Tushpa

Coordinates: 38°30′00″N 43°20′33″E / 38.50000°N 43.34250°E / 38.50000; 43.34250
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tushpa
The citadel of Van and the ruins of Tushpa below
Tushpa is located in Turkey
Tushpa
Shown within Turkey
LocationTurkey
RegionVan Province
Coordinates38°30′00″N 43°20′33″E / 38.50000°N 43.34250°E / 38.50000; 43.34250

Tushpa (

Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.[2]

It was possibly pronounced as "Tospa" in ancient times as there was no symbolic O equivalent in

Akkadian cuneiform
so the symbol used for U was frequently substituted.

History

Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in the Van Province indicate that the history of human settlement in this region dates back at least as far as 5000 BC. The Mound located along the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometres to the south of the citadel of Van, is the only known source of information about the oldest cultures of Van contributing to the founding of Tushpa.

Urartian Kingdom

The Van Citadel

Tushpa was the capital of the Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. The early settlement was centered upon the steep-sided bluff now referred to as Van Fortress (Van Kalesi), not far from the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometers west of the modern city of Van.

The

Sassanid
Persians, Arabs, Seljuqs, Ottomans and Russians each controlled the fortress at one time or another.

The lower parts of the walls of Van Citadel were constructed of unmortared

medieval era. Other cuneiform inscriptions have been found at the site and are typically off limits unless to large tour groups due to vandalism.[3]

In the trilingual

Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Babylonian is called Armenia
in Old Persian.

Orontid dynasty of Armenia and Persian Empire

Inscription of Xerxes the Great near the Van Citadel

The region came under the control of the Orontid dynasty of Armenia in the 7th century BC and later Persians in the mid-6th century BC.

A stereotyped trilingual inscription of

Elamite.[4] The inscription reads:[4][5][6]

"A great god is

Ahuramazda
, the greatest of the gods, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, created happiness for man, who made Xerxes king, one king of many, one lord of many.
I (am) Xerxes, the great king, king of kings, king of all kinds of people, king on this earth far and wide, the son of Darius the king, the Achaemenid.
Xerxes the great king proclaims:
King Darius
, my father, by the favor of Ahuramazda, made much that is good, and this niche he ordered to be cut; as he did not have an inscription written, then I ordered that this inscription be written.
Me may Ahuramazda protect, together with the gods, and my kingdom and what I have done."

When it was published by Eugène Burnouf in 1836,[7] through his realization that it included a list of the satrapies of Darius (repeated by Xerxes in nearly identical language), he was able to identify and publish an alphabet of thirty letters, most of which he had correctly deciphered. Burnouf's reading of the Van trilingual inscription had made a significant contribution to the deciphering of Old Persian cuneiform.[8]

Alexander the Great, the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia

In 331 BC, Tushpa was conquered by

History of Armenia attributed to Moses of Chorene, the city is called Tosp, from Urartian Tushpa.[1]

Byzantine Empire and Kingdom of Vaspurakan

The

theme
on the former Artsruni territories.

Seljuq Empire

Incursions by the

]

Ottoman Empire

The first half of the 15th century saw the Van region become a land of conflict as it was disputed by the

]

Towards the second half of the 19th century Van began to play an increased role in the politics of the Ottoman Empire due to its location near the borders of the Persian, Russian and Ottoman Empire, as well as its proximity to Mosul.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b Tushpa, site information Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Tushpa/Van Fortress, the Mound and the Old City of Van". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  3. ^ The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World
  4. ^ a b Dusinberre 2013, p. 51.
  5. ^ Khatchadourian 2016, p. 151.
  6. ^ Kuhrt 2007, p. 301.
  7. ^ Burnouf, Mémoire sur deux inscriptions cunéiformes trouvées près d'Hamadan et qui font partie des papiers du Dr Schulz, Paris, 1836; Schulz, an orientalist from Hesse, had been sent out by the French foreign ministry to copy inscriptions but had been murdered in 1829; see Arthur John Booth, The Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions 1902, esp. pp 95ff, 206.
  8. ^ Another photograph of the inscription.
  9. ^ The Journal of Roman Studies – Page 124 by Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Sources

External links

Media related to Tushpa at Wikimedia Commons

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