The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empireSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empire
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Hittites
The stone warrior of Karabel stands in his niche in the cliff at a
considerable height above the path, and the direction in which he is
marching is that which would have led him to Ephesos and the Mæander.
His companion lies below, the block of stone out of which the second
figure has been carved having been apparently shaken by an earthquake
from the rocks above. This second figure is a duplicate of the first.
Both stand in the same position, both are shod with the same snow-shoes,
and both are armed with spear and bow. But the second figure has
suffered much from the ill-usage of man. The upper part has been
purposely chipped away, and it is not many years ago since a Yuruk's
tent was pitched against the block of stone out of which it is carved,
the niche in which the old warrior stands conveniently serving as the
fire-place of the family. No trace of inscription remains, if indeed it
ever existed. At any rate, it could not have run across the breast, as
Herodotos asserts.
[Illustration: THE PSEUDO-SESOSTRIS, CARVED ON THE ROCK IN THE PASS OF
KARABEL.]
The account, indeed, given by Herodotos of these two figures can hardly
have been that of an eye-witness. Instead of being little over three
feet in height, they are more than life-size, and they hold their spears
not in the right but in the left hand. Their accoutrement, moreover, is
as unlike that of an 'Egyptian and Ethiopian' as it well could be, while
the inscription is not traced across the breast, but between the face
and the arm. Nor was the Greek historian correct in saying that the pass
which the two warriors seem to guard leads not only from Ephesos to
Phokæa, but also from Sardes to Smyrna. It is not until the pass is
cleared at its northern end that the road which runs through it--the
_Karabel-déré_, as the Turks now call it--joins the _Belkaive_, or road
from Sardes to Smyrna. It is evident that Herodotos must have received
his account of the figures from another authority, though his
identification of them with the Egyptian Sesostris is his own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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