[59] Vol. I. Ch. XVI. p. 286. [↑]
[60] Xenophon, Cyropædeia, bk. iii. ch. ii. 23. [↑]
[61] Verhandlungen der Berl. Gesell. für Anthropologie, 1898, p. 591. I would especially refer my reader to Dr. Belck’s remarks upon this subject in the same publication, 1895, p. 606. [↑]
[62] While this chapter is going through the press some further articles by Drs. Belck and Lehmann come into my hands. These deal with their recent journeys and researches in Armenia (Sitzungsberichte der K. P. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1899, pp. 116 seq. and pp. 745 seq.; the same publication for 1900, pp. 619 seq.). [↑]
[63] Messrs. Belck and Lehmann commence the sequence: 1. Lutipris, 2. Sarduris I., 3. Arame, 4. Sarduris II., thus attributing to their Sarduris I. the inscriptions which record the construction of the walls from the rock of Van to the harbour. They suppose a Sarduris II., son of Arame, as the antagonist of Shalmaneser II., and suggest that Sarduris I. was the contemporary of Ashur-nasir-pal II. (885–860 B.C.) (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 1897, p. 201). This arrangement throws back Lutipris to about 900 B.C. They promise us an essay upon the subject (see Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, 1894, p. 486; Z. Assyr. 1897, pp. 200, 201, 202). At present I do not feel convinced by the grounds they have brought forward. No inscriptions of this Sarduris II. have been discovered; nor does any mention appear to be made of works by a predecessor of the same name or by Arame in the inscriptions near the Tabriz gate at Van which they have discovered (see under Ispuinis infra). Of Lutipris no inscriptions exist; he is only known as the father of Sarduris. Pending further enquiry the hypothesis of Professor Sayce seems to me to hold the field: “I am more inclined to conjecture that Sarduris I. was the leader of a new dynasty; the ill success of Arrame in his wars with the Assyrians forming the occasion for his overthrow ... the introduction of a foreign mode of writing into the country looks like one of those innovations which mark the rise of new dynasties in the East. The consolidation of the power of Darius Hystaspis was, we may remember, accompanied by the introduction of the cuneiform alphabet of Persia” (J.R.A.S. 1882, p. 406). To this I should like to add that it seems consonant with the true order of events that not until after the defeat of Arame was the site of Van most happily selected as a sure stronghold against Assyrian attacks—a choice which was largely instrumental in producing the extraordinary development of the northern kingdom under Ispuinis, Menuas, and Argistis. [↑]
[64] May Arzasku have been situated in the great plain at the southern foot of the Ararat system, now known as the district of Alashkert? The inscription of Shalmaneser runs: “From Dayaeni (which Dr. Belck identifies with the district about the modern Delibaba) I struck camp and approached Arzasku, the capital of the Urardhian Arame. The Urardhian Arame was filled with fear ... and deserted his city. To the mountains Adduri he fled up; behind him I followed; a great battle I fought in the mountains.... Arame was compelled, in order to save his life, to take refuge in an inaccessible mountain.” Dr. Belck suggests that Adduri may have been the name applied by the Khaldians to Ararat and the Ararat system; and that it may survive in the modern Akhury or Arguri (V. Anth. 1893. p. 71). [↑]
[65] V. Anth. 1896, pp. 323 and 325. The translation is, however, open to question. [↑]
[66] The inscription is contained on one face of a recumbent stone which can with difficulty be distinguished from the boulders lying round. The stone has been well shaped and dressed. The characters have been much mutilated by the figure of a cross which has been incised upon the face of the stone. The first line evidently contains the name of Sarduris, while the second was probably occupied by that of Argistikhinis, or the son of Argistis. In line 7 a conquest is recorded, and in line 8 occurs the name of Alusia. Professor Sayce has kindly supplied this brief account of the contents, and I trust that he will publish the text. [↑]
[67] Arakel, ap. Abich, Geolog. Forsch. in den kauk. Länd. Vienna, 1882, part ii. p. 440. [↑]