In the early eighth century B. C., Argishti I, King of Urartu, conquered southern Transcaucasia and began a dramatic transformation of the local landscape into an instrument of imperial authority. This article details the changing spatial organization of political power on the Ararat and Shirak plains from the emergence of the earliest states in the late second millennium B. C. through the collapse of the Urartian empire in the late seventh century B. C. Spatial patterns defined by built forms were active elements in organizing political relations between subjects and the Urartian state apparatus and between institutional elements of the empire. This analysis suggests that an architectonic approach to political authority can bring a critical perspective to investigations of how particular spatial relations contributed to the production, reproduction, and collapse of ancient states.