Arzashkun

Arzaškun or Arzaschkun ( in publications also wrong Arzaskun; Urartian Arsis -sa, Assyrian Arzaškun, Arṣaškun ) was also the name of the former royal city and the province in Nairi, about 150 kilometers north- west of Lake Van. King of Arama Arzaškun led, as the same time as other kings in this region, the title of King of Nairi. The city was surrounded by a double wall with built watchtowers.

Shalmaneser III. destroyed the city in his third year as part of a government campaign against Ahuni Til Barsip in the year 856 BC. Arama fled to the nearby mountains. Was never rebuilt. Except Arzaškun Shalmaneser attacked after his report on the black obelisk in this campaign also Alzi, Suhni, Daiaeni, Tumme, Gilzânu and Hubuškia to.

Sarduri I built after the founding of the state of Urartu, the royal city Tuspa on Lake Van.

The location of Arzaškun is controversial. Some historians identify the ruins west of Malazgirt with Ardzik of Armenian history, near the Arsanias River in present-day Turkish province of Muş, while other researchers they suspect at Lake Urmia. Because the Kurhk stele Musasir among the conquests of Shalmaneser III. lists in Urartu, while all the other inscriptions of Shalmaneser III. mention at this point Arzaškun at the point of Musasir, Miroslav Salvini keeps it that much further Arzaškun was possible in the south, as is commonly assumed.