ARMANUM NARAM-SIN

The plains where grew the heart-soothing plants, grew nothing but the 'reed of tears,

Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla, during the height of its power (c. 2600–2240 bc), Ebla dominated northern northern Syria, Lebanon, and parts of northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and enjoyed trade and diplomatic relations with states as far away as Egypt, Iran, and Sumer.

Urartu, corresponding to the biblical Kingdom of Ararat or Kingdom of Van, was known in the Iron Age as a kingdom, the centre of which was Lake Van of the Armenian Highlands. Strictly speaking, Urartu is the Assyrian term for a geographical region, the highland around lake Van.Urartian, Vannic, and (in older literature) Chaldean (Khaldian, or Haldian) are conventional names for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu that was located in the region of Lake Van, with its capital near the site of the modern town of Van, in the Armenian Highland, modern-day Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Urartian is closely related to Hurrian. Hurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians (Khurrites), a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly vanished by 1000 BC.

Hurrian was the language of the Mitanni kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, and was likely spoken at least initially in Hurrian settlements in Syria.In the 33rd year of his reign, while he was in the Armenian Highlands in 1446 BC, Thutmose III of Egypt, referred to the people of Ermenen (Armenians), and says in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars”.

Under the reign of Tuthmosis IV, friendly relations were established between the Egyptians and the Mitanni. The daughter of King Artatama was married to Tuthmosis IV. The ethnicity of the people of Mitanni is difficult to ascertain. A treatise on the training of chariot horses by Kikkuli contains a number of Indo-Aryan glosses. Kammenhuber (1968) suggested that this vocabulary was derived from the still undivided Indo-Iranian language,  It was in the early 6th century BC, the Urartian Kingdom was replaced by the Armenian Orontid dynasty and the name of the regeion around lake Van in the trilingual Behistun inscription, carved in 521 or 520 BC[19] by the order of Darius the Great of Persia, the country referred to as Urartu in Assyrian is called Arminiya in Old Persian and Harminuia in Elamite.

Tatvan/ Bitlis Province is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van. Its area is 8,294 km2, and its population is 353,988 (2022).The province is considered part of Western Armenia by Armenians. The province was part of Moxoene of the Kingdom of Armenia. Before the Armenian genocide, the area was part of the Six Armenian Vilayets.
Nemrut (Turkish: Nemrut Dağı, Armenian: Սարակն Sarakn, "Mountain spring", Armenian pronunciation: [sɑˈɾɑkən], Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrudê) is a dormant volcano in Tatvan district, Bitlis province, Eastern Turkey, close to Lake Van. The volcano is named after King Nimrod who is said to have ruled this area in about 2100 BC.

There is Lake Nemrut in the crater of the mountain. The most powerful eruptions of Nemrut occurred in the Pleistocene. Many small eruptions occurred during the Holocene, the last in 1650. The top of the volcano is a large caldera hosting three crater lakes.
The administrative center was the town of Bitlis which was called Bagesh, in old Armenian sources.Strategically situated in the narrow valley of the Bitlis Çay, a tributary of the Tigris River, it commands the only route from the Van basin to the Mesopotamian plains. It was mentioned frequently, as Bagesh, in old Armenian sources. The area in which Bitlis is situated includes the eastern corner of the Muş Plain, the plateau west of Lake Van, and the wild, mountainous country on both sides of the city of Bitlis. The climate in mountainous areas is harsh, with long winters and heavy snowfalls. Agricultural products include fruits, grain, and tobacco; industry is limited to leatherworking, the manufacture of tobacco products, and the weaving and dyeing of coarse cloth. Kurds form the majority of the population. Tatvan, on Lake Van, is a major port. Pop. (2000) 44,923; (2013 est.) 46,111.

Armanum, was a city-state in the ancient Near East whose location is still unknown. It lies in the same general area as Mari and Ebla. It is known from texts of the Akkadian period, during the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad. His Predecessor was Mani-shtushu. Arad in Akkadian (𒀵, arad, is a reference to a "servant" or a "vassal") at the time of Naram-Sin, as well as his successor Shar-kali-shar and predecessor.

Naram-Sin, also transcribed Naram-Suen, meaning "Beloved of the Moon God Sîn", was a ruler of the Akkadian Empire, who reigned c. 2254–2218 BC (middle chronology), and was the third successor and grandson of King Sargon of Akkad. Under Naram-Sin the empire reached its maximum strength. He was the first Mesopotamian king known to have claimed divinity for himself, taking the title "God of Akkad", and the first to claim the title "King of the Four Quarters". A vassal (𒀵, arad, "servant" or "slave") of Naram-Sin, as well as his successor Shar-kali-shar. Naram-Sin defeated Manium of Magan, and various northern hill tribes in the Zagros, Taurus, and Amanus Mountains, expanding his empire up to the Mediterranean Sea and Armenia. His "Victory Stele" depicts his triumph over Satuni, chief of Lullubi in the Zagros Mountains. The king list gives the length of his reign as 56 years, and at least 20 of his year-names are known, referring to military actions against various places such as Uruk and Subartu. One unknown year was recorded as "the Year when Naram-Sin was victorious against Simurrum in Kirasheniwe and took prisoner Baba the governor of Simurrum, and Dubul the ensi of Arame"

The conquest of Armanum and Ebla on the Mediterranean coast by Naram-Sin is mentioned in several of his inscriptions.
Armanum, was a city-state in the ancient Near East whose location is still unknown. It lies in the same general area as Mari and Ebla. It is known from texts of the Akkadian period, during the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad.

One of the proudest achievements of the Akkadian king Naram-Sin was the conquest of Armanum and Ebla. These events are described in an Old Babylonian copy of an inscription on a monument erected in the city of Ur. 

Year Name of Naram-Sin - Rulers of that period named the years of their reign after major events that occurred in them, in this case "The year in which Naram-Sin conquered Armanum and tore d[own its] walls".Royal Tutelary - Afterwards, Naram-Sin added "conqueror of Armanum and Ebla" to his tutelary.
Statue Inscription - A Old Babylonian table fragment (UET 1 275) was found in Ur which was a copy of an inscription on a statue of Naram-Sin which at that time stood in the Temple of Sin next to a statue of Sin-Eribam, a ruler of Larsa. It described the military campaign during which Armanum was defeated.

"Whereas, for all time since the creation of mankind, no king whosoever had destroyed Armanum and Ebla, the god Nergal, by means of (his) weapons opened the way for Naram-Sin, the mighty, and gave him Armanum and Ebla. Further, he gave to him the Amanus, the Cedar Mountain, and the Upper Sea. By means of the weapons of the god Dagan, who magnifies his kingship, Naram-Sin, the mighty, conquered Armanum and Ebla."

Although it is clear that Naram-Sin’s campaign passed through Ebla (Tall Mardikh) on its way to Anamus and the Mediterranean coast and the Cedar Mountain, the exact geographical position of Armanum remains uncertain. 

One proposed site of Armanum is Tall Bazi. I would place the site further east near Mount Nemrut or Nemrud (Turkish: Nemrut Dağı; Armenian: Նեմրութ. Nemrut is a 2,134-metre-high (7,001 ft) mountain in southeastern Turkey. This mountain lies 40 km (25 mi) north of Kahta, near Adıyaman. This is where in 62 BC, King Antiochus I of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues 8–9-metre high (26–30 ft) of himself, two lions, two eagles, and various composite Greek and Iranian gods, such as Heracles-Artagnes-Ares, Zeus-Oromasdes, and Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes. When constructing this pantheon, Antiochus drew heavily from Parthian and Armenian traditions in order to reinvigorate the his ancestral dynasty. A detailed description of Armanum as being ona high hill with three concentric city walls. King Naram-Sin of Akkad also mentions that he conquered Armanum and Ib-la and captured the king of Armanum. Armani was an ancient kingdom mentioned by Sargon of Akkad. Again Armani was mentioned alongside Ibla in the geographical treaties of Sargon.which has led some historians to identify Ibla with Ebla and Armani with Naram-sins Armanum. The King Adad-Nirari I of Assyria also mentions Armani as being located east of the Tigris and on the border between Assyria and Babylon. Armani was attested in the treaties of Sargon in a section that mentions regions located bordering Assyria and Babylonia or territories adjacent in contrast to the Syrian Ebla, located way out close to Amanus, in the west. 

Armanum was later mentioned amongst the cities that rebelled against Naram-Sin.In the inscriptions of Ugarit there is mention of Ha-ar-ma-na/Ha-ar-ma-ni.

Adad-Nirari II and other Assyrian kings mention the land of Arime, in the region of the headwaters of the Western Tigris and the Kashiari mountain. During the Middle Assyrian and Kassite periods, the land of Armani was mentioned as located east of the Tigris which is my starting point in an atempt to place the location Armanum/Armani in the Highlands of Armania, west of lake Van East of the upper Tigris which in the Iron Age became known as Urartu. It is very interesting to note here that the region of the sources of the Khabur river was called Hark'(Harki) by Adad-Nirari II.

The Naram-Sin inscription contains, after the description of his victories, copies of captions that record the dimensions of an unusually high and strongly defended fortification, which in all probability was in Armanum itself. The discription with its exact measurements, gives the impression of a very accurate representation,of the structure, the defending fortification positioned on a hill.

Starting with the root *Ar we have Aries () (meaning “ram”) it is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac, spanning the first 30 degrees of celestial longitude (0°≤ λ <30º). Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this sign between March 21 and April 19 each year. In the Armenian language the root *Ar. 

Ma is a Sumerian word meaning “land” that in Sumerian mythology was also used to regard Primordial Land. There seems to be some loss in records as to the transition, but the same name Ma appears again later, also tied to the Earth,  Ma being referred to as “Mother of the mountain”. Now Anu (also An; from Sumerian An, signifies the “sky, heaven”), as a dweller say in the highest heavenly regions, a sky-god, or the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and or demon, not a mortal. Ki was the chief consort of An, the sky god. In some legends Ki and An were brother and sister, being the offspring of Anshar (“Sky Pivot”) and Kishar (“Earth Pivot”), earliest personification was of heaven and earth. By her consort Anu, Ki gave birth to the Anunnaki,