Imamkullu rock relief

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Relief from Imamkullu

Coordinates: 38 ° 14 '46 "  N , 35 ° 55' 45"  E

Relief Map: Turkey
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İmamkulu​
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Turkey

The Hittite rock relief of İmamkullu (formerly also İmamkulu ) is located near the Turkish village of the same name İmamkullu in the Tomarza district of the Kayseri province . It is referred to in Turkish as Yazılı Kaya ("described rock") or Şimşekkaya ("lightning rock") .

location

The trachyte block with the relief is located on a mountain slope of the 3,045 meter high Bey Dağı in the south of the village. This is where the ascent to the Gezbelpass begins, where two roads met in ancient times and crossed the Taurus . One of them, following the course of the Zamantı Irmağı, comes from the Hittite heartland via Kayseri and Tomarza, the other comes via Develi from Cappadocia past the reliefs of Fıraktın and Taşçı . At the other, southeastern end of the pass is the rock relief of Hanyeri .

In the specialist literature, the relief is called İmamkulu , according to an older spelling of the place name .

description

The roughly 3.25 × 2 meter relief was carved into the artificially flattened, slightly protruding side of a large boulder facing west-northwest and is heavily weathered. It consists of three adjacent zones. The left zone shows a male figure facing to the right, probably the founder of the monument, who holds a spear in the left hand and a bow in the right, the tendon of which can only be partially recognized. The pommel and sometimes the scabbard of a sword can be seen on the belt. He wears a round cap with remains of a horn and beak shoes. Luwian hieroglyphs are carved in front of the head, denoting him the prince's son. His name is given as Kuwalanamuwa . A prince of this name is also mentioned on the rock relief of Hanyeri and that of Akpınar near Manisa . Whether it is the same person is likely, but not provable.

In the upper area of ​​the largest, middle zone, the weather god can be seen standing on a chariot moving to the right. He wears pointed shoes and the short warrior's skirt and can be recognized as a god by his horned pointed cap. A sword worn on the left is also recognizable on the belt. With his right hand he lifts a club, the left holds the reins of the galloping bull pulling the cart. There are three hieroglyphic symbols above his outstretched hand, which designate him as the weather god of heaven, a fourth symbol below is no longer legible. The god and the team stand on the bowed neck of three mountain gods, as can be seen similarly in the main scene of Yazılıkaya . They wear the long robes customary for mountain gods, the pointed hats and a sword as armament. For their part, they stand on three hybrid creatures with felid heads and raised arms.

The right group shows a frontal goddess with arms spread, the head is shown in profile to the left, facing the approaching weather god. The arms hold her wide-open robe, four (Kohlmeyer) or five (Ehringhaus) spikes of a crown or hairstyle can be seen on the head. Wing tips protrude above the shoulders. Ehringhaus recognizes a six-pointed star above his right hand. Their legs are depicted without feet in the manner of idols, they stand on a stylized tree. A bird flying to the left can be seen between the weather god and the goddess, probably Šawuška / Ištar . The combination of the weather god and the goddess unveiled in front of him is, often in connection with the bird flying in between, a motif that has been covered by Syrian cylinder seals since the early Bronze Age . Jutta Börker-Klähn believes a connection with the Ašertu myth is conceivable, in which Ištar, in the form of a bird, overhears the love act between the weather god and Ašertu, Elkunirša's wife.

Like the one in Hanyeri, the relief is dated to the 13th century BC. BC, the late period of the Hittite empire.

  • Location of the relief on the mountainside

  • Weather god with chariot and draft animal,

  • standing on mountain gods and hybrid beings

  • Unveiled goddess on a stylized tree

Research history

After the discovery by Kemaleddin Karamete from Kayseri in 1934, the French ancient orientalist Louis Delaporte published a report based on it. In 1935 the American ancient orientalist Ignace Gelb visited the place. Sedat Alp and Ekrem Akurgal documented the inscriptions after their trip to Anatolia in 1947. In 1975 Markus Wäfler published a description of the relief and the inscriptions. In the same year Piero Meriggi presented a reading of the hieroglyphs, which Hans Gustav Güterbock , who visited the relief in 1978, confirmed. Jutta Börker-Klähn gave a different reading of the founder's name. In 1983 Kay Kohlmeyer published a detailed description and discussion of the monument, and in 2005 Horst Ehringhaus provided further documentation of images and writing in his book on the rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire.

A cast of the relief is on display outside the Kayseri Archaeological Museum.

literature

Web links

Commons : İmamkullu  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The figure of the prince on the left was traced in oil by strangers. Similar traces of other figures have now faded again.
  2. ↑ Horst Ehringhaus: Gods, rulers, inscriptions. The rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire in Turkey. Zabern, Mainz 2005, p. 74.