Ancient Ararat: A Handbook of Urartian Studies. Anatolian and Caucasian Studies

Journal of the American Oriental Society, The, April-June, 2000 by Alt M. Dincol

Ancient Ararat: A Handbook of Urartian Studies. Anatolian and Caucasian Studies. By PAUL E. ZIMANSKY. Delmar, N.Y.: CARAVAN Books, 1998. Pp. x 332, maps. Illus. $75.

The book under review is a bibliographical survey of the archaeology and philology of Urartu--may we call it Urartology?--from its beginnings up to the date of its publication. It is a tremendous task, but the author seems to have succeeded in overcoming the difficulties of sieving, compiling, annotating, and editing a huge bulk of published material appearing over more than a hundred years in several languages, including some not often seen in bibliographies, like Turkish, Georgian, and Armenian. He has succeeded not only in completing the manu-script, which he had hoped to be able to finish in three weeks, but which took almost a decade, but also in publishing his book after a disappointment. The classification and annotation of each of the 1432 entries, some only as simple translations of the titles, others containing bits of information extracted indirectly from summaries in languages which the author understands, require not only a polyglot talent, but acquaintance with the wide spectrum of subject matt er they deal with. Therefore this book should not be regarded as a mere listing of works, which a professional librarian could compile, but as a review of scientific publications on divergent aspects of Urartian civilization, written by one who has vast scholarly experience. Dr. Zimansky has the right to entitle this work A Handbook of Urartian Studies.

The book goes beyond earlier bibliographical aids to students in the field of Urartology (see pp. 22-23) mainly in its arrangement according to subject; items are grouped under the following five chapters: "Culture and Society," "Language and Writing," "Material Culture," "Archaeological Surveys and Site Reports," and "Rediscovery and Legacy of Urartu." Preceding these there is an introductory chapter in which the author touches briefly on the geographical setting and the chronological boundaries of Urartu and discusses the resources and literature available for the study of the Urartian civilization.

As the author himself points out, no bibliography is complete. We would like to add to this observation that no book meets the desires of everyone. Each author has a style and way of thinking that influences the structure of his work. Following are some additions to the bibliographic material and some suggestions on the arrangement of the topics.

Among the main journals where one can find articles and reports on Urartian studies, the Jahrbuch far kleinasiatische Forschung / Anadolu Arastirmalart (founded by the Hittitologist H. Th. Bossert; the first two volumes were printed in Germany, it is now published by the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul University) should be mentioned, some volumes of which are almost completely devoted to works on Urartu. The name of the journal should be corrected, since it is always referred to as Jahrbuch fur kleinasiatische Forschungen.

Some entries seem to be misplaced. For example, the guidebook of O. Belli (here no. 1293), The Capital of Urartu, Van, a German edition of which is also available under the title Die Hauptstadt der Urartder, Van: Ruinen und Museum, should be found under the rubric "General Overviews of Urartian Civilisation," since it does not differ in conception from general works by E. Akurgal (no. 1) or by M. S. Ar (no. 2) listed there. Another article which seems to be misplaced, perhaps because of a misunderstood Turkish word, is entry no. 1428, entitled "Urartu sanatinin sosyo-ekonomik acidan elestirisi uzcrine bir deneme" = "Essay on the Criticism of Urartian Art from the Socio-economic Point of View," which does not have much to do with trade but is concerned mainly with art. To this chapter a new book should now be added:

Cinlingiroglu, Altan. 1998. Urartu Kralligi: Tank ve Sanati. Izmir: Yasar Egitim ve Kultur Vakfi. Pp. xii 171 (= The Urartian Kingdom: its History and Art).

The following publications should also be taken into consideration:

Belli. Oktay. 1997. "Der Bronzegdrtel des Konigs Rusa in Malatya Museum." Anadolu (Anatolia) 23: 293-97 (= Festschrift for Ekrem Akurgal, vol. 3, ed. C. Bayburtluoglu).

Koroglu, Kemalettin. 1996. Urartu Krallizi Doneminde Elazag [ALZI] ve Cevresi. Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat Yayinlan (= Elazig [Alzi] and its Environment under the Urartian Kingdom). Koroglu, Kemalettin. 1995. "Assur-Urartu Yazili Belgeleri ve Arkeolojik Kalintilar Isignda Alzi/Enzi Bolgesi (Elazig Bolgesi) Tarihi Cografyasi." In Prof Dr. Hakkr Dursun Yildiz Armagant. Ankara. Pp. 359-66. (= "The Historical Geography of the Region of Alzi/Enzi [Elazig Region] in Light of the Assyrian and Urartian Written Documents and the Archaeological remains.")

Yildirim, Recep. 1988. "Burmagecit Urartu Migferi." Firat Universitesi Dergisi 3.2: 217-28. (= "The Urartian Helmet from Burmagecit.")

Yildirim, R. 1989. "Elazig Muzesinde Bulunan Birkac Urartu Kilici." Firat Universitesi Dergisi 3.3: 279-88. (= "Some Urartian Swords in the Elazig Museum.")