Urartian religion
Urartian religion is a belief system adopted in the ancient state of Urartu, which existed from the 8th to 6th centuries BC.
The Urartian religion absorbed the motifs of the tree of life, the serpent and the winged solar disk characteristic of the ancient Near East.
[2] Against the background of Mesopotamian beliefs, Urartu was distinguished by a high level of religious tolerance,[3] which was conditioned by the multinationality of the state.
According to ancient Eastern beliefs, these three levels symbolized triple doors through which deities could emerge from the depths of the rock.
During excavations in Ajanis, where the fortress from the time of Rusa II was discovered, a document was found with a description of the sacrificial ritual for the deity Haldi.
Such formulas are contained in some written sources and in the few surviving objects of material culture with images of deities or depictions of religious rituals.
At the end of the second millennium BC, the Urartians migrated from across the Revanduz river in the Western Azerbaijan Province of Iran toward the west.
The beliefs of the Hurrians, who settled in the Armenian Highlands after the fall of Mitanni, are also believed to have originated in the Mesopotamian region.
[18] The process of crystallization of Urartu's belief system ended during the reign of Ishpuini, who annexed Musasir, a center of Haldi worship, to the state.
During the Ishpuini period, a complete list of Urartian deities was engraved at the "Mher's gate" with information on the number of animals sacrificed to them.
[19] During the reigns of Menua, Argishti I, Sarduri II and Rusa I, that is, during the heyday of the state, numerous temples were erected in Urartu, most of which were dedicated to Haldi.
Rusa I hid behind the walls of Tushpa, and Sargon II made a maneuver that resulted in the capture and demolition of Musasir.
During the reign of Rusa II, when Urartu briefly regained its former power, the superiority of Haldi over other deities was not given when new temples were erected.
[17] In the last period of the weakened Urartu's existence, prayers and offerings were often made to Theispas, Assyrian Ashur and Babylonian Marduk.
In Urartian scripture, the names of Theispas and Shivini were written using Assyrian ideograms, which in Assyria corresponded to Hadad and Shamash.
[21] The Urartian deities were anthropomorphic, but retained some zoomorphic elements: the most common animal attributes included horns and wings.
The main gods of the Urartian pantheon included Haldi, Theispas and Shivini, along with their spouses – Arubani, Huba [pl] and Tushpuea, respectively.
[29] The Urartu pantheon also included female deities led by the wives of the main gods – Arubani, Huba and Tushpuea.
In addition, the more prominent gods included: Shelardi, a lunar deity who corresponded to the Mesopotamian Sin, and Tsinuardi [pl], who shared characteristics with Ishtar.
The appearance of winged figures in Urartian mythology was the result of the gradual transformation of Stone Age zoomorphic deities into anthropomorphic ones.
At Tushpa on the Van Rock, a plaza equipped with channels for draining the blood of slaughtered animals was used for sacrifices.
[35] Written sources from the period of Rusa II's reign contain descriptions of sacrificial offerings dissimilar to those in the Ishpuini's canon.
[39][40] During excavations at the Ajanis fortress, a clay tablet was found containing a description of the ritual murder of a boy in honor of Haldi.
Therefore, scholars surmise that there was a prohibition in Urartu against bringing iron objects into temples, as there was in the tabernacles in Mesopotamia and Judah.
[47] In some burial sites, objects belonging to the deceased have been discovered: bracelets, bronze belts characteristic of Urartu, broken weapons and bridles.
These probably included the magic of the number three: the triple repetition of a word or the threefold use of a formula in descriptions of the ruler's actions addressed to Haldi.
Magical significance was also given to certain objects: plain and cylinder seals, as well as bronze belts, which were widespread in Urartu and were believed to have protective powers.
[3] Unified during the reign of Ishpuini, the state religion, along with the expansion of Urartu's borders, coexisted with the beliefs of conquered areas.
[54] Excavations at Karmir Blur uncovered idols typical of the Neolithic era, which were also worshipped during the Urartu period.
[63] In the scientific literature of the first half of the twentieth century, there were more than once hypotheses about the Haldean people (καλδαιοι) mentioned by ancient sources.
