Anatolian Civilisations — Troy, Hittites, Urartians, Phrygians, Lydians

The chapter unexpectedly opens with the history of archaeology itself: Schulz, sent to Van by the French Asiatic Society in 1827; Charles Texier in 1838; Layard, the discoverer of Nineveh, in 1840; Deyrolle in 1869; and Lehmann-Haupt, who began digging at Toprakkale in 1899. The book states plainly that European travellers' interest also encouraged illicit treasure hunting, that the Toprakkale finds reached London illegally, and that Hormuzd Rassam's excavations of 1880–1881 badly damaged the site. The role of Götze and Friedrich in deciphering the Urartian language is also noted. This introduction is valuable because it shows the reader where our knowledge comes from.

Source criticism is another strength. The book shows that Urartian inscriptions, like Assyrian annals, record only military victories and building works and are entirely silent about defeats: of Sarduri II's battle with Assyria in Commagene in 743 BC, only the successful parts are described. The name is then traced: Urartu first appears in Assyrian annals as «Uruatri», the biblical «Ararat» is the same name, while the Urartians called their land «Biainili» — the source of today's name «Van».

The political history is built on long quotations from Assyrian texts. Shalmaneser I's boast that he brought «the whole land of Uruadri to the feet of my god Ashur in three days», the forty «kings» of the land of Nairi, and Shalmaneser III burning Arzashkun, capital of the Urartian king Arame, give readers a feel for the language of the age. Then come Sarduri I, founder of Tushpa (Van Fortress); Ishpuini, who introduced the state cult of Haldi; Menua, known from more than a hundred inscriptions; and Rusa II, who gave Urartu a «renaissance» and built the fortresses of Bastam, Adilcevaz, Ayanis and Karmir Blur. The political section ends with the Cimmerian and Scythian raids, the rise of the Medes and the fall of the kingdom.

The most original parts of the chapter are «Cultural Change in the East» and «Cities». The book argues that the Urartian state seems to have appeared «all of a sudden» with no roots in eastern Anatolia, that Assyria served as a model for writing, state organisation and fortress building, and that these traditions may have been carried by the Nairi communities of the Upper Tigris. Archaeological details such as grooved pottery, glossy red-slipped Urartian ware and the spread of cremation, the features of planned cities with a citadel and lower town, and facts like Argishti I resettling 6,600 people deported from Alzi in the new city of Erebuni show concretely how the state worked.

There are weaknesses too. The claim that Urartu's borders reached «as far east as near the Caspian Sea» looks exaggerated; the kingdom's fall is dated in one place to the mid-7th century BC and elsewhere to 609 BC, and the beginning of Urartian history is also given different dates within the same chapter. The text often becomes as heavy as if lifted from an academic article, long lists of names and terms may tire general readers, and no references are given in the text.

Even so, the Urartu chapter is one of the most informative sections of the series we have read so far. The history of this kingdom, which spanned the basins of Lake Van, Lake Urmia, Lake Sevan and the Araxes, is of interest to South Caucasus readers too, and the book presents the subject mainly through archaeological and written sources, without entering political debates. For readers who want more than a brief introduction but are not yet ready for an academic monograph, it is a good bridge.

• A separate chapter for each civilisation
• Direct quotations from Assyrian and Urartian inscriptions
• Sections on the history of archaeological research and urban planning
• Colour photographs and short notes in marginal boxes