علی بیننده

The extent of Urartian territorial holding has been reconstructed based on the distribution of Urartian monumental inscriptions, fortresses, rock-cut chambers, settlement sites as well as textual evidence from the contemporary neighboring authorities. At its apogee between 9-6 centuries BC, Urartu stretched from the borders of northern Mesopotamia to Caucasus including present day Turkey, Armenia, Nakhichevan, and Republic of Azerbaijan as well as parts of northwestern Iran. The Urartian territorial expansion in Iran has recently been re-examined by several researches based on the new surveys and excavations in the Lake Urmia region and the major Iron Age sites of northwestern Iran such as Rabat, Qalaichi, Shaitanabad, Bard-e Kante, etc. Of particular interest are the results of surveys of joint Iranian-Italian team in the East Azerbajian Province which was aimed at determining the south-eastern frontier of Urartian kingdom in the area east of the Lake. These investigations demonstrate that the area to the east of Lake Urmia has never been under Urartian occupation and that evidence of Urartian presence and settlement comes from Marand towards Aras. In the south, however, Urartian occupation at least after 820 BC is documented both by monumental inscriptions in Keleshin pass, Merge Karavan, and Topzava stele as well as occupational layers in many sites such as Hasanlu, Aghrab Tepe, Qalatgha, and other sites in the Ushno-Solduz valley. Further to the south, the areas of Miandoab and Mahabad were also conquered at least by the time of Menua as is suggested by the Tash-tepe inscription but the area seemingly was not annexed to the Urartian territory. The area of Bukan also doesn’t produce evidence of Urartian presence simply because it was in the heart of Mannaean realm, never being occupied by the Urartian troops. The area of Sardasht and Piranshahr in the Lower Zab basin constituted the interface zone between Mannaea and Assyria in the east and west, respectively doe