(2014j) A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish)

189

1 I am grateful to Nicolò Marchetti, Director of the Karkemish Expedition, for supplyingme with photographs and sharing his archaeological comments on the stele and to MassimoFerrando for his help during the documentation process. Thanks are due also to archaeologistsAhmet Beyazlar and Taner Atalay from Gaziantep Museum of Archaeology for supplying mewith information on the findspot and for helping in accessing the museum storerooms wherethe stele is kept, respectively. I was fortunate enough to discuss this paper earlier with myprofessors, Ali Dinçol and Belkıs Dinçol, I am indeed most grateful to them. This work wassupported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Istanbul University, pro-ject no. 24305.

2 Reconstructed co-ordinates are UTM 37S 411813.88 m E, 4076875.66 m N. An emer-gency excavation was subsequently carried out in the tomb (G.1200) in 2012 by the Turco-Italian Expedition.

A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish)1

(TAB. XVII-XVIII)

Hasan PEKER

1. Findspot and description

In 2010, during the construction of a new road along the southern sideof the main mound of the Yunus cemetery, a Roman chamber tomb wasfound. The stele published here was found in secondary use as thedoorway at the end of the entrance dromos of the tomb.2

The stele, partly worn, is made of basalt and measures 107 cm inheight, 64.5 cm in width, and 37.5 cm in thickness (Photos 1-2). The lowerfront edge is broken away but enough traces still remain of a rectangulartenon on the bottom which must have served for infixing the stele on abase (Photo 3), measuring 18 cm on the preserved side.

2. Edition of the text and commentary

Two lines of an incised inscription (measuring 22.5 cm in height),first line sinistroverse, second line dextroverse, are present on the top ofthe stele (Photo 4). We may note the cursive sign-forms, the use of word-dividers only for the logograms FILIUS and L.69, the use of zi/zí signs for–za/–sa (neuter particle) and rhotacism. The text can probably be dated tothe 8th century BC.

© Gregorian Biblical Press 2014 - Tutti i diritti riservati

190 Hasan Peker

3 I prefer to transliterate L.450 as –a whether it is a word-end/space filler or a plenewriting. Note the following translation alternatives: in §3, the subject may also be translatedas ‘(apprentice) interpreters’ and the predicate as ‘did reverence’; in §4, the predicate may be‘stand balefully’ (see Commentary here).

Fig. 1 – Drawing of the inscription on the Yunus stele.

2.1. Transliteration and translation

The text is a funerary inscription of two individuals, namely Tasa andSarpuwani. The text has been traced directly on the stone and on the latexcopy made by the author (Fig. 1).

1. §1 za–wa/i STELE–ni–zi Ita–sá Isà+ra/i–pu–wa/i–ní–sa–hatara/i–ku–ma–mi–zi CAPUT–ti–zí

§2 ⟨a–⟩wa/i–ma–zá za–a STELE–ni–zí BONUS–na–wa/i+ra/i–zaCRUS–nú–wa/i–ta ||

2. §3 pa+ra/i–i–ha–wa/i–zá |FILIUS–mu–wa/i⟨–za⟩–zitara/i–ku–ma–mi–zi ARHA |(“L.69”)su–ni–ta

§4 (“CORNU”)tara/i–pi–wa/i REL–sa CRUS–i DEUS LIS

§1. This stele (is) of Tasa and Sarpuwani, interpreters.§2. (and) for them, they set up this stele for goodness.§3. And before us sons (and) interpreters libated.§4. He who will stand up to harm (this stele), (against him may) the

god(s) litigate(!)3.


191A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish)

4 VIR (L.312, L.313) — possibly an attribute of manhood — and CAPUT (L.10) — apictogram of a head and also a man — can be read as zita/i–, ‘man’. I would like to suggestthe same pattern for BOS (L.105, L.107), FORTIS (L.28) and PUGNUS (L.39, L.40), all canstand for muwa(ti)–. According to that analysis, BOS+/.MI–li and PUGNUS.MI–li (notPUGNUS–mili neither Sulumeli nor Tamili) would be different writings of Muwatalli. In thatcase descendants of Kuzi–Tesup of Karkemish at Malatya bore Hittite Imperial names such asMuwatalli I – Kurunta/Runtiya – Arnuwanda I – Muwatalli II – Arnuwanda II.

5 If L.45 refers to ‘son’ (nimu(wi)za–) on some occasions it is better to take ni/ní as aphonetic indicator rather than coin another word for ‘son’ as niza– (some of Karkemish attes-tations are |FILIUS.NI–za–sa, KARKAMIS A11b §1 and KARKAMIS A27e2; |FILIUS.NI–wa/i⟨–za⟩–za, CEKKE §§8, 16 and |FILIUS.NI–wa/i–za–sa, §14; |FILIUS.NI/NÍ–za/zá–sa§17b-o; |FILIUS .NI–za–a⟨–sa⟩, KARKAMIŠ A4a §2; for an alternative spelling of the word,|FILIUS–mu–wa/i–zí–ia–sá (gen. adj. N. c. sg.), KARKAMIŠ A 5 a § 1, collated in the Ankara

6 A possible reconstructed equivalent of this statement in Sumero–Akkadian cuneiformtexts would have been *DUMU/TUR.MES targumanni.

2.2. Commentary

§1. STELE–ni–zi and STELE–ni–zí on §2 (NA. n. sg.): Instead of or-dinary –za/–sa, neuter particle zi/zí (L376 and L313) signs were used. Withother attestations we can assume that there is a regular usage of zi asneuter particle. See KÖTÜKALE §5, á–lá–ma–zi Hawkins 2000: 300;TILSEVET §1, (STELE)wa/i–ni–zi, Hawkins 2000: 179; KARKAMISA18h §1, STELE–ni–zi, Hawkins 2000: 180; and KARKAMIS A5a §1Hawkins 2000: 182; KARKAMIS A18f §1, Hawkins 2000: 186; cf. alsoSIGILLUM |!–zi on cylinder seal KH.11.O.65 from Karkemish (Dinçol–Dinçol–Peker in this fascicle).

tara/i–ku–ma–mi–zi (adj./noun NA. c. pl. see §3) ‘interpreter, trans-lator’: Here, for the first time both in hieroglyphic Luwian and on a funer-ary inscription, the profession name (tarkumma/i–, in Akkadiantarguma(n)nu) of the stele owner is attested (cf. tiwatamis zitis as an epi-thet of the deceased on KARKAMIS A18h and KARKAMIS A5a). Thecorresponding verb in cuneiform Luwian is tar–kum–mi–i[–ta] (KUB35.107; Starke 1985: 238) and tar–kum–mi–ya[– (KBo 12.100; Starke 1985:244). tarkummi– /*tarkummai– ‘to report, to pass on verbally’ (Melchert1993: 213) – we should also add ‘to interpret, to translate’ – can be ana-lysed as a denominative form of tarkumma/i– (adj./c.) ‘interpreter, trans-lator’ with –i–/–ai–suffix (Melchert 1993 : v). Here ziti(n)zi(CAPUT–ti–zí)4 is qualified by tarkummi(n)zi.

§2. BONUS–na–wa/i+ra–za (adj./noun DL. pl.): sanawira(n)za,rhotacized form of sanawita(n)za.

§3. |FILIUS–mu–wa/i⟨–za⟩–zi (NA. c. pl.): Luwian word for ‘son’,nimu(wi)za– (not niza–5). Here, ⟨za⟩ is (graphically) omitted (see similararrangements on CEKKE §§8, 16). For nimuwizanzi tarkumminzi ‘appren-tice interpreters’ or simply ‘interpreters’ can be proposed as a translation6.


Museum in 2013 by the author, see Fig. 2). see also Rieken-Yakubovich 2010: 214 fn. 15.

BRACCHIUM (L.32) can be added to this pattern too: thus, on MALKAYA inscr. 4 (Hawkins-Weeden 2008), BRACCHIUM.MI-ti can be read Muwatti.

192 Hasan Peker

7 PRAE–i |(L.466)sù–ní–ha ‘I libated/worshiped’, KARKAMISˇ A1a §§19, 20; |(CRUX) wa/i–la su–ni–ha ‘I disrespected’, KARKAMIS A17c §5 — here the whole sentence can be translated as ‘and I did not disrespect any child (?) in the oath-house’.

|“L69” su–ni–ta (Prt. pl. 3): For suni–7 ‘to do reverence, to worship’see Hawkins 2000: 90. On the other hand suni– could be connected withHit. sun(n)i(ya)– ‘to pour; to spill’ (HEG: 1166 ff.); here it possibly standsfor ‘to libate’. The sign L.69 determines various verbs: (–)iti–, ‘to delete’,harza–, ‘to have(?)’, la(la)–, ‘to take’, sa(sa)–, ‘to let’, tarawi–, ‘to pro-vide’ (see Hawkins 2000: 67, 545, 360).

§4. (“CORNU”)tara/i–pi–wa/i (noun DL. or adv.): tarpiwa CRUScan be taken as ‘to stand up to harm’ or ‘to stand up to treat balefully’.For other attestations and further interpretations, see Hawkins 2000: 487;Yakubovich 2002: 207 ff.

Fig. 2 – Photograph and drawing of the word ‘son’on KARKAMIS A5a §1 (collated).

References

Hawkins, J. D.2000 Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, I. Inscriptions of the Iron

Age, de Gruyter, Berlin/New York.HEG = J. Tischler, Hethitisches etymologisches Glossar, Institut für Sprachwissen-

schaft der Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, 1977 ff.Melchert, H. C.

1993 Cuneiform Luvian Lexicon, published privately, Chapel Hill.


193A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish)

Starke, F.1985 Die keilschrift-luwischen Texte in Umschrift (StBoT 30), Harrassowitz,

Wiesbaden.Yakubovich I.

2002 “Nugae Luvicae”, in: V. Shevoroshkin – P. J. Sidwell (eds.), AnatolianLanguages, Association for the History of Language Studies in the Sci-ence | History of Language 6, Canberra, 189-209.

Dept. of Ancient Languages and CulturesFaculty of Letters – Istanbul UniversityOrdu Cad. No. 196 – BeyazıtTR–34459 Istanbul


CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA

The stele may be catalogued as YUNUS 1. p. 190read Ta or Tasa not Tasa.The translation of §3 is ‘And before us apprentice interpreters libated;’ an alternative translation is ‘And before us sons (and) interpreters libated.’p. 191 fn. 4BRACCHIUM (L.32) can be added to this pattern too: thus, on MALKAYA inscr. 4 (Hawkins-Weeden 2008), BRACCHIUM.MI-ti can be read Muwatti.p. 192 fn. 7read |(CRUX)wa/i-la su-ni-ha not |(CRUX–)wa/i–la su–ni–hap. 191 fn. 5|FILIUS-mu-wa/i-zí-ia-sá (gen. adj. N. c. sg.), KARKAMIŠ A5a §1 see also Rieken-Yakubovich 2010: 214 fn. 15.

Additional referencesHawkins, J. D. - Weeden, M.

2008 “The Hieroglyphic Rock Inscription of Malkaya: A New Look”, AAS 17,

2010 “The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172”, in I. Singer (ed.),

241-249.Rieken, E. - Yakubovich, I.

ipamati kistamati pari tumatimis. Luwian and Hittite Studies Presented to J. David Hawkins on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday, Sonia & Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv, 199-219.

TaB. XVII H. Peker, A Funerary Stele from Yunus

Photo 1 – Right and left perspective views of the Yunus stele.

Photo 2 – Front and right side views of the Yunus stele.


H. Peker, A Funerary Stele from Yunus TAb. XVIII

Photo 3 – Bottom view of the Yunus stele: detail of broken tenon.

Photo 4 – Front view of the Yunus stele: detail of inscription on top.


Pontificium institutum BiBlicum

Vol. 83 noVa sEriEs fasc. 2

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Estratto

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A A E

H. PEKER, A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish) (Tab. XVII-XVIII)

S U M M A R I U M

Karkemish 2011-2013

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141A. DINÇOL† – B. DINÇOL – J. D. HAWKINS – N. MARCHETTI – H. PEKER,

A stele by Suhi I from Karkemish (Tab. IV-VI) . . . . . . . . . . 143-153G. BITELLI – F. GIRARDI – V. A. GIRELLI, Digital enhancement of the 3D

scan of Suhi I’s stele from Karkemish (Tab. VII-IX) . . . . . . . 154-161A. DINÇOL† – B. DINÇOL – H. PEKER, An Anatolian Hieroglyphic Cylin-

der Seal from the Hilani at Karkemish (Tab. X) . . . . . . . . . . 162-165G. MARCHESI, Epigraphic Materials of Karkemish from the Middle

Bronze Age (Tab. XI-XIV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166-181N. MARCHETTI – H. PEKER, A Stele from Gürçay near Karkemish

(Tab. XV-XVI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182-188H. PEKER, A Funerary Stele from Yunus (Karkemish) (Tab. XVII-XVIII) 189-193S. PIZZIMENTI, Three Glyptic Documents from Karkemish (Tab. XIX-XX) 194-201M. ZECCHI, A Note on Two Egyptian Seal Impressions from Karkemish

(Tab. XXI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202-206

Commentationes

A. M. BUTTS, The Use of Syriac Derivational Suffixes with Greek Loan-words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207-237

Animadversiones

A. ROCCATI, Dating Pthahhotep’s Maxims (Note Letterarie VI) . . . . 238-240J. BAUER, Der Göttername d(nin–)/asbar/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-242

Res bibliographicae

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A. ROCCATI, Magica Taurinensia: Il grande papiro magico di Torino e isuoi duplicati (H.-W. FISCHER-ELFERT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260-264

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a. C. (H. KOCH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289-291C. MARTONE (ed.), Lettere di Bar Kokhba (M. BRUTTI) . . . . . . . . . . 291-293L. NEHMÉ, Pétra: Atlas archéologique et épigraphique, Fascicule 1: De

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