When was the castle of Ayanıs built and what is the meaning of the word ‘šuri’?

Abstract

The Urartian castle Ayanıs was built on a hill which stretches eventually to the water, 35km north of Van, near to a village called Aǧartı (old Ayanıs)and 250m inland from Lake Van. An inscription (Çilingiroǧlu, Salvini 1995) on the front of a monumental door that was unearthed at the southeast corner of the castle during the 1993 excavations proved that the castle was built by Rusa (Rusa II), son of Argišti, named as Rusahinili Eiduru-kai (‘Rusahinili in front of Eiduru mountain’). Our suggestion that Eiduru mountain can be equated with Süphan mountain (Çilingiroǧlu, Salvini 1995: 120) is strengthened with new information from the 16m-long inscription found on the façade of the Ayanıs temple. This inscription not only shows that Eiduru mountain gave the castle its name, but also that Eiduru was a god to whom sacrifices were made. We therefore need to add the god Eiduru to the list of Meher Kapı Gods.