The Structure of the Urartian Bureaucracy and a New Suggestion for Royal City Rulers

Year 2023, Issue: 80, 35 - 54, 10.07.2023

Armağan Tan

https://doi.org/10.26650/iutd.1262729

Abstract

With the Urartu Kingdom, a new settled culture, which was not seen before, emerged in these geographies. The places where this new culture and state structure were most clearly characterised were the royal cities. These cities, which have been identified through archaeological excavations, reflect the mountainous geographical characteristics of a new state authority north of the Taurus Mountains. In addition to the visible reflections of the Urartian material culture, the evaluation of the records on the administrative and bureaucratic structure as a whole provides important clues about the administrative positions and officials in the cities. The fact that Urartian written records are generally uniform texts of royal propaganda has made it possible to make some determinations only in the details of a few bureaucratic sources. Some “standards” that can be identified in the details of such sources, have enabled new conclusions to be recognised. In this context, especially the governors ( LÚEN.NAM), who are known to be the administrators of Urartian provinces, and the title LÚNAM, which we propose as the highest administrators of the royal cities, bring out the dissimilarity of provinces and royal cities not only for material culture but also according to administrative structure.

Keywords

Urartian, Bureaucracy, LÚNAM, Royal Cities, Provinces

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

1059B141900288

Thanks

I would like to thank the TUBITAK Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, which supports my research project for 12 months within the scope of "2214-A During Doctorate Research Abroad Scholarship Programme" and Institute of Assyriology and Hittitology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich for the opportunity to use their academic facilities.

Urartu Bürokrasisi'nin Yapısı ve Krâli Şehir Yöneticilerine Dair Yeni Bir Öneri

Abstract

Urartu Krallığı ile birlikte söz konusu coğrafyalarda öncesinde görülmeyen yeni bir yerleşik kültür ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu yeni kültürün ve devlet yapısının en belirgin biçimde kendisini gösterdiği yerler ise krâli kentlerdir. Büyük çoğunluğu arkeolojik kazılarla tespit edilmiş olan bu kentler, Torosların kuzeyindeki dağlık coğrafyaya yansıyan yeni bir devlet otoritesinin kendine has niteliklerini yansıtır. Urartu materyal kültürünün kentlerdeki somut yansımalarının yanı sıra idari ve bürokratik yapıya ilişkin kayıtların bir bütün olarak değerlendirilmesi bu şehirlerde bulunan idari mevkiler, kişiler ve bürokrasi hakkında da önemli ipuçları sunar. Urartu yazılı kayıtlarının çoğunlukla tekdüze krâli propaganda metinleri olmasına rağmen az sayıdaki bürokratik kayıtların kimi detaylarında önemli tespitler yapabilmek mümkün olmuştur. Bu türden kaynakların ayrıntılarında belirlenen kimi “standartlar” Urartu Bürokrasisi’ne ilişkin yeni çıkarımlar yapabilmeyi sağlamıştır. Bu kapsamda özellikle Urartu eyaletlerinin yöneticileri olduğu bilinen valiler ( LÚEN.NAM) ve krali şehirlerin en üst düzey yöneticileri olarak önerdiğimiz LÚNAM ünvanı, Urartu’da eyaletler ve krâli şehirlerin yapısal olduğu kadar idari açıdan da farklılıklara sahip konumuna ışık tutar.

Keywords

Urartu, Bürokrasi, LÚNAM, Krali Şehirler, Eyaletler

Project Number

1059B141900288

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