Appendix 1 The Kingship of Rusa Son of Erimena and Rusa Son of Argišti The chronology of Urartian kings, in particular the position of king Rusa, son of Erimena, and Rusa son of Argišti has been widely discussed.1 Although there are no complete king lists in Urartian inscriptions that we can rely on for the chronology of the Urartian kings, we can trace the chronology of the rulers for more than 100 years because each king also named his father in an uninterrupted line from Sarduri, son of Lutibri, to Rusa I, son of Sarduri II. However, after the mid-7th century BC, the textual evidence for the orderly succession from father to son as well as precise dating and the relative order of each individual king’s reigns are hard to confirm or disprove. For example, in the Assyrian sources dating to the reign of Sargon II there are two accounts of the death of an Urartian king. In the first account Sargon mentions how the Urartian king Rusa committed suicide at the end of his military campaign, or be- came ill after his defeat and died in 714 BC.2 Other sources from the same period also mention a revolt in Urartu and the killing of a king outside the city of Waisi (Uesi) by his nobles (SAA V 93). Although there is the possibility of both accounts having been intended to refer to the death of the same king, it is also possible that these sources may have referred to two different kings. If so, then it is highly likely that the former may have been Ursâ, the opponent of Sargon in 714 BC, and the second account may have been recorded at a later date and therefore refers to a different individual. However, there is no certainty about the identity of the king murdered by his nobles. This might have happened after Sargon’s eighth campaign, or following the Cimmerians defeat, or even another time entirely. Therefore, there is no clear indication whether it was Rusa son of Sarduri or Rusa son of Erimena that was killed. It is generally accepted that Rusa I, son of Sarduri II,3 was the opponent of Sargon II during his eighth campaign and if Sargon II’s account of how the Urartian king Rusa 1 Salvini 2012b: 111–134; Seidl 2012: 177–181; Kroll 2012: 183–186; Hellwag 2012: 227–241; Fuchs 2012: 135–161. 2 ARAB II 22 and 175. 3 An alternative suggestion is made by Michael Roaf, who argues that the opponent of Sargon’s may have been Rusa son of Erimena (Roaf 2012: 213–216). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��17 | doi 1�.1163/9789004347595_006 306 Appendix 1 died is to be believed in 714/713 BC4 and the same annals also in the following year (713/712 BC)5 record that: Ambaris of Tabal, whom I had placed upon the throne of Hulû, his father, to whom I had given my daughter, together with the land of Hilakku, which did not belong to the territory of his father, and had extended his land,—that faithless one sent a messenger to Ursâ of Urartu and Mitâ of Muski, (proposing) to seize my territory (ARAB II 55) The description of the death of Rusa was dated to Sargon’s eighth year and also men- tioned in a cylinder inscription found in Khorsabad which was written in 713 BC (ARAB II 118). There is a contradiction between these two accounts in the same annals: on the one hand it is stated that Ursâ committed suicide in 714/713 BC and on the other hand in the following year the proposed alliance is recorded. There can be only three explanations: Ambaris did not know that Ursâ was already dead when he proposed an alliance; this proposed alliance took place at an earlier date but was recorded in the same annals because of its relevance to Sargon’s removal of Ambaris in the same year; or the Ursâ who received messengers from Ambaris and the Ursâ who commit- ted suicide were not the same king. Although it is unlikely that Ambaris would have written to a king who had already been defeated by Sargon in the previous year, it is possible that there may have been two Urartian kings called Rusa whose reigns were not far from one another. If the Assyrian sources refer to the deaths of two different kings and the two different individuals were called Rusa, there is a gap of 4 to 5 years to the next dated Assyrian synchronism which names a king called Argišti in 709 BC.6 The only Argišti known from Urartian sources is Argišti son of Rusa, who was an ally of Mutallum the king of Kummuh (Qumaḫa).7 Therefore it is possible that the second Rusa who was an ally of Ambaris, the king of Tabal in 713 BC (ARAB II 55 and 25) was Rusa son of Erimena or Rusa, son of Argišti. Let us now consider the textual and archaeological evidence, in particular, the site of Toprakkale and the recent discovery of the Gövelek inscription 25 km east of Toprakkale,8 which are crucial to the question of who succeeded Rusa, son of Sarduri. Rusa son of Argišti was mentioned on a clay tablet (CT Tk-1 Ro) and on seal impres- sions of bullae (Sig. 12-1, 2 and 3) as well as on an undecorated bronze shield fragment (B 12-8) and a candelabrum (B 12-8). Rusa son of Erimena was named on inscriptions of 4 ARAB II 22 and 175. 5 See Fuch (2012: 136–137) for the dating of this event. 6 Salvini 2006a: 110–111; Fuchs 2012: 137. 7 ARAB II 64. 8 Salvini 2002b: 115–143..