The Castle of Anzaf

The Aşağı Anzaf Castle, built on today’s modern road leading from Van to western Iran via Özalp, lies 11 km to the north east of Van and it was built to monitor the road leading to the Urmia region, along which armies marched and caravans of merchants plodded. Inscriptions found near the Castle in the course of illegal excavations prove that the Aşağı Anzaf was built by Ishpuini. The castle lies at an altitude of 1900 m above sea level, and its rectangular plan, measuring 60×100 m, is appropriate to its rocky hilltop location. The Castle is surrounded by walls built according to a special (cyclopian) technique.

There was none of the towers and bastions usually observed in Urartian military architecture in this castle, built in the early years of the kingdom. The stone foundations of the walls, which were to carry a mud brick super-structure, reached a height of 3-4 metres in most places. Large, irregularly shaped stone blocks were used in the building of these walls, which were 2 metres thick in places. City walls built with the same technique can again be seen in Kalecik Castle and Zivistan Castle near Van, built by Ishpuini.

It is known that after Menua ascended the throne in 810 B.C public works were undertaken on a large scale in the whole of the Urartian lands, particularly in and around the capital, Tushpa. These activities, which caused Menua to be referred to as “the Great Architect”, were an indication that the state was now much more organised than in previous years. The castles built along military roads leading to various parts of the kingdom from Van, the capital, are an indication of what Menua hoped to achieve militarily. The conquest of Mana (Assyrian: Mannea), which lay in North West Iran, was an important military achievement on the part of the Urartu. They achieved similar successes in the vicinity of Erzurum and Kars to the north, and Elazığ and Malatya to the west.

In order to be able to provide logistic support for the Urartian army in campaigns to the north, impressive Urartian castles such as Körzüt and Aznavurtepe were built. Körzüt Castle, which inscriptions have proved to be the work of Menua, was built to monitor the road leading from Van to Çaldıran and from there to Lake Gökçe (sevan) in the north. On the other hand, Aznavurtepe, which stands on a 300m headland extending into the Plain of Patnos at Aladağ, was of great strategic importance as far as Menua’s campaigns to the north were concerned.

In the Urartian temple on the summit there is an inscription by Menua. Also, 600 metres to the south of Aşağı Anzaf Castle, which lies l5km east of Van and was built by Ishpiuni, lies Yukarı Anzaf Castle, which is one of the most important castles in the Van province. It is 1995 m above sea level and occupies an area of 60.000 m2. The castle is surrounded by impressive walls. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed a temple built by Menua inside the castle.