Haig was succeeded by his son Armenag—some think Armenia is named after this prince. The son of Armenag, whose name was Aramais, succeeded him. The son and successor of Aramais was Amasia, who, soon after the decease of his father took the lead of the government. According to our tradition it was this king who gave the name Masis, after himself, to that magnificent and huge mountain, now called Mount Ararat. After the death of his father Harmah ascended the throne.
Aram, about 1300 B.C.,[16] the son and successor of Harmah, towers among the kings of the first period of the Armenian history; he was, like King David, a great warrior and conqueror. He chased out the Babylonian and Median invaders, penetrated into the heart of Cappadocia, and the countries which he thus subjected to the west of the Euphrates composed the Armenia Minor.
After the long and glorious reign of Aram the country slowly came into a subordinate condition to the Assyrian empire and though the kings of the Haikian dynasty continued to rule over Armenia, they were according to our traditional history much overshadowed when the southern empire was at the zenith of her glory.
The famous inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, the king of Assyria (1110-1090 B.C.) throws some light on the condition of Armenia, and some of those districts which never knew subjection: “The lands of Laraus and Ammous, which from the days immemorial had not known subjection, like the flood of a deluge I overwhelmed. With their armies on the mountains of Aruma, I fought, and a destruction of them I made.... At the mountain of Aruma, a difficult district which for the passage of my chariots was not suited, I left the chariots, I took the lead of my soldiers.”
It is apparent from the discoveries of the cuneiform inscriptions, both in Armenia and in Assyria, and their decipherment by the modern scholars, that our ancient historians, who depended largely on traditions, were misled or mistaken with regard to the Assyrian supremacy over Armenia at this period—1100-626 B.C. Instead of Assyrian supremacy, a new dynasty had sprung up in the regions of Lake Van, north, west, and south of the lake, and become a worthy antagonist of the Assyrians. They had probably pushed the Haikian dynasty further north and northwest for a few centuries.
The following is a brief account of this period and dynasty: It may be interesting and also important to state that the kings of this dynasty are known to the Assyrian monarchs as the kings of Urartu (Ararat) or Nairi, and in the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions, they are so named. Neither do they call themselves the kings of Urartu, but they designate themselves as the Kings of Nairi and Biainia.
They call themselves also the children of Khaldis, after their supreme God. Of late the modern writers call them Chaldians or Khaldians, but they are pleased to call themselves the children of Khaldis, and never Khaldians. They seem to have a sort of theocratic reign.
Following is a list of the kings of this dynasty; Arame—He has no inscriptions; he is known only through those of the Assyrian kings, in which he is styled the king of Urartu (Ararat). He was attacked in his capital, Arzaskum, by Shalmaneser II in 860 and again in 856 B.C.
1. Sarduris I—Son of Lutipris, was attacked by the general of Shalmaneser II in about 833 B.C. Called King of Urartu in the Assyrian inscriptions.
2. Ispuinis—Son of Sarduris, 825-812 B.C., mentioned in his own inscriptions, styled himself King of Nairi of Soura (Northern Syria), inhabiting the city of Dhuspas.