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Summary:

Urartu is still less well known than it should be, despite the best efforts of many of the contributors to the current work. This edited collection of 21 chapters (all but one in English) written by a mixture of established and younger scholars, mainly from Turkey and Armenia but also from Western Europe and North America, offers a very broad coverage of Urartu and its principal sites. It may still leave unclear whether the Urartian state was centralised or decentralised, both (over time) or neither - probably there are as many opinions as contributors. There is not an over-arching narrative. Two chapters consider the state of Urartian studies, one examines Eastern Anatolia before Urartu; others look at Urartian history, economy, architecture, temples and sanctuaries, funerary architecture, pottery, iconography, and metalwork. 'International relations' and Urartian expansion, north, south and west, are the focus of the next three chapters. The final seven consider major Urartian sites: Erzincan/Altintepe Castle, the fortress of Ayanis, Bastam, Sardurihinili-Çavustepe, Erebuni/Arinberd, Karmir-Blur and Tushpa/Van Citadel. The aim has been to produce an in-depth introduction to most matters Urartian.