Until the last decade of the 8^th century BC many peripheral provinces of the Urartian State and particularly the Ethiunian principalities, except that of Vaza, being tax¬payers to Van kings, were in opposition to them. E.g. the king Sarduri II (c. 763-735 BC), marched to Uduri-Etiuni four times, while to Eriakhi seven times. One of the last such events related to this opposition was the Ethiunian principalities" revolt of 730 BC against king Rusa I (c. 735-714 BC). The crucial battle took place near the southern shores of Lake Sevan in Uduri-Etiuni, where the rebels were defeated.

In 714 BC the Cimmerians, neighbours of the Shirak principalities, overran Urartu. Soon (721-705 BC) Sargon II campaigned against Urartu. Rusa suffered a crushing defeat on both fronts and foreseeing the downfall of his state, committed suicide. Truly, it seemed that after such events the country would have collapsed or at least the Ethiunian peripheral principalities that were seeking independence so strongly might have seceded. The reality, however, was different: just after Rusa, the Urartian cities established here began flourishing. Particularly this is true for 'The City of God Teisheba' (Tsovinar) in Uduri-Etiuni and probably also for the fortress Horom already established by Sarduri II or Argishti I (786-764 BC) as a fortified city in Eriakhi. The span was so peaceful that in Horom and Tsovinar some blocks were established outside the fortification. Moreover, prevalence of the Van kings was regarded here so natural that the prince of Ishkugulu, one of the northern neighbors of Eriakhi, first entered the service of Rusa II (685-645 BC) or later he became viceroy of the country of Mana in the administration of the later ruling king. Generally, a new period of political stability and cultural renaissance begins for Urartu.

The surprising rise of the country that stood near to collapse in 714 BC may be explained by the following circumstances:

1. In order to withstand the Cimmerian and Assyrian raids into the Armenian highlands from the north and south respectively, the semi-independent principalities, as Ethiuni and those lying south of Lake Van and the Armenian Taurus, united around the Van kings. This tendency seemed so natural, that in 714 BC the Assyrians without any opposition surrendered the town of Mutsatsir conquered by them before to the Urartians.

This, in many aspects voluntary union had much deeper consequences of cultural significance, let alone the political one: the Bia-Etiunian cultural antagonism ob-served in the 8^th century BC was overcome. A process of integration and cultural diffusion started between them, which resulted in the Urartian culture of the 7^th century' BC - a culture that was already syncretic in many aspects and which particularly in regard to 'material culture' survived further up to the early Armenian period.

2. Emergence of new forces (Cimmerians, Medes) in the region changed the balance of power, pushing Urartu and Assyria to cooperate. Probably the need to have a barrier in the way of the Cimmerians in the north and rising Media in the east was the reason that Sargon did not inflict the final defeat on the Van Kingdom after the Uaush battle. Even after the Scythians appeared this alliance became more reinforced: the two kings established a stable correspondence and amicable messengers appeared in Assyria. 'Moreover, the kings agreed on military actions, such as Esarhaddon's cam¬paign toward Shubria, as well as probably Sennacherib's campaign to Niburs mountains. This alliance was observed very carefully and Esarhaddon did not even request the return of the princes who assassinated Sennacherib and were then sheltered in the country of Ararad -one of the principalities of the Armenian Taurus adjoining Urartu.

The Urartian-Assyrian friendship of the 8^th century BC promoted another rise in Urartian culture and statehood (although the Van kings renounced the imperial ambitions of their ancestors), while Assyria strengthening security of its northern borders thus reached the peak of its political power in this century.

However, the Assyrians were not so cautious toward Elam. In 665 Assurbanipal (668-635/27 BC) conquering and plundering the Elamite Kingdom, sharply changed the balance of power in the region, however, to the detriment of his own country. Releasing themselves from this very powerful foe, Media and Babylon united their forces against Assyria. This resulted in the fall of the Assyrian State.

As it is well known, the Median-Babylonian alliance was opposed by the Assyrian-Egyptian one. It is difficult to imagine that the Van kings were able to maintain neutrality in this environment. The available data show that the Van kings remained faithful to Assyria even at the end of the 7^th century BC when it was in mortal agony. They actually joined the Assyrian-Egyptian alliance. This can be evidenced by a fragment of Gadd's Chronicle, which tells about Babylonian campaigns against Urartu, probably those of 609 and 606 BC. Besides, the Cyropacdia recounts Kiaksar's (625-585 BC) and his father's cam¬paigns to Armenia, i.e. the Van Kingdom, because in the last quarter of the 7^th century BC, before the destruction of Assyria, it was the Van Kingdom that bordered Media in the Armenian Highlands.

There is an opinion that the Van king Erimena, Rusa III's father was an adversary of Kiaksar in Armenia, while the Armenian tradition dates the Median-Armenian conflicts back to the 7^th century BC, relating it to the figure of Nukar Mades as well as referring its end to Cyrus the Great's ally [the king] Tigran Yervandyan, who, according to Movses Khorenatsi, put an end to Median domination in Armenia. In this respect it is remarkable that neither Greek nor Armenian sources observe any interruption in the statehood of Armenia (Urartu?) for this period.

If in the last quarter of the 7^th century BC there was an Urartian-Egyptian cooperation, even if through mediation of Assyria, then we can expect that this cooperation led to commercial and not just political contacts, which is possible to confirm archaeologically. In this regard it is interesting that the earliest Egyptian object discovered in Eastern Armenia dates back to the 15^th century BC. This is an Egyptian seal found in Metsamor tomb N9 with an hieroglyphic inscription mentioning Kurigalzu's name. There are no finds of Egyptian origin on early Iron Age Armenian sites. In contrast to this, a good deal of Egyptian finds have been revealed from the Urartian sites.

First to be mentioned is a scarab found by N Ya Marr in Argishtikhinili/Armavir: it displays a seated figure with a scepter in his hand, near which is depicted a cartouche with the name of Menkheperre - the throne name of Tuthmosis III. Scarabs with this name continued in circulation for a long time and were particularly widespread in the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC. Boris Piotrovsky dates the Armavir scarab exactly to that time. Also, we can mention scarabs obtained from Shirak (Ani) and Van (by Orbeli). The latter also carries Menkheperre's name.

The Egyptian finds discovered in Karmir Blur do not form a big collection and date to the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC. The collection consists of a faience pendant made in a form of a Sakhmet figurine, a scarab, four transpierces of oval form, and a small faience balm vessel.

All these artifacts relate to the destruction phase of the city of Teishebaini, i.e. they were in use at the end of the 7^th / beginning of the 6^th century BC.

Another Egyptian article is known from the other big center of the Ararat valley - Erebuni. This is an amulet made of blue-greenish paste representing the god Bes excavated in the northern suburb of the city, within 'big house'. The finds also date to the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC.

This collection of Egyptian artifacts known from Urartian sites in the Trans-Caucasus was complimented by a very interesting find unearthed in 1989 during the excavation of the fortress of Lori.

The necropolis of Lori-Berd is located in the Lori region in the north of the Republic of Armenia near the town of Stepanavan. The necropolis was used continuously for more than one and a half thousand years; i.e., from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC until the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC.

In 1989 three scarab stamp seals were found in tomb N62 of Lori-Berd and dated to the last phase of the necropolis.

N62 is an inhumation burial with corpses lying in the ground; it is one of biggest tombs of the site (the burial chamber's length is 10.02m, its width is 2.27- 4m and its depth is 3.04m). Seven horses were buried in the tomb with Urartian-Assyrian and Scythian types of decoration. The tomb contained bronze vessels, a bracket, a bimetallic harness belt, arrowheads, simple and glazed vessels, human and phallic stone stele/sculptures, and a lot of golden and other kind of minor adornments.

The scarab stamp seals have been found close to the floor among the mentioned adornments. These seals have been made of white paste displaying almost the same oval shapes and sizes (1.04 x 1 x 0.7 cm). Each seal has a convex outer side, while the functioning base is flat. The convex exterior displays a human face with a high net-like headdress in relief. The functioning flat surface depicts different engraved figures in a horizontal direction framed by a thin groove-like circle. A deep groove runs between the convex and flat parts of the seals with oblong holes, possibly for a wire.

The first seal (Fig.1) preserves traces of blue glaze. A human figure in full-face posture with hands dropped down is engraved in the middle of the stamp seal. The man is flanked by a couple of kites facing inwards and with their wings stretched up and down.

The second seal (Fig.2) depicts the engraved figure of a standing man, who holds a horse bridle in his left hand and a lash or a dagger in his right. The man's profile looks towards the horse. Above the horse head, we see a hieroglyphic sign like a five-tooth comb.

The third seal (Fig.3) shows a human figure with his profile stretched glancing at a long-horned goat.

The three seals are similar in technique, style and in subject matter: man and goat, man and horse, man and bird. All three of these examples preserve a tendency to be symmetric and to fully use all available space.

A strong Egyptian influence is evident on the seal of the 'birds'. A similar composition is characteristic of a seal of the Moscow Pushkin State Museum that has a cartouche with throne name of Tuthmosis III (Mn-hpr-rr}. Here the cartouche is leaning against the sign of 'gold' with two kites on both sides of it. Another scarab from the same Museum depicts carved bird-like goddesses with extended wings. The next scarab of the same Museum displays Tuthmosis's engraved name, the sign of 'gold' and the phrase 'beautiful god' or 'young god'. The scarab also depicts a kite on the sign of 'gold'. A similar scarab is known from London University College.²

Phoenician scarab stamps of the 7^th and 5^th centuries BC depicting a man or bird-winged goddesses are known from Beirut and from Syria. These winged goddesses are Isis and Nephthys, and they took the Pharaoh in their wings. It is remarkable that these twin goddesses are depicted also on Tutankhamun's sarcophagus, while the fan contains images of birds in the above-mentioned position.

In ancient Egypt the Nekhbet-kite was perceived as Pharaoh's mother. And her name was included in the Nebty element of the royal titulary.

Thus the seal from Lori-Berd bears a simplified Egyptian iconography:, the principal difference is that the hieroglyphs/cartouche, gold and other signs are replaced by a human figure standing in the center.

The iconography on the second seal from Lori-Berd (man and bridled horse) seems to be another simplified version of Egyptian prototypes. One beloved Egyptian topic was Pharaoh's figure driving a chariot, reflection of which is found in the seal-making art. The seal from Lori-Berd lacks the chariot, which could have made the composition complete. The hieroglyph reproduces the sign 'mn' and expresses the idea of' 'eternity' and 'stability'.

The next scarab depicts a combination of man and goat and is probably related not only to ancient Oriental, but also Greek tradition (worship of Pan and Dionysos).

It is assumed that the goat was the zoomorphic symbol of fertility in Indo-European tradition. This deity was often depicted like this or a goat was brought as sacrifice to this god. Goat-like personage of this god is known also from the Sumero-Babylonian world and Egypt.

In this regard an Egyptian personage of a 'special man' is remarkable: a man who drives a goat loaded with 'sins' and evils - 'the scapegoat' to the desert to make it fade. Also remarkable is the personage of the goat-headed and goat-hoofed Egyptian god; process of sacrifice to which was accompanied by the believers' sexual interaction with goats, a phenomenon that has been condemned in the Bible.

The figure of a goat was familiar to ancient Egyptian art. Thus the bark of the god Sokar - the deceased protector, sometimes was goat-shaped. Tutankhamun's tomb contained a goat-shaped oil dish and a boat model ending in a Capricorn.

It is assumed that the worship of the goat has been introduced to Egypt from Asia Minor.

The goat found at Lori-Berd could mean 'scapegoat', while the human - that of 'special man'. The ceremony related to the 'scapegoat ceremony' was known in many Mediterranean countries including Egypt, which already was inhabited by Jews, Greeks, others from Asia Minor and African peoples, let alone the Egyptians themselves. In this crucible of different ethnicities and henceforth different religious ideas, the Egyptian religion remained dominant, moreover the Greeks often hellenized the Egyptian deities giving them Greek names.

It is difficult to find direct analogues for stamp seals from Lori-Berd among other finds in Armenia and available ones, although there are reminiscent motives both on Egyptian scarabs and more late scarabs originating from the Egyptian-Greek-Phoenician area. The seals from Lori-Berd with human faces or masks on their underside directly associate with seals from the famous Egyptian-Greek city Naucratis and those found from the celebrated Phoenician center Carthage that usually date to the 7lh - 6ln and 4!r' centuries BC. The masks with their expressive eyes and thick lips if they do not represent directly Africans, then at least a Middle Eastern type, while the smile on their disconnected lips seem to be taken from a Greek mask.

It is known that the most probable time when Naucratis was settled by Greeks is the dateline of the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC. It is well known that a seal workshop was functioning here at least from the beginning of the 6^th century BC, products of which reached up to the northern coast of the Black Sea, Iran and the Caucasus. Herodotus writes with admiration about 'the only Egyptian commercial port Naucratis' foreign merchants. Milet and Rhodes were the main partners of Naucratis.

In the second half of the 7^th century BC, the Phoenician coast was the main center connecting Egypt with other countries of Asia Minor. Early in the 1st millennium papyrus replaced the clay tablets in Phoenicia and the cylinder seals gradually went out of use. Instead the scarabs, similar and conical seals prevailed, which have been found at many Western Phoenician sites in various samples and date back to the 7^th century BC and later.

Originally these seals had emphasized Egyptian forms, although not always produced in Egypt. It was later when the Greek influence became prevalent. Also Sintas mentions that seals of the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC found in Carthage actually were glazed seals of Egyptian style.

Thus the scarab seals from Lori-Berd have Greek and Phoenician origins: they penetrated the Van Kingdom through Assyria like other known Egyptian finds. These seals, as the whole assemblage from tomb N62, can be dated to the end of the 7^th century BC. Apart from these seals and Urartian items, various articles of Assyrian and Scythians style have been found in burial N62. Thus, the fairly big collection of Egyptian material excavated from the Urartian sites of Eastern Armenia date without exception to the end of the 7^th and beginning of the 6^th centuries BC, while the most probable period of their appearance in the Van Kingdom is the end of the 7^th century BC.³ No Egyptian objects of earlier (Early Iron Age) or later (Early Armenian period) date have been found or are even known, i.e. the available material proves that the Egyptian-Urartian contacts lasted for a very short period, coinciding with the years of a possibly existing Egyptian-Assyrian-Urartian alliance. By the fall of Assyria, the Egyptian-Urartian contacts were interrupted, probably because of a simple reason, i.e. communications passed through the territory of rivals - Media and Babylon. As for the northern route, the so-called 'Artaxata-Sebastopolis¹, which would be able to connect Urartu with the Greek cities on North Black Sea, it was not functioning yet for reasons we can only guess. Particularly via this or a parallel route Egyptian artifacts continued to reach the Caucasus, bypassing Urartu and Armenia however. Thus, Urartu after the defeat of the Assyrian-Egyptian-Urartian coalition found itself isolated. Predictably, this was the most important reason that later Armenia almost wholly voluntarily accepted the domination of Cyrus the Great.

1 Scarabee-French word for beetle. The first Egyptian scarab stamp seals are known from the Middle Kingdom. There was a belief that the dung scarabs assisted the deceased in resurrection and eternal life.

2 It seems that the person who obtained the seals made a choice on depictions, because goat and eagle are the main symbols of Urartian principal god Haldi and often the god Haldi is depicted with a goat and eagle. In Armenia the horse was the symbol of Mithra-Mher. Worships of Mithra and Haldi had been syncretized probably in the 8^th century BC. Worship of these three animals existed in Armenia in remnant form even after the adoption of Christianity. Thus, we can suppose that the owner of the seals had been aware of the state religion and iconography of the Van Kingdom and predictably identified the human-like figure with Haldi's character.

3 Except for tomb N62, a similar inventor.- (horses adorned with Urartian-Assyrian harness, bridles and adornments of Scythian types, a Urartian helmet, pitlioi, kararses, big wine jugs etc,,) has been also found in tombs N56, 63, 64 of Lori-Berd. Variety of the inventory partly finds its analogies in the Early Iron Age assemblages. However, the Urartian and Scythian type artifacts and especially the above mentioned scarabs date towards the end of the 7^th and the first half of the 6^th century BC. In this regard, the tomb dating to the 6^th century BC is remarkable in its inventory (silver and golden bowl phiale, two Egyptian faience eye-shaped amulets ('wedjat') reminiscent of the above mentioned Lori-Berd complexes. It is quite possible that the emergence of those artifacts in Mingechaur, on the bank of the river Kur, can be explained by the alike political conditions that prevailed in Urartu at the end of the 7^th century BC.

Seda Devejian, the author of two monographs, specializes in the archaeology of the Armenian Highland of the 4^th to 1^st millennia BC. Dr. Devejian has participated in, and led, expeditions in Lori-Berd, Argishtihinili, and Lchashen, among other places.

Simon Hmayakyan, a specialist in the history, art, religion and archaeology of the Urartu, is the author of two monographs, one of which is the only comprehensive study of the religion of the Urartu in existence. Dr. Hmayakyan has participated in, and led, a number of expeditions, and is currently the head of the Armenian-Italian expedition in the Sevan region.

This article was originally published in Studia Aegyptiaca XVII in 2002.