The Van Kingdom: Urartu, Waterworks, and a Lost Empire

Long before Armenia was Armenia, the Kingdom of Urartu ruled the highlands around Lake Van. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten empire that built irrigation canals still in use today, forged iron weapons that rivaled Assyria, and left behind cuneiform inscriptions that puzzle archaeologists. We walk the ruins of Tushpa, the capital carved into a limestone cliff, and trace the rise of kings Argishti I and Sarduri II. We uncover Urartu's masterful water engineering — tunnels and aqueducts that transformed a volcanic landscape into fertile farmland. And we consider the empire's mysterious collapse around 590 BCE, a slow fade that left its cities abandoned and its story half-lost until 19th century excavators rediscovered it. Along the way, we touch on the debated link between Urartu and the later Armenian identity, the Behistun Inscription's mention of 'Armina', and what modern genetics and linguistics suggest. A conversation about the bedrock of Armenian civilization — the kingdom that built the first roads, the first fortresses, the first written records in this part of the world. #Urartu #KingdomOfVan #ArgishtiI #SarduriII #Tushpa #LakeVan #BehistunInscription #ArmenianHighlands #IronAge #Assyria #Cuneiform #WaterEngineering #LostCivilizations #AncientHistory #Caucasus #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo