The Kingdom Of The Ararat Mountains Will Never Fall

This inscription in three languages (Persian, Akkadian, and Elamite) was very common in the Achaemenid period of Persia. Three terms are used synonymously to refer to Armenia in this multilingual inscription. The country was called “Armenia” in Persian, “Urartu” in Assyrian, and “Charminoya” in Elamite.

Indeed, the name “Urartu” for Armenia continued to be used in the Assyrian version of the multilingual Achaemenid inscriptions up until the 4th century BC, which clearly indicates that as long as the Akkadian-Assyrian language was used, Armenia was called “Urartu”.

The use of trilingual inscriptions (including Assyrian) ceased in the 4th century BC with the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty and before the expansion of Alexander the Great.

This clearly indicates that there was no “fall of Urartu” in the 6th century BC, as some scholars have suggested. The name “Urartu” disappeared when the use of the Assyrian language declined. More precisely, the use of the name “Urartu” ended after the Assyrian language ceased to be used in multilingual inscriptions in the 4th century BC.

Nana Herouni