Ancient Erebuni fortress sits high on a hill overlooking modern Yerevan. King Argishti I of Urartu built this site in 782BC to house a garrison of 6,600 soldiers, the first settlement on this side of the Arax river, so in some ways Erebuni was the precursor of Yerevan. The kings of Urartu used Erebuni for only around a hundred years before Rusa II chose a different site to house his army. 

Urartu is the ancient kingdom of Armenia and North Mesopotamia centred about Lake Van in eastern Turkey. Urartu flourished from the 13th century BC to the 7th century B.C., but was most powerful in the 8th century B.C. The Urartians constantly fought with various Assyrian kings and, according to the Erebuni Museum, Sargon II conquered Erebuni. However, historians normally attribute the downfall of the kingdom of Urartu to repeated invasions by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Medes. 

Erebuni is a large site on a hill and I find this difficult to believe, but people in the area more or less forgot about its existence, indeed a monastery called Arin Berd was built on top of the former fortress. The rediscovery of Erebuni only occurred when the monastery site was explored in 1950. The museum houses some of the stellar finds at the site, including some solid silver rhytons (drinking cups) dating from the 5th and 7th centuries BC and the helmet of King Sarduri II. 

I found the site of Erebuni to be rather difficult to fathom, especially where everything was in relation to each other. There was little indication of which feature was where and there’s no guiding landmark, such as a tower, to help. This means that I probably visited the Temple of Khaldi, the pillared courtyard, and the main reception hall. I just didn’t realise where I was. I walked around the outer walls of the fortress, which are set out in roughly triangular shape, and they are at least six feet high all the way around. The views of Yerevan are good, although a heat haze prevented me from clearly seeing Mt Ararat.