People called Mannaeans live in Iran’s present Azerbaijan province in the second millennium BCE.

Their kingdom is situated east and south of the Lake Urmia, roughly centered around the present-day city of Orumiyeh in the Azerbaijan region of Iran.

Excavations that began in 1956 succeeded in uncovering the fortified city of Hasanlu, once thought to be a potential Mannaean site.

More recently, the site of Qalaichi (possibly ancient Izirtu/Zirta) has been linked to the Mannaeans based on a stela with this toponym found at the site.

The Mannaeans' kingdom begins to flourish around 850 BCE.

They are mainly a settled people, practicing irrigation and breeding cattle and horses.

Their capital is another fortified city, Izirtu (Zirta).

They have expanded by the 820s BCE to become the first large state to occupy this region since the Gutians, later followed by the unrelated Iranic peoples, the Medes and the Persians.

They have developed a prominent aristocracy as a ruling class, who somewhat limit the power of the king.

The region becomes contested ground beginning around 800 BCE between the people of Urartu, who build several forts on the territory of Mannaea, and Assyria.