Erimena

The bronze shield that mentions Erimen.
British Museum Collection

Erimena ( Erimen, Ermina ) - the alleged king of the state of Urartu during its decline, VII century. BC e., about the reign of which no inscriptions have been preserved. It is also likely that Erimena was simply the father of Rusa III , the brother of Rusa II ^[1] and his mention in the title of Rusa III is due to the fact that Rusa III was not a direct descendant of the previous king Sarduri IV .

There is no clarity over the years of Erimena’s reign. Called

• OK. 620 - 605 years BC e.
• OK. 670 - 655 years BC e. ^[2]

Scientists have very little information about the last period of Urartu’s history. Erimen is never mentioned in Assyrian sources, but in Urartian only as the father of Tsar Rus III (Rusa, son of Erimen).

Erimena is famous for its bronze shield, which was found in Toprah-kala in 1880 by Ormuzd Rassam . The shield is stored in the British Museum ^{[3] [4]} .

The print of the seal on the document found in Teishebaini (Karmir-Blur) is referred to as "Erimena, son A [rgishti II?]" ^[1] .

There are several possible interpretations of the coming of Erimen to power. I. M. Dyakonov believed that Erimena was the brother of Sarduri III and headed the state due to the fact that at the time of the death of Sarduri III, his son Sarduri IV had not yet come of age ^[5] . In later works, N. V. Harutyunyan, relying on new data from archaeological excavations on Karmir-Blur , indicates that there are no grounds for such structures and that Erimena simply ascended the throne after Sarduri IV ^{[6] [7]} . At the same time, it remains possible that Erimena was the son of Sarduri IV, and also that Erimena could overthrow Sarduri IV from the throne around 620 BC. e. and become the founder of the new Urartian dynasty. It is also unlikely that Sarduri IV was overthrown by Rousse III , the son of Erimen, and Erimena himself was never king (similar to how Sarduri I , the son of Lutipri , ascended the throne after Arama ). Modern science does not have sufficient information to unambiguously resolve these issues.

In the first half of the 20th century, there was an assumption made by I. I. Meshchaninov that the patronymic of Ruse III does not mean the name “Erimen”, but nationality - “ Armenian ” ^[8] . This assumption was expressed by the British historian Richard Barnett ^[9] , but subsequently rejected it in connection with the emergence of new data ^[10] . This assumption, combined with folk legends, gave rise to the opinion that from 620 BC. e. the Armenian dynasty already ruled in Urartu. Modern science, however, rejects this possibility for linguistic and historical reasons ^{[7] [11] [12]} .