Country in the Armenian highlands (9th-7th cents. BC; cf. map) with a distinctive culture, in constant confrontation with Assyria (Mesopotamia [III D]). Military high points were the victory of the Urartian King Argishtis I over Assur-nirārī V in the first half of the 8th cent., the clash between Sarduri II and Tiglath-Pileser [2] III on the Euphrates border in 743 BC and the long struggle for control over north-western Iran between Rusa I and Sargon [3] II (722-705), which culminated in Sargon's successful eighth campaign in 714. Around 830, Sarduri …