Musasir from the 9th century (before this Era) and the first greek temples emphasizes the important influence of the Urartian style in the formation of the classic civilization. Metallurgy: The Urartian culture also included an important development of the metallurgy. They used copper and bronze with proficiency, especially to create utensils, trays, etc. In Lchashen were found receptacles in which base there were swastikas engraved, which indicates a solar cult in the zone, very common in ancient aryan peoples. They also worked in iron, especially for weapons like lances, daggers, arrows and garrotes. This zone is the one in which the oldest iron artifacts were found. Some people consider this metal originally worked in the Caucasus. The Urartians made images engraved in gold and silver with incrustations of precious stones. This shows that in all concerning to jewelry they were so much advanced. According to Professor Sayce in 40th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, the best metal work found in the last era of the assyrian empire was the one found in the city of Van – Tushpa, old capital of Urartu. Stand out heads of bull, sphinxes, war objects, shields with engraves and a big serpent with incrustation of white and black hoops. Some authorities in this field see Armenia as “the center in which this type of works inspired other places, and the beginning of a style that had its own continuity”. |
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