Veliisa stele

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Veliisa stele

The fragment of the Veliisa stele dates from the late Hittite period and bears an inscription in Luwian hieroglyphics .

Find

The exact circumstances in which the stele fragment was found are not known. Only the origin from Veliisa (today Yaylayolu), 15 kilometers north of the Turkish provincial capital Niğde in the central district of the province , on the eastern slopes of Melendiz Dağı, is documented by the first publication by the Polish-US American ancient orientalist Ignace Gelb . The German archaeologist Helmuth Theodor Bossert published a first translation of the inscription in 1954. Another edition followed in 1975 by Piero Meriggi . The Hittite scientist John David Hawkins produced a new translation in his Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions in 2000 . The stele is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Niğde and has inventory number 53.

description

The gray basalt stone has an approximately triangular cross-section. Due to the two angled surfaces on the back and a vertical center line drawn between them, it is assumed that a little more than the lower half of the original stele has been preserved. The fragment has a height of 43 centimeters and a width of 44 centimeters. The maximum thickness is 20 centimeters. The upper half of the well-preserved obverse shows the remains of a 20 centimeter high engraved hieroglyphic inscription.

The translation of the text is according to Hawkins:

[ Tarhun ] zas (?) Came well for me,
and for me [he did] all good [...

According to the form and style of the script, Hawkins places the document in the late 8th century BC. A. According to the place of discovery, the stele is assigned to the Iron Age Luwian kingdom of Tuwana .

literature

  • Dietrich Berges , Johannes Nollé : Tyana - Archaeological-historical studies of the southwestern Cappadocia . Habelt, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-7749-2959-9 , p. 106.
  • 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 . P. 529 No. X.49 plate 303.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The translation according to Bossert is: The (god) but stood by me in a good way ... and did me all the best.