Religious Officials in Urartian Kingdom

Abstract

We see Urartian State as a powerful state in Near East during I. millenium B.C. Hence it is known that the Urartians had significant improvements also in religious field as well as their political and martial in the geography in which the Urartians dominated. By archaeological data, it is understood that there were Meher Kapı rock niche, temples and open-air shrines and religious rituals performed in this areas. From this aspect, we consider that also religious officials had a significant role in these rituals. We encounter names of some religious officials who had a significant role in religious rituals in Urartian written sources. Beside the written sources, depicted arts of that period also provide significant data about the religious officials to us. In this study, some questions such as gender and status differences about religious officials in the Urartians have been clarified. In addition, works made by religious officials during rituals and also division of labor between each other have been analyzed. Thus, world of the religious officials who had a significant role in Urartian religious life has been tried to be unveiled.