Stele Maraş A / 1
The Maraş A / 1 stele is a late Hittite monument from the area around Maraş in southern Turkey . It is exhibited in the Adana Archaeological Museum and has the inventory number 1755.
The stele was found in the Yörükselim district of Maraş (today's Turkish provincial capital Kahramanmaraş). Winfried Orthmann gave it the name Maraş A / 1 in his research on late Hittite art .
description
The work is made of basalt and measures 1.00 meters high and 0.56 meters wide. According to the Turkish archaeologist Ekrem Akurgal, it is a grave stele and shows the almost fully plastic double seat image of a married couple. Both people are seated next to each other in a frontal view, the woman on the man's left, her feet standing on a stool. You each have one arm around your partner's shoulder. Akurgal points to the expression of sadness on their faces, from which he concludes that both of them passed away. Both are dressed in a long shirt, the simple dress of the late Hittite style. Over it the man wears a wide belt, beneath which a rectangular apron can be seen. His hair, like his beard, is artfully braided in the Aramaic style. In his right hand he is holding a bunch of grapes, which, according to Akurgal, indicates his profession - perhaps that of a wine merchant. The woman wears a wide, striped belt over the dress, and over it a small cloak or veil, the tip of which is tucked into the belt. A Phrygian fibula can be recognized on her dress , which was modern at the time. Her headgear is a low polo shirt with an ornate ribbon. She has also put on rich jewelry in other ways. In addition to the rings hanging from the earlobes, the auricles are also decorated with various pieces of jewelry, probably pearls or precious stones. She wears a nose ring and the ankles are adorned with several hoops. In her left hand she holds a mirror in the manner of the noble Hittite ladies. The feet of both figures are dressed in sandals.
interpretation
The work is one of the few from the ancient oriental culture that shows emotions in the faces of the depicted. Akurgal leads this to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The influence of the Aramaeans in the northern Syrian-southeastern Anatolian region grew stronger . The Aramaic influence is also expressed in other details of the depiction, such as the man's hairstyle. Orthmann assigns the stele to the Maraş III group, which is located in the late Hittite kingdom of Gurgum , and to the Sph. IIIb a. He dates the period to the late 8th century BC. Akurgal also holds an origin at the earliest at the end of the 8th century BC. For likely.
literature
- Ekrem Akurgal: Orient and Occident . Holle Verlag Baden-Baden 1966 pp. 127–128 Figs. 26, 27
- Winfried Orthmann: Studies on late Hittite art. (= Saarbrücker Contributions to Antiquity, Vol. 8) Habelt, Bonn 1971 pp. 89, 370, 524, plate 43h ISBN 978-3774911222