Altıntepe
Altıntepe · Altintepe · Arzaškun region fortress
Urartian Kingdom 8th–6th century BCE (late empire western frontier)·Urartian → Median → Achaemenid·🇹🇷 Erzincan Province, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey
About
About Altıntepe
Argishti II's westernmost Urartian stronghold (c.700 BCE) that guards the Upper Euphrates bend, whose rock-cut underground passage (80 m) and Apadana-like pillared hall (18 columns) are unique in Urartu, while the Late Urartian tombs yielded the famous Altıntepe ivories — lion-bowl, griffin handle and gold jewelry now starred in Ankara Museum. Özgüç's citadel walls show Urartian–Phrygian burnished ware sharing a border dialect.
Why it mattersWesternmost Urartian architecture; unique pillared hall anticipating Achaemenid apadana.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were ivories local or Assyrian booty?
- 02Subterranean passage — sally-port or water?
Theories
- 01Altıntepe as early Arzaškun of Urartian king-list precedent
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.755–700 BCE (Mid to Late Urartian expansion west)
- Period
- Urartian Kingdom 8th–6th century BCE (late empire western frontier)
- Culture
- Urartian → Median → Achaemenid
- Builders
- King Argishti II (and Rusa II remodeling); Urartian frontier garrison
- Purpose
- Western frontier citadel controlling Euphrates ford and copper route to Malatya
- Abandoned
- c.590 BCE (Median take-over; later Byzantine reuse)
- Rediscovered
- 1959 Tahsin Özgüç; renewed 2003– Mehmet Karaosmanoğlu
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.700 BCE
Apadana hall with 18 timber columns built
c.600 BCE
Tombs sealed with ivory furniture and cauldrons
1959
Özgüç opens Urartian citadel, finds ivories
On the ground
Structures & features
39.6939° N · 39.6461° E · 1210 m · 3 mapped features
Apadana pillared hall
hall18 timber-column bases on stone plinths (15×24 m)
39.6940° N · 39.6462° ESubterranean escape passage
tunnel80 m rock-cut stair-tunnel dropping to plain
39.6937° N · 39.6458° ERoyal Tomb with ivories
tombStone cist with ivory griffin bowl and gold diadem
39.6941° N · 39.6465° E
Gallery