Subject: cavalry warrior

Culture: Urartian

Setting: Armenia 9-8thcBC

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

* Museum of Fine Arts > Ancient Near East

"Urartu, called Ararat in the Bible, was the Assyrian name for the mountainous country that now includes eastern Turkey and Armenia. Between the ninth and seventh centuries B.C., the kings of Urartu imitated the ruthless expansionist policies of the Assyrians, threatening Assyria itself. They also dressed their troops in Assyrian-style armor, imitated Assyrian art, and rejected their own hieroglyphic writing for the Assyrian cuneiform script."

Helmet

Belt

* Çavuşoğlu 2014 p63

"Belts are usually made of bronze and rarely of silver. Certain amounts of zinc were added to some belts in order to obtain a gold-like appearance. Initially, metal was shaped into a thin bronze plaque, then the plaque was heated and hit from behind in order to obtain relief in the front, and an engraving technique was applied for decorations. The height of these belts varies between 5.5 to 17 cm and their length between 60 to 120 cm. In order to stick the belts on the skin or the lining, small string holes were opened with regular gaps.

"... Men's belts are longer and wider whereas women's are narrower and shorter. In men's belts, subjects such as hunting and war, succession of cavalries, lion, bull, and mythological creatures, sacred tree and religious scenes organized around the sacred tree are most commonly depicted."