Yalburt
Coordinates: 38 ° 27 ′ 16.5 ″ N , 31 ° 58 ′ 44 ″ E
Yalburt (Turkish: Yalburt Yaylası ) describes a pasture area, named after an earlier place, near the villages of Dereköy and Çobankaya in the district of Ilgın in the Turkish province of Konya , about 23 kilometers north of the district town of Ilgın. In 1970, during excavation work, the remains of a Hittite pond system were found, the walls of which are described in a campaign report by the Hittite great king Tudhalija IV .
investment
During the excavations three out of four sides of a rectangular structure came to light, which represent the boundaries of a water basin. No traces have been found from the fourth, eastern side, which no doubt existed in the past. The dimensions are 12.60 meters in the west-east and 8.25 to 8.45 meters in the north-south direction. On a lower layer of ashlars is a frieze on which Tudhalija IV gives a report of a campaign to Lycia in Luwian hieroglyphs . The frieze consists of 19 stone blocks about one meter high and an average length of 1.70 meters. The blocks 18 and 19 have overturned and are largely buried with the described side down.
The text begins on block 1, at the east end of the south wall, with the famous name cartouche of the ruler with name and title under the winged sun disk. It corresponds to the cartouche of the same king as it can be seen in Yazılıkaya in chamber B, once individually and once in the relief of Tudhalija with his patron god. Since the blocks were scattered around the area when they were found, the excavators at the time probably made mistakes when setting up the writing stones. After the publication of the contents by Massimo Poetto in 1993 and the editing by John David Hawkins in 1995, there is general agreement that the text does not continue on block 2, but on block 16a. This is followed by the ancestry of the king and then on block 16 the beginning of the narrative part. This leads to the following introduction to the report:
“The majesty, labarna, Tu (dḫalija), great king, hero,
of Ḫattusili, of the great king, of the hero's son,
of Mursili, of the great king, of the hero's grandson,
[of Suppiluliuma, of the great king, of the hero] great-grandson,
because of grace of the weather god:
I conquered all countries [...] "
The great king describes a campaign to Lycia, in particular the countries or places Kuwalatarna, Lukka , Winuwanti (possibly Oinoanda ), Pinali ( Pinara ), Tlawa ( Tlos ), Awarna ( Xanthos ) and Patara are named. The countries are defeated with the assistance of the weather god, women and children kneel down at the king's feet, there is also talk of rich booty.
John David Hawkins sees a connection between the mention of the captured cities Awarna and Pinali in the Yalburt inscription and their mention in the Milawata letter , the author of which is considered to be Tudḫalija IV. Paragraphs 6 and 9 of this letter deal with prisoners who were taken by the recipient's father in Atrija (in Caria, possibly near ancient Stratonikeia ) and Utima and who had not yet been released by his successor and son. Tudḫalia IV apparently offered an exchange for hostages he had taken in Avarna and Pinali, had made an advance payment and warned the addressee to now release the prisoners from Atrija and Utima. Hawkins suspects that Tudḫalija took the hostages from Arwarna and Pinali named in the letter during the campaign against the Lukka lands described in the Yalburt inscription
There is no clarity about the fourth, eastern side of the water basin. In the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara , ten more blocks have been stored since the first excavations that cannot be precisely assigned. Among them are fragments with hieroglyphs, but also one with a pictorial representation. You can see the trunk of the king, who is holding a club in his hand. He is held protectively in his arms by a mountain god, recognizable by his scaled skirt. Here, too, the comparison to the hugging scene of Tudhalija through Šarruma in Yazılıkaya is obvious. The fragment indicates that the east side may have been decorated with figurative representations. This would result in similarities to the water sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar . Also a fragment of a statue - which is no longer available today - that was found destroyed outside the south side, but cannot be dated, may indicate a pictorial decoration.
As part of their survey project in the area in the 2015 campaign south of the monument, Ömür Harmanşah and Peri Johnson were able to discover for the first time a large amount of ceramics from the Middle and Late Bronze Age , which suggests a possible settlement in the 2nd millennium BC. Indicate in Yalburt.
South side of block 1
South side blocks 2-6
West side blocks 6–10
West and north sides with blocks 10–19
North side blocks 14-17
Research history
After the discovery in 1970, the then director of the museum in Ankara, Raci Temizer , carried out the first excavations and the blocks of writing were put up again or brought to Ankara. The first documentation with photos and drawings was published by Massimo Poetto in 1993. In 1995, a further adaptation of the text by John David Hawkins appeared. Since 2010, Ömür Harmanşah and Peri Johnson have carried out new research in Yalburt and the surrounding landscape as part of the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project at Brown University in Providence .
Web links
- Yalburt Hittite Pool on hittitemonuments.com
- Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project
literature
- John David Hawkins: The hieroglyphic inscription of the Sacred Pool Complex at Hattusa (Südburg) , in StBoT Beiheft III , 1995, pp. 66-85.
- Massimo Poetto: L'iscrizione luvio-geroglifica di Yalburt , StMed VIII, Pavia, 1998.
- Horst Ehringhaus: gods, rulers, inscriptions. The rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire in Turkey. Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3469-9 , pp. 37-46.
- Max Gander: Tlos, Oinoanda and the Hittite Invasion of the Lukka lands. Some Thoughts on the History of North-Western Lycia in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Klio 96-2, 2014, pp. 369-415 (on the Yalburt inscription especially pp. 371-378) online at Academia.edu
- Ömür Harmanşah, Peri Johnson: Hittites on the Way to the Mediterranean: Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Project 2015 Campaign In: ANMED - ANADOLU AKDENİZİ Arkeoloji Haberleri 2016–2014. Pp. 296-300.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tudhalija name cartouche in Yazılıkaya
- ↑ Tudhalija in the embrace of his patron god Sarruma in Yazılıkaya
- ↑ Horst Ehringhaus: Gods, rulers, inscriptions. The rock reliefs of the Hittite Empire in Turkey. Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3469-9 , pp. 37-46.
- ↑ on the Milawata letter, see recently in detail Gary M. Beckman, Trevor R. Bryce , Eric H. Cline : The Ahhiyawa Texts (= Writings from the Ancient World 28). Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2011, pp. 123-133.
- ^ Gary M. Beckman, Trevor R. Bryce, Eric H. Cline: The Ahhiyawa Texts (= Writings from the Ancient World 28). Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta 2011, p. 131.
- ↑ John David Hawkins: Tarkasnawa, King of Mira: 'Tarkondemos', Boğazköy sealings and Karabel. Anatolian Studies 48, 1998, pp. 19, 27f.