Fortress of Elar

Fortress of Elar
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Few parts preserved
Geographical location	40 ° 14 '54 " N , 44 ° 39' 11" E Coordinates: 40 ° 14 '54 " N , 44 ° 39' 11" E

The Urartian fortress of Elar located 20 kilometers north of Yerevan in Abovian (province of Kotayk ) on the road between Yerevan and Sevan . It was built by the Urartian king Argišti I , but has previous Iron Age buildings that were uncovered in 1960.

Elar is also an important site for early Bronze Age material.

inscription

A rock inscription Argištis from Elar mentions his victory over the land of Etiuni and the city of Darani in the land of Uluani ( ^KUR ù-lu-a-ni). It was published in 1863. From the inscription one cannot safely conclude that Elar is to be equated with Darani, since such inscriptions were affixed in the course of a campaign, but not necessarily at a place mentioned in the inscription.

Research history

The fortress was excavated in 1928 by Evgenii Baiburtjan .

Surroundings

The fortress of Aramus is located 5 km southwest of Elar .

literature

E. Chanzadian, Elar-Darani. Yerevan, 1979.
Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati , The Excavations at Korucutepe, Turkey, 1968-1970. Preliminary Report, Part V: The Early Bronze Age Pottery and its Affinities. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 33/1, 1974, 44-54.
Adam T. Smith / Koriun Kafadarian, New Plans of Early Iron Age and Urartian Fortresses in Armenia. A preliminary report on the Ancient Landscapes Project. Iran 34, 1996, 23-37.

Web links

Transcription and translation of the inscription

Individual evidence

^ Boris A. Kuftin , The Urartian Columbarium at the Foot of Ararat and the Eneolithic Stage of the Kura-Araks Basin. Vestnik Gosudarstvennogo Muzeja Gruzii 13B, 1943, 92–123
↑ Г. А. Меликишвили, Урартские клинообразные надписи. Москва: Издательство АН СССР 1960, No. 131
↑ Г. А. Меликишвил, Урартские клинообразные надписи. Москва: Издательство АН СССР, 1960, No. 131
^ Ali M. Dinçöl and Belkis Dinçöl, The Urartean inscription from Hanak. FS Sedat Alp, Ankara 1992, 112
^ Ian Lindsay / Adam T. Smith, A History of Archeology in the Republic of Armenia. Journal of Field Archeology 31/2, 2006, 173

[1] Boris A. Kuftin , The Urartian Columbarium at the Foot of Ararat and the Eneolithic Stage of the Kura-Araks Basin. Vestnik Gosudarstvennogo Muzeja Gruzii 13B, 1943, 92–123

[2] Г. А. Меликишвили, Урартские клинообразные надписи. Москва: Издательство АН СССР 1960, No. 131

[3] Г. А. Меликишвил, Урартские клинообразные надписи. Москва: Издательство АН СССР, 1960, No. 131

[4] Ali M. Dinçöl and Belkis Dinçöl, The Urartean inscription from Hanak. FS Sedat Alp, Ankara 1992, 112

[5] Ian Lindsay / Adam T. Smith, A History of Archeology in the Republic of Armenia. Journal of Field Archeology 31/2, 2006, 173