In 1984 Stephan Kroll’s ‘Urartus Untergang in anderer Sicht’ (The downfall of Urartu from a diffe... more In 1984 Stephan Kroll’s ‘Urartus Untergang in anderer Sicht’ (The downfall of Urartu from a different perspective) was published. In this at that time controversial article Kroll rejected the then almost universally accepted date of between 610 and 585 BC for the end of the Urartian kingdom and proposed instead a date in the mid 7th century. The debate still continues (see the final table (Anhang) for a list of suggested dates for the fall of Urartu by different authors over the last 80 years). Since then, the excavations in Bastam and Ayanis as well as new discoveries and interpretations of Urartian royal inscriptions and seal legends have offered additional support for Kroll’s contention. In 2004 Ursula Seidl in her book Bronzekunst Urartus provided art historical arguments that dated the reign of Rusa son of Erimena to the 8th century BC rather than to the later 7th century after Rusa son of Argishti, as the supporters of the traditional chronology asserted: the earlier dating of Rusa son of Erimena is now widely accepted, although his position within the Urartian king list is still the subject of debate (see above Salvini, Fuchs, Seidl, Kroll, Roaf).
In this paper the various proposals that have been made for the date of the fall of Urartu are reviewed in the light of recent analyses and discoveries. The conclusion reached is that Kroll’s 1984 suggestion fits the available evidence best, although the exact date of the fall of Urartu cannot yet be pinpointed.
The article also investigates the various causes that have been proposed for the demise of Urartu. Did it come to an end because of the onslaught of nomadic peoples, such as the Cimmerians or Scythians? Was the rebellion of peoples living under the tyranny of the Urartian dynasty the reason? Did the megalomaniac building projects of Rusa son of Argishti so impoverish his kingdom that economic collapse resulted? Should the fall be attributed to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or some climatic catastrophe? These questions cannot yet be definitely answered and remain to be resolved in the future.
In 1984 Stephan Kroll’s ‘Urartus Untergang in anderer Sicht’ (The downfall of Urartu from a diffe... more In 1984 Stephan Kroll’s ‘Urartus Untergang in anderer Sicht’ (The downfall of Urartu from a different perspective) was published. In this at that time controversial article Kroll rejected the then almost universally accepted date of between 610 and 585 BC for the end of the Urartian kingdom and proposed instead a date in the mid 7th century. The debate still continues (see the final table (Anhang) for a list of suggested dates for the fall of Urartu by different authors over the last 80 years). Since then, the excavations in Bastam and Ayanis as well as new discoveries and interpretations of Urartian royal inscriptions and seal legends have offered additional support for Kroll’s contention. In 2004 Ursula Seidl in her book Bronzekunst Urartus provided art historical arguments that dated the reign of Rusa son of Erimena to the 8th century BC rather than to the later 7th century after Rusa son of Argishti, as the supporters of the traditional chronology asserted: the earlier dating of Rusa son of Erimena is now widely accepted, although his position within the Urartian king list is still the subject of debate (see above Salvini, Fuchs, Seidl, Kroll, Roaf).
In this paper the various proposals that have been made for the date of the fall of Urartu are reviewed in the light of recent analyses and discoveries. The conclusion reached is that Kroll’s 1984 suggestion fits the available evidence best, although the exact date of the fall of Urartu cannot yet be pinpointed.
The article also investigates the various causes that have been proposed for the demise of Urartu. Did it come to an end because of the onslaught of nomadic peoples, such as the Cimmerians or Scythians? Was the rebellion of peoples living under the tyranny of the Urartian dynasty the reason? Did the megalomaniac building projects of Rusa son of Argishti so impoverish his kingdom that economic collapse resulted? Should the fall be attributed to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or some climatic catastrophe? These questions cannot yet be definitely answered and remain to be resolved in the future.
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In this paper the various proposals that have been made for the date of the fall of Urartu are reviewed in the light of recent analyses and discoveries. The conclusion reached is that Kroll’s 1984 suggestion fits the available evidence best, although the exact date of the fall of Urartu cannot yet be pinpointed.
The article also investigates the various causes that have been proposed for the demise of Urartu. Did it come to an end because of the onslaught of nomadic peoples, such as the Cimmerians or Scythians? Was the rebellion of peoples living under the tyranny of the Urartian dynasty the reason? Did the megalomaniac building projects of Rusa son of Argishti so impoverish his kingdom that economic collapse resulted? Should the fall be attributed to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or some climatic catastrophe? These questions cannot yet be definitely answered and remain to be resolved in the future.
In this paper the various proposals that have been made for the date of the fall of Urartu are reviewed in the light of recent analyses and discoveries. The conclusion reached is that Kroll’s 1984 suggestion fits the available evidence best, although the exact date of the fall of Urartu cannot yet be pinpointed.
The article also investigates the various causes that have been proposed for the demise of Urartu. Did it come to an end because of the onslaught of nomadic peoples, such as the Cimmerians or Scythians? Was the rebellion of peoples living under the tyranny of the Urartian dynasty the reason? Did the megalomaniac building projects of Rusa son of Argishti so impoverish his kingdom that economic collapse resulted? Should the fall be attributed to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or some climatic catastrophe? These questions cannot yet be definitely answered and remain to be resolved in the future.