Diameter: 20.800 cm Gift of Boris Piotrovsky, Academy of
Sciences of the Armenian SSR (1960) Room 54: Ancient Turkey Red
burnished wine jug Urartian, 7th century BC From Karmir Blur,
Republic of Armenia These round, red-burnished jugs are typical
of Urartian sites and are sometimes of very fine quality. They
were used for removing small quantities of wine from huge
storage jars. A store-room next to the wine cellars at Karmir
Blur contained 1036 wine jugs of this type. The Urartian name
for Karmir Blur ('Red Hill') was Teishebaini, 'the city of
Teisheba' (the god of storms). A fortress was built here by King
Rusa II (about 685-645 BC). This has been excavated, but only
small areas of the partially-fortified residential town have
been explored. It seems the houses were clustered together in
groups, with up to five houses in each, and the groups were
arranged along eleven streets. The citadel itself is thought to
have been used by an administrator, perhaps a governor, and his
court. It consisted of 150 rooms an