Arame or Aramu (r. 858–844 BC) was the first known king of Urartu.[1]
Living at the time of King Shalmaneser III of Assyria (r. 859–824 BC), Arame fought against the threat of the Assyrian Empire. His capital at Arzashkun was captured by Shalmaneser.[2] Sagunia, a previous capital, which was also captured by Shalamaneser, seems to have been located in the vicinity of Lake Van[3][4][5] or Lake Urmia.[6][7] Subsequent Urartian rulers probably came from a different dynasty than Arame.[8]
Arame has been suggested as the prototype of both Aram (and, correspondingly the popular given name Aram)[9] and Ara the Beautiful, two of the legendary forefathers of the Armenian people.[10]Khorenatsi'sHistory (1.5) puts them six and seven generations after Hayk.[11]
It has been hypothesized that Aramu was a military leader of Aramean origin.[12] Philologist Armen Petrosyan writes that Aramu may be identified with the legendary Armenian Aram, and proposes that Aramu may have been named after the Armenian or related deity *Aram-.[13] Petrosyan further writes, "Bearing in mind the Armenian etymologies of the names of the first king of Urartu Aramu and one of his royal cities Arṣašku, one may conclude that the first king of Urartu was an Armenian ruler and the Armenians inhabited Arṣašku."[14]
He is not to be confused with another king Aramu (also known as Adramu and Atarsamek) who ruled at the same time in Bit Agusi and also fought Shalemaneser III.
^Petrosyan 2002, pp. 71–72, note 258: "Accordingly, Aramu the Urartian, king of Arṣašku, was probably named after the early Armenian or related “black” thunder god *Aram-".