Armavir is an Urartian fortress located about 40 km west of Yerevan on the eastern bank of the Ararat Plain irrigated by the Araxes River. It was built on a series of low hills extending approximately 4 km in an east–west direction between the modern town of Armavir and the Araxes River. Traces of habitation in the region date back to the Early Bronze Age. The Urartian settlement itself was founded by King Argišti I around 776–760 BCE. According to the foundation inscriptions this city, named Argištiḫinili (“the city of Argišti”), was established as a royal residence and administrative center, aiming to strengthen Urartian control over the fertile lands of the Ararat Plain.
The city of Argištiḫinili consisted of two citadels built on separate hills and a lower town surrounding them. The western hill, forming a 2.5 km long ridge, is known as Davti Blur (St. David Hill), while the hill about 1 km to its west is called Armavir Blur. The structures on both hills display typical Urartian architectural features: palaces and temple complexes within the citadels built with mudbrick walls on massive basalt foundations, and a lower town with workshops, storage facilities, and residential areas encircling the fortified centers. The larger western citadel (Davti Blur) is thought to have served as a military and administrative center, whereas the smaller eastern citadel (Armavir Blur), which contained a temple, is believed to have functioned as a religious center.
The city of Argištiḫinili occupied a strategic location near the Araxes River and was an important node in the Urartian irrigation and canal system that provided water to the surrounding agricultural lands. Archaeological evidence shows that the Urartians constructed over 40 km of irrigation canals in this area.
Following early research and test excavations that began in the 19th century, the first systematic excavations started in 1962. Between 1962 and 1970, K. Arekelyan conducted excavations at Armavir Blur (the eastern citadel), while M. Martirosyan excavated at Davti Blur (the western citadel) between 1962 and 1971. Research and excavations have continued intermittently up to the present day.
Cuneiform inscriptions found at the site refer to King Argišti I and his successor Sarduri II, confirming that the fortress continued to serve as a royal residence during the late 8th and early 7th centuries BCE. After the fall of the Urartian Kingdom in the 6th century BCE, the settlement at Armavir continued to exist and remained inhabited during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods as a regional center.
References:
Martirosyan, A. A. 1974, Argishtikhinili, Yerevan. (in Russian).
Karapetyan, I. 2010. “The ‘Susi-Temple’ of Argištiḫinili-Armavir,” in Urartu and Its Neighbors: Festschrift in Honor of Nicolay Harutyunyan – AJNES 5.2, 36–43.
Karapetyan, I., et al. 2021. “Recent Archaeological Research at Armavir, the Capital of Ancient Armenia,” in Archaeology of Armenia in Regional Context, eds. P. Avetisyan & A. Bobokhyan, Yerevan, 293–304.
Image Sources:
A. A. Martirosyan, 1974
Andranik Keshishyan
Evgeny Genkin, 2008
I. Karapetyan, 2010
I. Krapetyan et al., 2021
Rouben Sargsyan, 2022
Arto Sarkisian, 2024
Google Earth, 2025