thenceforth retained in the semi-mythic traditions of the Babylonians.
According to some, the Egyptian monarchs of the eighteenth and
nineteenth dynasties carried their arms into its remote valleys, and
exacted tribute from the petty chiefs who then ruled there. At any rate,
it is certain that from about the ninth century B.C. it was well known
to the Assyrians, who were engaged from that time till about B.C. 640
in almost constant wars with its inhabitants. At this period three
principal races inhabited the country--the Nairi, who were spread from
the mountains west of Lake Van along both sides of the Tigris to Bir
on the Euphrates, and even further; the Urarda (Alarodii, or people of
Ararat), who dwelt north and east of the Nairi, on the upper Euphrates,
about the lake of Van, and probably on the Araxes; and the Minni, whose
country lay south-east of the Urarda, in the Urumiyeh basin and the
adjoining parts of Zagros. Of these three races, the Urarda were the
most powerful, and it was with them that the Assyrians waged their most
bloody wars. The capital city of the Urarda was Van, on the eastern
shores of the lake; and here it was that their kings set up the most
remarkable of their inscriptions. Six monarchs, who apparently all
belong to one dynasty, left inscriptions in this locality commemorative
of their military expeditions or of their offerings to the gods. The
later names of the series can be identified with those of kings who
contended with Assyrian monarchs belonging to the last, or Sargonid
dynasty; and hence we are entitled approximately to fix the series to
the seventh and eighth centuries before our era. The Urarda must at this
time have exercised a dominion over almost the whole of the region
to which the name of Armenia commonly attaches. They were worthy
antagonists of the Assyrians, and, though occasionally worsted in
fight, maintained their independence, at any rate, till the time of
Asshur-bani-pal (about B.C. 640), when the last king of the Van series,
whose name is read as Bilat-duri, succumbed to the Assyrian power, and
consented to pay a tribute for his dominions.

There is reason to believe that between the time when we obtain this
view of the primitive Armenian peoples and that at which we next have
any exact knowledge of the condition of the country--the time of the
Persian monarchy--a great revolution had taken place in the region.
The Nairi, Urarda, and Minni were Turanian, or, at any rat