Rusa IV

Rusa IV ( Rusa, son of Rusa ) is the last king of the state of Urartu , a witness of the death of the last stronghold of Urartian statehood - Teishebaini fortress in Transcaucasia . Period of government approx. 595 - 585 BC er

About the last period of the state of Urartu, only a small number of fragmentary information remained. About the existence of Rusa IV, the scientist became aware of after a careful study of the clay bulla , sealing one of the granaries of the Teishebaini fortress. It became immediately clear to archeologists that the bull was torn down at the time of the last storming of the fortress, it also immediately read the patronymic of the last king of Urartu, the son of Rus, but the name of the king Rus was only read a decade later in 1960 ^[1] .

Print on clay bull with mention of Rus IV
Bulla was discovered in 1952 during excavations of the Teishebaini fortress on the hill of Karmir-Blur.

The clay bull fastened the ends of the rope, which was passed through the hinges of the door, which closed the granary, and thus sealed the granary. In order to make it impossible to fake a bull, the caretaker’s signature was put on it and its cylindrical seal was rolled. The photo shows the caption and trace of a cylindrical seal.

Thus, it turned out that the last king of Urartu was Rus IV, son of Rus III , who headed the remnants of the once powerful Urartu state. During the reign of Rusa IV, the Urartians finally lost their influence in the center of the country, near Lake Van, and continued to lose ground in the South Caucasus . The city of Argishtikhinili was lost in battle, and the city of Erebuni was left without a fight, and its values ​​were transferred to Teyshebaini ^{[2] [3]} . However, soon, about 585 BC. e., and Teyshebaini will be burned, and with this fortress the state of Urartu will perish.