Urartu-Religion

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Urartu-Religion

This is actually a fairly straightforward motif for referring to that which is divine through reference of "the invisible, the unreachable by mortals" It is an interesting phenomenon, noting that Urartians engaged in ways of expressing this that are very different from that of their neighbours. It could have to do with the rocky, mountainous land on which they lived, serving as an inspiration for the orientation of the invisible divine forces which ruled their world. The fact that Urartians engaged in extensive mining operations could have promoted this kind of exploration for the divine underground, especially if they held their metals to be sacred (which ancient peoples from this region most certainly did). Again, the idea is that the gods dwell in the inhospitable places and when a man reaches such places, he becomes closer with the divine and thus, part of his nature can transcend his mortal aspect to join the god or gods of his cult.

The same idea has been used for the designation of sacred mountains by different civilizations. Various Anatolian tribes seemed rather keen on doing this it seems. A more familiar case may be found with the treatment of Mount Olympus as the home of the Olympian Gods, or Mount Ararat as being the sacred place of regenesis for all of mankind. Motifs can range from being very detailed, such as Noah's Ark unloading the ancestors of all of modern animals and humans to the simple idea that increased elevation brings one closer to the sky, that is, the heavens, which is probably what was noted about Mount Ararat and Mount Olympus alike before all the elaborate myths came about.

But we are making a big assumption in thinking Urartian religion was similar to Classical pagan religions, or to modern invisible pink unicorn religions.

[jgk3]

Re: Urartu-Religion

You're very correct to be cautious here. I know that I need to read more about the Hurro-Urartian divinities, in fact, I would love to get in on reading or helping in translating their actual excavated texts someday.

[hrai]

Re: Urartu-Religion

I've got scans of some recent books about Urartu that I'll look at. But there isn't a lot known for certain, and much of what Urartian religion consisted of is a mystery. None of the books seem to address the obvious (obvious from the archaeological remains) fact that what the Urartians believed was underground was an important aspect to their religion. The artificial "doors" they carved in cliff faces seem to have been considered by them to be real doors, through which they could access certain gods, and many sites have long, ceremonial passages, or staircases, or vertical shafts that often descend deep underground.

Bell, this is a subject which fascinates me and unfortunately time doesn't allow too much research at present. So, could you please list the book titles you refer to above?
Appreciate it, thanks.
jgk3, I'd appreciate anything you have too as you seem quite well up on this.

[jgk3]

Re: Urartu-Religion

I unfortunately don't have any books to recommend that deal specifically with Urartians, it is my knowledge about other ancient religions and civilizations that I'm trying to relate to the descriptions of Hurro-Urartian religion that I am finding on the internet, whether through forums, wikipedia or websites, all of which have biases to be sorted out. I think what I've read so far on the net serves as a good introduction and I encourage you to use this media, for now.

But I can refer you to some authors, dealing with comparative religious studies which deal with both Ancient and more modern religions: Alan Watts, Rene Guenon, Julius Evola. I also encourage you to read about the mythologies of different civilizations, how certain cults of worship or wisdom were restricted to the royalty/high caste society , others vulgarized for the masses (such as the Armenian cult of Anahit). I think being able to identify the above in any religion is important. In hierarchically stratified societies, you can often find a high caste tending to focus most on rituals to find mastery of themselves and find solidarity as brothers in arms who rule according to virtue, whilst the masses just want something to worship that can appeal to their lower level, emotional and day to day considerations, a cosmology that applies to their laborious lifestyle that serves to keep their civilization fertile with resources and most importantly of all, find mastery within their rank, even if lowly, as a means to attain and participate in the order of the universe which has been bestowed upon them by above.

When a society is able to have an organic distribution of the two forms of religion as stated above, where they compliment eachother for attaining a common order for an entire civilization, you can count on that civilization to expand and find resistance to exogenous cults, and it will likely fight more unitedly against enemy civilizations during times of conflict. Civilizations lapse in and out of this clear conscience of organic order. During times in which they are triumphant against their enemies, I recommend an analysis of their religious society, how united it is, what themes it appeals to which would lead it to perform well in leadership and battle as a supra-political force. Good examples are the unity of Charlemagne's knights in carving and sowing the seeds for a new Rome, to be lead by the Germanic races this time, or in the unity of the Muslims against the Crusaders under Saladin (but lets not forget that the Crusaders too were extremely united in this enterprise, a suprapolitical force trying to capture the kingdom of heaven for all of Christendom instead of battling eachother in Europe as they had done for centuries after the fall of Rome). It appears, at least to me, that this is the kind of unity that was achieved by Urartians against the Assyrians time and time again, and it needs to be investigated more closely.

Also, regarding the topic of discussion, I'd like to ask bell if the Zodiac has come up at all in Urartian ritual sites, this to me is a very important point in determining where Urartian cosmology stands with respect to its neighbouring southern Semitic religions, the Indo-European Zodiacs, or with early, allegedly prototype forms of the Zodiac which are claimed to have originated from sites such as Metsamor in Armenia itself.

[Sasun]

Re: Urartu-Religion

Always remember Article 301! No matter who writes articles or books about Ancient Civilizations in "modern Turkey" they will try to connect the past to people and languages to present day Turks bypassing Armenians. While reading a book on these topics, you should first determine who commissioned the book.
But you folks seem to be a knowledgeable bunch so I will throw out my questions to you also. I am always looking to expand my library in Ancient History. I would appreciate your help. You mentioned books on Urartu, I would appreciate a list. The ones I came accross were in German and I do not read German. I also want info on the Nairi, again not just a few paragraphs but books, Articles, etc. The third topic is Sasun from beginnings.
Thank you all in advance.

[hrai]

Re: Urartu-Religion

Always remember Article 301! No matter who writes articles or books about Ancient Civilizations in "modern Turkey" they will try to connect the past to people and languages to present day Turks bypassing Armenians. While reading a book on these topics, you should first determine who commissioned the book.
But you folks seem to be a knowledgeable bunch so I will throw out my questions to you also. I am always looking to expand my library in Ancient History. I would appreciate your help. You mentioned books on Urartu, I would appreciate a list. The ones I came accross were in German and I do not read German. I also want info on the Nairi, again not just a few paragraphs but books, Articles, etc. The third topic is Sasun from beginnings.
Thank you all in advance.

So many books written about our subjexts and history use turkey as the location, this distracts from the content but I suppose the writers are playing the game to get continued access to the sites they wish to investigate.

On my shelves I have a book " The Peoples of the Hills" which gives some references, let me get the full details for you, perhaps tomorrow.

Meanwhile consider this........Civilization in the Armenian Highlands predates the so-called Fertile Crescent. The Sumerians etc. had the Epic of Gilgamesh where he had to go to the holy mountains (Armenia). The Sumerians believed their ancestors were from Armenia and so was Abraham.
But were perhaps the Pyramids the only way the Egyptians could replicate the Holy Mountains in the flat deserts?

[Jam]

Re: Urartu-Religion

Armazd, Anahit and I think Hayk were also indigenous Gods/Godesses of Armenia/Urartu, as I know Armenians like many Pagan societies made great leaders into Godlike status later on (similar to Egyptians, Celts, Aztecs, etc.)

Armazd or also called Ahura Mazda is the Zoroastrian god. Zarathustra which is the prophet of Zoroastrians/Zarathustrians mentions Ahura Mazda in his book called "Gatha". It is possible that some Armenians were Zoroastrian like Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanian were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahura_Mazda

Anahit was a kind of a female godess of water. Armenians use the word Anahit instead of Anahita. Anahita was very important in Mithraism (pre-Zoroastrian religion of Iran).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita

[Joseph]

Re: Urartu-Religion

Armazd or also called Ahura Mazda is the Zoroastrian god. Zarathustra which is the prophet of Zoroastrians/Zarathustrians mentions Ahura Mazda in his book called "Gatha". It is possible that some Armenians were Zoroastrian like Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanian were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahura_Mazda

Anahit was a kind of a female godess of water. Armenians use the word Anahit instead of Anahita. Anahita was very important in Mithraism (pre-Zoroastrian religion of Iran).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita

Armenians were at one time Zoroastrians. Some remained and even fought against St. Vartan alongside the Persians.

[Jam]

Re: Urartu-Religion

Armenians were at one time Zoroastrians. Some remained and even fought against St. Vartan alongside the Persians.

Yeah I heard about it. Don't you think it is bad that native religions of Iran (Persia), Armenia, Greece, Roman Empire and the rest of Europe disappeared or got weak and Semitic religions like Islam and Christianity dominated.

Iranians, Armenians, Greeks, Romans were much stronger and well known before the rise of Semitic religions.

[jgk3]

Re: Urartu-Religion

And what is wrong with those "semitic" religions?

Btw, "semitic" is intended to be purely a linguistic term, it has no place in describing religions or races.

I suppose by criticizing "semitic" things, you are in the "indo-european" camp?