The role of the enslaved populations in the urartian settlement policy

The Kingdom of Urartu faced many challenges apart from overcoming geographical difficulties in order to implement its settlement policy in its heartland – the Van Lake Basin. Founding new cities, creating lands suitable for agriculture and securing the necessary population in order to supply its military strength were just some of them. Settling nomadic and seminomadic tribes and securing the manpower that were to build new cities and establish new farmlands also meant economic success for the kingdom that was to follow. The continuity of this success was only possible with a standardized settlement policy. Obtaining the population that were to be settled and their addition into the kingdom meant establishment of new cities and new campaigns. A policy of slave procurement, whose rules were already established by Assyria, was an important factor for obtaining the population Urartu needed. Although it is not known how this enslaved population was treated in the general Urartian population, it is certain that they were part of the production, fought for the kingdom and have taken part in foundation of new cities.*

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