Journals / Tarih Dergisi / 2026 / Sayı: 85

The Urartian Army on the Battlefield: Strategy and Tactics

Urartu Ordusu Savaş Meydanında: Strateji ve Taktikler

Süleyman Çiğdem(ATATURK UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LETTERS, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY)0000-0003-0076-7052
Murat Kılıç(ERZURUM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LETTERS, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY)0000-0002-7646-8596
Pages
1–24
Publication Date
2025-03-13
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

This study explores the methods of warfare, strategy, and tactics the Urartians used to achieve their success.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:The Urartians, founded in Eastern Anatolia during the Iron Age, are one of the most important states that shaped the history of Anatolia.
📊
Key Findings & Data:They became the most powerful state in the peripheral region by dominating the kingdoms and cities.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:This study explores the methods of warfare, strategy, and tactics the Urartians used to achieve their success.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Urartular · Savaş · Strateji

Abstract

The Urartians, founded in Eastern Anatolia during the Iron Age, are one of the most important states that shaped the history of Anatolia. They became the most powerful state in the peripheral region by dominating the kingdoms and cities. Despite challenging geography, rebellious vassals, and constant pressure from the Assyrian empire, the Urartians were able to establish and sustain a state of great power. This study explores the methods of warfare, strategy, and tactics the Urartians used to achieve their success.

Özet

Demir Çağı’nda Doğu Anadolu’da kurulan Urartular, Anadolu tarihini şekillendiren en önemli devletlerden biridir. Bölgedeki krallıklara ve şehirlere hükmederek çevrenin en güçlü devleti haline gelmişlerdir. Zorlu coğrafyaya, isyana meyilli vasallara ve bölgeyi sürekli baskı altında tutmaya çalışan Asur imparatorluğuna rağmen böylesine büyük güce sahip bir devlet kurmayı ve sürdürmeyi başarmışlardır. Bu çalışmanın temel sorusu Urartuların hangi savaş yöntemleri, strateji ve taktikleri kullanarak bunu başardıklarıdır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Çiğdem, S., Kılıç, M. (2025). The Urartian Army on the Battlefield: Strategy and Tactics. Tarih Dergisi, Sayı: 85, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.26650/iutd.1496808

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (57)

  1. Alp, Sedat, Hitit Çağında Anadolu: Çiviyazılı ve Hiyeroglif Yazılı Kaynaklar, Tübitak, Ankara 2000. google scholar
  2. Anisimov, V., Y., Anisimov, “Some Problems of Command and Control of Missile Forces and Artillery”, Military Thought, LI (1997), p. 50-59. google scholar
  3. Arrian, Alexander the Great: The Anabasis and the Indica, trans. Martin Hammond, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013. google scholar
  4. Baugh, Sue, “Proxy War, Armed Conflict, Britannica”, Encyclop&dia Britannica, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/proxy-war. google scholar
  5. Bradford, Alfred S., War: Antiquity and its Legacy, Greenwood, Westport 2015. google scholar
  6. Bryce, Trevor, The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012. google scholar
  7. Cambridge Dictionary, “Pitched Battle”, @CambridgeWords, 27.03.2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ dictionary/english/pitched-battle. google scholar
  8. Çilingiroğlu, Altan, Urartu Tarihi, Ege Üniversitesi, İzmir 1994. google scholar
  9. “CUT (Corpus of Urartian Texts)”, Upenn.edu, 2024, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ecut/pager/. google scholar
  10. Dezsö, Tamas, “The Battle of Mount Waush, 714 BC - Like a Furious Arrow”, Ancient Warfare, XIV/6 (2021), p. 26-35. google scholar
  11. __________, The Assyrian Army I, Budapest Eötvös University Press, Budapest 2012. google scholar
  12. __________, The Assyrian Army III, Elte Eötvös University Press, Budapest 2022. google scholar
  13. Erdkamp, Paul, “Polybius, Livy and the Fabian Strategy”, Ancient Society, XXXIII (1992), p. 127-47. google scholar
  14. Fagan, Garrett, “I Fell upon Him like a Furious Arrow”: Toward a Reconstruction of the Assyrian Tactical System”, New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare, ed. Garrett Fagan, Matthew Trundle, Brill, Leiden 2010, p. 81-100. google scholar
  15. Fuchs, Andreas, “Assyria and the East: Western Iran and Elam”, A Companion to Assyria, ed. Eckart Frahm, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken 2017, p. 259-67. google scholar
  16. George, Andrew, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Penguin Books, London 2000. google scholar
  17. Grayson, Albert Kirk, The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Assyrian Periods II (RIMA), University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2002. google scholar
  18. , The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Assyrian Periods III (RIMA), University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2002. google scholar
  19. Hart, B. H. Liddell, Strategy: The Indirect Approach, Pentagon Press, New Delhi 2012. google scholar
  20. Hawkins, John David, Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, W. De Gruyter, New York 2000. google scholar
  21. Herodotus, The Persian Wars, ed. A Godley, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1994. google scholar
  22. Hoffner, Harry, “Proclamation of Anitta of Kussar”, The Context of Scripture., ed. William Wolfgang Hallo, Brill, Leiden 2003, p. 182-84. google scholar
  23. Keegan, John, A History of Warfare, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1993. google scholar
  24. Kılıç, Murat, Anadolu’da Savaş Stratejileri, Doruk, İstabul 2023. google scholar
  25. , “Hannibal’in Savaş Taktiklerine Genel Bir Bakış”, Erzurum Teknik Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 3/5 (2018), p. 25-60. google scholar
  26. King, Leonard William, D. Litt, Bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, B.C. 860-825, Order of The Trustees, London 1915. google scholar
  27. Kitchen, K. A., “The Battle of Qadesh - The Poem, Or Literary Record”, The Context of Scripture., ed. William Wolfgang Hallo, Brill, Leiden, 2003, p. 32-38. google scholar
  28. Konijnendijk, Roel, “Playing Dice for the Polis: Pitched Battle in Greek Military Thought”, TAPA, CLI/1 (2021), p. 1-33. google scholar
  29. Köroğlu, Kemalettin, “Conflict and Interaction in the Iron Age: The Origins of Urartian-Assyrian Relations”, European Journal of Archaeology, XVIII/1 (2015), p. 111-127. google scholar
  30. Lancel, Serge, Hannibal, trans. Antonia Nevill, Blackwell, Massachusetts 1999. google scholar
  31. Lazenby, J F, Hannibal’s War: A Military History of the Second Punic War, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1998. google scholar
  32. Lipinski, Edward, The Aramaeans: Their AncientHistory, Culture, Religion, Peeters, Leuven; Sterling 2000. google scholar
  33. Livy, Hannibal’s War, ed. Dexter Hoyos, OUP Oxford, New York 2009. google scholar
  34. Livy Titus, Hannibal’s War, trans. John Yardley, B. D. Hoyos, Oxford University Press, New York 2006. google scholar
  35. Luckenbill, Daniel David, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (ARAB), Chicago University Press, Chicago 1927. google scholar
  36. Malik, J. Mohan, “The Evolution of Strategic Thoughts”, Contemporary Security and Strategy, ed. Craig A. Syder, Routlegde 1999, p. 13-52. google scholar
  37. Miller, Jared L, Royal Hittite Instructions and Related Administrative Texts, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2013. google scholar
  38. Overtoom, Nikolaus Leo, Reign of Arrows: The Rise of The Parthian Empire in The Hellenistic Middle East, Oxford University Press, New York 2020. google scholar
  39. Parker, Geoffrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare, Cambridge University Press, New York 2022. google scholar
  40. Payne, Margaret, Urartu Çiviyazılı Belgeler Katalogu, Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul 2006. google scholar
  41. Polybius, The General History of Polybius, trans. M Hampton, W. Baxter, J. Parker; London, Oxford 1823. google scholar
  42. , The Histories of Polybius, trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012. google scholar
  43. Radner, Karen, “Between A Rock and a Hard Place: Muşaşir, Kumme, Ukku and Subria - the buffer states between Assyria and Urartu”, Biainili-Urartu: The Proceedings of the Symposium Held in Munich 12-14 October 2007 = Tagungsbericht desMünchner Symposiums 12.-14. Oktober 2007, ed. U. Hellwag vd., Peeters, Leuven 2012, p. 243-64. google scholar
  44. Reilly, Henry J., “Blitzkrieg”, Foreign Affairs, XVIII/2 (1940), p. 254-265. google scholar
  45. “RINAP”, Upenn.edu, 2024, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/rinap/corpus. google scholar
  46. Rosenberger, Veit, “The Gallic Disaster”, The Classical World, XCVI/4 (2003), p. 365-373. google scholar
  47. Saggs, Henry W. F., “Assyrian Warfare in the Sargonid Period”, Iraq, XXV/2 (1963), p. 145-54. google scholar
  48. , “The Nimrud Letters Part IV”, Iraq, C. 20, 2 (1958), p. 182-212. google scholar
  49. Salvini, Mirjo, Urartu Tarihi ve Kültürü, trans. Belgin Aksoy, Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayınları, İstanbul 2006. google scholar
  50. Schulman, Alan R., “The N'rn at the Battle of Kadesh”, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, C. 1 (1962), p. 47-52. google scholar
  51. Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Allandale Online Publishing, Leicester 2000. google scholar
  52. “The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP)”, oracc.museum.upenn.edu, (20.03.2021), http://oracc.org/rinap/. google scholar
  53. Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, trans. J. M. Dent, E. P. Dutton, New York 1910. google scholar
  54. Topaloğlu, Yasin, “Erzurum Kalelerinde Kullanılan Kiklopik Duvar Tekniği”, GSED, 31 (2013), p. 195-222. google scholar
  55. Westenholz, Joan Goodnick, Legends of the Kings ofAkkade: The Texts, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 1997. google scholar
  56. Yıldırım, Ercüment, “Carrhae Yenilgisi ve Roma’nın Doğu Politikasına Etkileri”, Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 29 (2013), p. 261-72. google scholar
  57. Zimansky, Paul, “Urartu Krallığı ve Topografya”, Urartu: Savas ve Estetik, ed. Filiz Özdem, Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat, İstanbul 2003, p. 75-85. google scholar