Aramu or Arame ruled from 858–844 BC and was the first known king of Urartu. Living at the time of Shalmaneser III, who ruled from 859–824 BC, Aram united the Nairi tribe against the threat of the Assyrian Empire. His capital at Arzashkun was captured by Shalmaneser. Arame has been suggested as the prototype of both Aram (and, correspondingly the popular given name Aram) and Ara the Beautiful, two of the legendary forefathers of the Armenian people. Khorenatsi’s History puts them six and seven generations after Haik, in the chronology of Mikayel Chamchian dated to the 19th to 18th century BC.
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