Inscription from Porsuk
The inscription from Porsuk in southern Turkey dates from the late Hittite period at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. And is engraved in a cuboid stone block.
Find
The inscription stone was found before 1960 on the hill Porsuk Hüyük (also Zeyve Höyük) , a prehistoric settlement mound near the place Porsuk , about eight kilometers east of Ulukışla in the Turkish province of Niğde . According to the initial report of the Archaeological Museum of Niğde , he was found between the railway and the asphalt road, on the new road to the nitrate factory , and taken to the museum by the town's mayor , Hasan Altan. The inventory number there is 52.
description
According to John David Hawkins, the stone block consists of white limestone , Dietrich Berges and Johannes Nollé speak of light brown tuff (possibly limestone tuff ). It measures 129 centimeters in width, 31 centimeters in height and 35 centimeters in depth. On the top right and left holes can be seen, as they were used at that time for metal brackets that secured the masonry. Hence, it is believed that the stone was part of a wall. On the upper edge of the obverse is engraved a single line inscription in Luwian hieroglyphics , which is 14 centimeters high and runs from right to left. A single, clockwise character can be seen under the writing on the left edge. Possibly the inscription continued on other stones and then reversed, as is not uncommon with Luwian inscriptions, in the bustrophedon script. Accordingly, the single character (zi + ra / i) , which according to Hawkins can represent a verb ending, would be the end of the text.
The translation of the text reads:
I am Parahwaras, son of Atis, grandson
of Nunas.
My God Sarrumas is dear to me (?).
And I like kings (?).
And the king Masaurhisas is dear to me (?).
And I was the army commander
The persons mentioned in the text are not otherwise known, a dating can only be made according to stylistic aspects in the time of the late Hittite principalities. At the time the inscription was written, the site belonged to the Luwian kingdom of Tuwana .
Web links
literature
- John David Hawkins : A Hieroglyphic Hittite Inscription from Porsuk . In: Anatolian Studies 19, 1969, pp. 99-109
- Dietrich Berges , Johannes Nollé : Tyana - Archaeological-historical studies of the southwestern Cappadocia . Habelt, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-7749-2959-9 , p. 105.
- John David Hawkins: Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Vol. I: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Part 2: text. Amuq, Aleppo, Hama, Tabal, Assur Letters, Miscellaneous, Seals, Indices. (= Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture 8). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2000, ISBN 3-11-010864-X . Pp. 527-528 no. X.48 plate 302.
Individual evidence
- ^ John David Hawkins: A Hieroglyphic Hittite Inscription from Porsuk . In: Anatolian Studies 19, 1969, p. 99.
- ↑ The dimensions assumed here follow Berges / Nollé, the height of 75 centimeters given by Hawkins with a width of 130 is not understandable from all the pictures of the stone.
- ^ Translation according to Hawkins, Corpus , p. 528, translated into German according to Berges / Nollé, p. 105.