Argishti II

Who is Argishti II?

Argishti II was king of Urartu from 714 BC to 680 BC. He succeeded his father, King Rusa I. During the Urartu-Assyria War, Argishti was responsible for orchestrating major Urartuan counter-offensives against the invading Assyrians. His forces drove the Assyrians back across the pre-war border and deep into the Assyrian heartlands, reconquering major towns and cities around Lake Urmia, including Mushashir, Ushnu, and Tepe, and conquering the territory as far south as the city of Nimud on the Tigris River. These victories forced the Assyrians to accept a lengthy peace and cede large tracts of territory north of the Tigris. The remainder of Argishti's lengthy reign was characterized by a "Golden Age", a period of lengthy peace and economic prosperity, which carried into the reigns of Argishti's two successors, his son Rusa II and his grandson Sarduri III.

Although the region of Urartu had been controlled by the Assyrians following conflicts, Argishti II was still able to expand his influence further east, as inscriptions in Iranian Azerbaijan have showed.