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.