The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monumentsGarstang, John
History
The land of the Hittites : $b An account of recent explorations and discoveries in Asia Minor, with descriptions of the Hittite monuments
Garstang, John
Hittites; Turkey -- Antiquities
Another important monument of Marash has the appearance of a royal
stela with a long inscription accompanied by an image of the king. This
belongs to a class of monument of which we shall find further examples
at Carchemish and in the neighbourhood of Tyana. In this case the figure
occupies the central part of the stone, reaching almost to its full
length; and the inscription is incised in six rows across the whole,
the face and feet and forearms of the man alone excepted. The face of
the kingly personage is turned to his right, and the whole figure is in
profile with the exception of the shoulders, which are square to the
observer—in conformity with the common Oriental principles of drawing.
The right hand holds a staff which touches the ground in front of the
right foot, and rises vertically as high as the shoulders; both elbows
are bent at right angles, the left fist being closed and shown about the
middle of the body. The robe is a single garment reaching to the ankles,
the bottom being fringed or bordered. The toes of the boots are upturned,
and, being represented clumsily, look like _sabots_. The face of the man
is too worn to show much character; there is a long curled beard, a band
around the forehead, and the hair or wig ends in a prominent curled bunch
behind the neck. This stone seems to have been found outside Marash in a
burying-place on the road to Adana.[242] Its height is nearly 3 feet 8
inches, and its breadth just over 1 foot 10 inches.[243]
This monument must yield place to another, which is of unique character
and interest, more recently discovered[244] on the citadel. This is a
block of granite more nearly cubical in shape, but with the top and
bottom broken away, so that its original height remains problematical.
The preserved portion measures about 2 feet 3 inches in height, and
the combined length of three sides, which are approximately equal, is
about 5 feet 2 inches. On three sides the inscription is continuous; the
hieroglyphs are in relief and are arranged in five bands, of which four
are seemingly complete. A sixth band at the bottom is partly traceable,
and there may have been others below; at the top, however, the limit is
clearly marked, so that the beginning of the inscription is preserved.
The opening groups of signs resemble closely those on the lion previously
described, though variations of single signs are noticeable, and may
possibly supply philologists with alternative readings. It is not,
however, the inscription, though unusually legible and complete, that
attracts our interest, so much as the sculptures and composition of the
whole. The inscription is preceded by a king-like figure in relief, who
occupies the right-hand portion of the side on which he is carved and
faces away from the inscription, to the right, looking that is to the
corner. The inscription follows: the height of the figure is equal to
four bands of the hieroglyphs, and the lower bands project under his
feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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