The identity of the Urarṭian king murdered by his magnates is a problem linked with another long-debated issue, the interpretation of a large number of letters dealing with a crushing defeat suffered by the king of Urarṭu in or near Gamir, the territory inhabited by Cimmerians. The significance of this defeat is underlined both by the number of governors reported to have been killed (perhaps as many as 11) and by the very number of letters dealing with this matter (nos. 90, 92, 174 and probably no. 173).[[18]] A detailed description of the battle is lacking, but no. 90 tells us what happened immediately after: the Urarṭian king flees on a lone horse, while the rest of the army, ignoring his survival of the massacre, declares the crown prince Melartua (thus identified in no. 114) the new king. Letter 92 refers to the reorganization of the Urarṭian army in Guriania, a territory situated between Urarṭu and Gamir and to the outbreak of a revolt in the city of Waisi. Two further letters report on an invasion of Cimmerian troops into Urarṭian territory (nos. 144 and 145) and on anxiety in Urarṭu, testified to by a call for help sent by the Urarṭian governor of Waisi to Urzana of Muṣaṣir.
The "Cimmerian defeat" has been amply discussed in various recent works with respect to both its dating problems and its general interpretation. A direct succession of letters, pertaining to this event and to the Urarṭian revolt, has been proposed, linking together the texts about the defeat and the revolt in Urarṭu and suggesting for them a date preceding or contemporary with Sargon's Eighth Campaign.[[19]] The "Cimmerian defeat" has also been identified with Sargon's victory in his Eighth Campaign over Rusa on Mount Wauš[[20]], an identification which raises a large set of problems whose detailed exposition is beyond the scope of this Introduction. Suffice it to say that this hypothesis, if correct, would have important historical consequences. The Cimmerians would be the inhabitants of the district where that famous battle took place, the Mannean Wišdiš, and therefore a Mannean people (a thesis which was already expressed elsewhere);[[21]] they would become a people allied with the Assyrians, in whose name they would have fought against the Urarṭian king; and finally, the defeated king would be Rusa I, not his son Argišti, as assumed in earlier interpretations.[[22]]
As was anticipated above, this complex problem clearly involves the identity of the Urarṭian king killed by his magnates (no. 93). If the letter concerned describes the murder of Rusa, it would have to be dated after 714 since, as we have seen, Rusa was able to retake Muṣaṣir after the Eighth Campaign (which ended in late 714). However, the murdered king does not necessarily have to be Rusa; he could also be the prince Melartua who was raised to the throne after the "Cimmerian defeat" in total ignorance of Rusa's survival.[[23]]
However that may be, our letters show clearly that a whole page of Urarṭian history must be rewritten, particularly with regard to the stability of its throne and the cohesion of its structure.
18 See also SAA I 30-32, written by Sennacherib, and containing various reports on the defeat by different informers.
19 See my contribution, n. 9 above.
20 A.K.G. Kristensen, Who Were the Cimmerians, and Where did they come from? Sargon II, the Cimmerians, and Rusa I, Copenhagen 1988. For a study of this problem, and an analysis of the entire matter, see my I Cimmeri. Emergenza delle elites militari iraniche nel Vicino Oriente (VllI-VII sec. a.C.), Padova 1990, and its English translation The Cimmerians (Padova 1991, in press).
21 Salvini Zagros pp. 45f.
22 See the pertinent bibliography in Salvini Zagros, p. 43, n. 186. A discussion of tile chronology is found ibid., pp. 42-45.
23 This thesis was put forward in my contribution in Or Ant 22 (above n. 9).
Giovanni B. Lanfranchi
Giovanni B. Lanfranchi, 'The Cimmerian Problem', The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part II: Letters from the Northern and Northeastern Provinces, SAA 5. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA05 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa05/warwithurartu/cimmerianproblem/]