Bastam Fortress is an Urartian settlement founded about 150 km east of the capital Tušpa, and 50 km north of today’s city of Khoy in Iran. It represents the easternmost of the great Urartian fortress sites and is the second largest after Tushpa/Van Fortress. Bastam is one of five major fortresses founded in the first half of the 7th century BCE by King Rusa II, the last great ruler of Urartu. The other fortresses of Rusa II are Karmir Blur, Ayanis, Toprakkale, and Kef Fortress.
Unlike many other Urartian fortresses, Bastam was built on a hill that had already been inhabited before Urartu’s arrival; the earliest occupation of the site dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE.
According to an inscription (A 12-7) discovered 3 km north of Bastam, the city’s name was Rusai.URU.TUR (Rusa’s Small City). Although this inscription revealed the existence of the city as early as the beginning of the 20th century, its precise location was first identified in 1969 by W. Kleiss. Systematic excavations were subsequently carried out between 1969 and 1978 under the direction of W. Kleiss and E. S. Kroll.
The region had been under Urartian control since the 9th century BCE, when a smaller fortress already stood at the site. King Rusa II had this earlier structure demolished and replaced with a much larger and more imposing fortress. Bastam was located at the western edge of the fertile Qarahziyaaddin Plain, traversed by the Aqchai (Akçay) River. The fortress itself is situated on a 1.6 km ridge extending northwest-southeast. Since the southwestern slope of the ridge is steep and sheer, the settlement developed along the northeastern slopes. Both the citadel and the lower town were surrounded by walls reinforced with towers.
At the southeastern end of the long rocky ridge lies the upper citadel, where excavated structures are thought to have belonged to a palace complex. On a terrace at a lower elevation, termed the middle citadel, large storage areas filled with pithoi (giant storage jars) were uncovered. The presence of numerous burned animal bones suggests that these storerooms were used for winter meat supplies. Around 1,500 clay bullae (seal impressions) were also discovered, bearing the seals of members of the royal family and high-ranking officials. Monumental inscriptions (e.g., A 12-5) found on site indicate that a temple dedicated to the god Haldi was also built in the middle citadel.
In the lower town, researchers identified several structures such as barracks, stables, a mill, a bakery, and smaller storage buildings. Among the smaller finds were cuneiform tablets, a relatively rare discovery in Urartian cities, some of which preserve royal correspondence.
The archaeological evidence shows that Bastam was destroyed in a great fire. The absence of human remains suggests that the site was abandoned after a siege and subsequently plundered and burned. Scholars differ on the agents of destruction: some attribute it to Scythian incursions, while others point to the Medes. The fortress experienced partial reuse during the medieval period.
References:
Kleiss, W. (ed.) 1979. Bastam I – Ausgrabungen in den Urartäischen Anlagen 1972-1975, Teheraner Forschungen 4, Berlin.
Kleiss, W. (ed.) 1988. Bastam II – Ausgrabungen in den Urartäischen Anlagen 1977-1978, Teheraner Forschungen 5, Berlin.
Kroll, S. 2011. “İran’daki Urartu Şehirleri / Urartian Cities in Iran,” in Urartu: Doğu’da Değişim / Transformation in the East, eds. K. Köroğlu & E. Konyar, İstanbul, 150–169.
Kroll, S. 2022. http://www.biainili-urartu.de/ (Open access web site).
Zimansky, P. 2021. “Bastam,” in Archaeology and History of Urartu (Biainili), ed. G. R. Tsetskhladze, Colloquia Antiqua 28, Leuven, 481–495.
Image Sources:
iDAI Arachne ID: 6808472
W. Kleiss, 1979, 1988
Fabienkhan, 2008
S. Kroll, 2011
P. Zimansky, 2021
S. Kroll (biainili-urartu.de), 2022