The kingdom of Diaukhi according to the inscription of Menua discoverd in the Yazilita

Abstract

In the first half of the first millennium B.C. the rulers of Urartu, including Menua conducted military expeditions of the Caucasus. The only source of this confrontation is Urartian cuneiform texts. Translation and analysis of inscriptions give us some idea of the Transcaucasian region of that period. The object of our research is the inscription of king Menua, which was discovered in modern Iazilita and the toponyms of the Caucasus according to this inscription, their localization and identification and at last, the route led by the Urartian king. Apart from the military and politic situation of Diaukhi, the article specifies the southern and northern borders of the ancient Georgian state - Diaukhi and the location of several of its toponyms. It is substantiated that Diaukhi’s south border was near city Shashilu mentioned in the Urartian texts. The work presents the direction of the military expedition described in the inscription. The truce between Menua and Utufurs is compared to the truce after the Battle of Kadesh between Ramses II and Muwatali, the rulers of Egypt and the Hittites. This truce was actually an agreement on equal terms for both sides, although both monarchs later claimed victory. Another opinion of the paper is that the disappearance of Diaukh from the Urartian inscriptions does not mean that Diaukhi fell. It is known that when Assyria finally defeated Urartu, Assyria disappeared from the Urartian texts.