Wars of the Kingdom of Van with Assyria and the Cimmerians

In 743 B.C., the formidable army of Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III invaded the Kingdom of Van. Marching from west to east, Tiglath-Pileser III plundered the kingdom, eventually laying siege to its capital, Tosp (Tushpa). Failing to capture the city’s formidable citadel, he wreaked havoc on the city before returning to Assyria.

This Assyrian invasion inflicted significant damage on the Kingdom of Van. It was under King Rusa I (735-713 BC), the successor of Sarduri II, that the kingdom began to recover.

Rusa I built a new capital, Rusakhinili, to replace the destroyed city of Tosp. He also established robust fortresses along the shore of Lake Sevan. In a military campaign to the east of Sevan, reaching the point where the Araks River flows into the Kura, Rusa I conquered 19 countries. Nevertheless, Rusa, I’s successful reign came to an abrupt end.

In 714 B.C., Assyrian King Sargon II led a devastating invasion into the Kingdom of Van. Marching through the kingdom’s central regions, his army decimated everything in its path, burning settlements and chopping down orchards.

On his return journey, Sargon II turned his forces on the Kingdom of Musasir, an ally of Van, sacking its capital and defiling the revered temple of the god Khaldi.

This marked the final military engagement between the Kingdom of Van and Assyria. For the rest of the 7th century B.C., relations between the two kingdoms remained relatively calm. The incursion of the bellicose Cimmerian tribes from the Caucasian ridge forced both sides to unite against a common adversary.

The rulers of the Kingdom of Van successfully halted the southward advance of the Cimmerians. The Cimmerians later settled in the west in Cappadocia (referred to as Gamirk by the Armenians), from where they launched raids into Assyria. By the 7th century B.C., the Cimmerians were superseded by new adversaries: the numerous and belligerent Scythian tribes.

Vigen Avetisyan