Background
He succeeded his father, King Rusa I. During the Urartu-Assyria War, Argishti was responsible for orchestrating major Urartian counter-offensives against the invading Assyrians.
He succeeded his father, King Rusa I. During the Urartu-Assyria War, Argishti was responsible for orchestrating major Urartian counter-offensives against the invading Assyrians.
His forces drove the Assyrians back across the pre-war border and deep into the Assyrian heartlands, reconquering major towns and cities around Lake Urmia, including Mushashir, Ushnu, and Tepe, and conquering the territory as far south as the city of Nimrud on the Tigris River. These victories forced the Assyrians to accept a lengthy peace and cede large tracts of territory north of the Tigris. Although the region of Urartu had been controlled by the Assyrians following conflicts, Argishti II was still able to expand his influence further east, as inscriptions in Iranian Azerbaijan have shown.
