Muṣaṣir (Assyrian cuneiform: KURMu-ṣa-ṣir and variants, including Mutsatsir, Akkadian for Exit of the Serpent/Snake), in UrartianArdini was an ancient city of Urartu, attested in Assyrian sources of the 9th and 8th centuries BC.
Sandstone statue of a man or deity. The statue belonged to the Musasir Kingdom. Urartian period, 1st millennium BC. Precise provenance of excavation is unknown. Erbil Civilization Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan.
It was acquired by the Urartian King Ishpuini ca. 800 BC (see the Kelashin Stele). The city's tutelary deity was dḪaldi.
Urartologist Paul Zimansky speculated that the Urartians (or at least the ruling family) may have emigrated northwest into the Lake Van region from Musasir.[3]
The Musasir temple, built in 825 BC, was an important temple in Musasir, the holy city of Urartu. The Temple at Musasir appears in an Assyrian bas-relief which adorned the palace of King Sargon IIatKhorsabad, to commemorate his victory over "the seven kings of Urartu" in 714 BC.[4]
(1802 - 1870) During the early 1850s, the BritishAssyrian Excavation Fund entered the field under William Kennett Loftus and many antiquities and accurate drawings of wall sculptures were apportioned between the British Museum and the Louvre. However, a convoy of antiquities was attacked by Arab robbers while being shipped down the Tigris River, and today lies buried somewhere in the bed of that river. That particular bas-relief was copied at its original location in the palace onto a drawing by Eugene Flandin(2) as Botta's chief artist.[5]
Altintepe: Since 1959, the Historical Society and the Department of Antiquities have conducted excavations in the Yerznka area, west of Karin. Here at Altintepe was revealed an Urartian temple and other monuments. Only the foundations of the temple are in view. Obviously this is not the temple of Musasir as it is located far away from the concerned area.[8]
Rabat Tepe: Recently a site excavated in Iran, which is called Rabat Tepe and located at the southwestern side of Lake Urmia, was identified as Musasir.
[1]Schurtz, Marshall Wheeler, "Like a Snake in Difficult Mountains: A Historical and Archaeological Analysis of the Character and Origin of the Iron Age Kingdom of Muṣaṣir", Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2022
