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Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous
logographic In a written language, a logogram, logograph, or lexigraph is a written character that represents a word or morpheme. Chinese characters (pronounced '' hanzi'' in Mandarin, ''kanji'' in Japanese, ''hanja'' in Korean) are generally logograms, a ...
script native to central
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be
Luwian The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
, not Hittite, and the term Luwian hieroglyphs is used in English publications. They are typologically similar to
Egyptian hieroglyph Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
s, but do not derive graphically from that script, and they are not known to have played the sacred role of hieroglyphs in Egypt. There is no demonstrable connection to
Hittite cuneiform Hittite cuneiform is the implementation of cuneiform script used in writing the Hittite language. The surviving corpus of Hittite texts is preserved in cuneiform on clay tablets dating to the 2nd millennium BC (roughly spanning the 17th to 12th ...
.


History

Individual Anatolian hieroglyphs are attested from the second and early first millennia BC across Anatolia and into modern Syria. A biconvex bronze personal seal was found in the Troy VIIb level (later half of the 12th century BC) inscribed with Luwian Hieroglyphs. The earliest examples occur on personal
seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
s, but these consist only of names, titles, and auspicious signs, and it is not certain that they represent language. Most actual texts are found as monumental inscriptions in stone, though a few documents have survived on lead strips. The first inscriptions confirmed as Luwian date to the
Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, ca. 14th to 13th centuries BC. After some two centuries of sparse material, the hieroglyphs resume in the Early
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, ca. 10th to 8th centuries BC. In the early 7th century BC, the Luwian hieroglyphic script, by then aged some 700 years, was marginalized by competing alphabetic scripts and fell into oblivion.


Language

While almost all the preserved texts employing Anatolian hieroglyphs are written in the
Luwian language Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') – ...
, some features of the script suggest its earliest development within a bilingual Hittite-Luwian environment. For example, the sign which has the form of a "taking" or "grasping" hand has the value /ta/, which is precisely the Hittite word ta-/da- "to take," in contrast with the Luwian cognate of the same meaning which is la-. There was occasionally some use of Anatolian hieroglyphs to write foreign material like
Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...
s, or glosses in
Urartian Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, ...
(such as ''á - ḫá+ra - ku'' for ''aqarqi'' or ''tu - ru - za'' for ''ṭerusi'', two units of measurement). File:Kahramanmaras_Museum_Löwe_vorn.jpg, The
Marash Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş ...
Lion, with Anatolian hieroglyphs File:Kahramanmaras_Museum_Löwe.jpg, The
Marash Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş ...
Lion, with Anatolian hieroglyphs File:IvrizReliefA.jpg, God
Tarḫunz Tarḫunz (stem: ''Tarḫunt-'') was the weather god and chief god of the Luwians, a people of Bronze Age and early Iron Age Anatolia. He is closely associated with the Hittite god Tarḫunna and the Hurrian god Teshub. Name The name of the Pro ...
with inscription in Anatolian hieroglyphs File:Slab with Hittite hieroglyphic inscriptions mentioning the activities of king Urhilina and his son. 9th century BC. From Hama. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul.jpg, Slab with Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions mentioning the activities of king Urhilina and his son. 9th century BC. From Hama. Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul


Typology

As in Egyptian, characters may be logographic or phonographic—that is, they may be used to represent words or sounds. The number of phonographic signs is limited. Most represent CV syllables, though there are a few disyllabic signs. A large number of these are ambiguous as to whether the vowel is ''a'' or ''i.'' Some signs are dedicated to one use or another, but many are flexible. Words may be written logographically, phonetically, mixed (that is, a logogram with a
phonetic complement A phonetic complement is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters (logograms) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform, Japanese, and Mayan. Often they re ...
), and may be preceded by a
determinative A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may ...
. Other than the fact that the phonetic glyphs form a
syllabary In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
rather than indicating only consonants, this system is analogous to the system of Egyptian hieroglyphs. A more elaborate monumental style is distinguished from more abstract linear or cursive forms of the script. In general, relief inscriptions prefer monumental forms, and incised ones prefer the linear form, but the styles are in principle interchangeable. Texts of several lines are usually written in
boustrophedon Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...
style. Within a line, signs are usually written in vertical columns, but as in
Egyptian hieroglyphs Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
, aesthetic considerations take precedence over correct reading order.


Decipherment

Anatolian hieroglyphs first came to Western attention in the nineteenth century, when European explorers such as
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt Johann Ludwig (also known as John Lewis, Jean Louis) Burckhardt (24 November 1784 – 15 October 1817) was a Swiss traveller, geographer and Orientalist. Burckhardt assumed the alias ''Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah'' during his travels in Arabia ...
and
Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
described pictographic inscriptions on walls in the city of Hama,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. The same characters were recorded in Boğazköy, and presumed by A. H. Sayce to be Hittite in origin. By 1915, with the Luwian language known from cuneiform, and a substantial quantity of Anatolian hieroglyphs transcribed and published, linguists started to make real progress in reading the script. In the 1930s, it was partially deciphered by
Ignace Gelb Ignace Jay Gelb (October 14, 1907, Tarnau, Austria-Hungary (now Tarnów, Poland) - December 22, 1985, Chicago, Illinois) was a Polish-American ancient historian and Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems. Early life ...
, Piero Meriggi,
Emil Forrer Emil Orgetorix Gustav Forrer (also Emilio O. Forrer; ; 19 February 1894, Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine – 10 January 1986, San Salvador) was a Swiss Assyriologist and pioneering Hittitologist. Moreover, Emil Forrer developed a deviant interdiscip ...
, and
Bedřich Hrozný Bedřich (Friedrich) Hrozný (; 6 May 1879 – 12 December 1952) was a Czechs, Czech Oriental studies, orientalist and linguist. He contributed to the decipherment of the ancient Hittite language, identified it as an Indo-European language and l ...
. Its language was confirmed as Luwian in 1973 by J.D. Hawkins,
Anna Morpurgo Davies Anna Elbina Morpurgo Davies, (21 June 1937 – 27 September 2014) was an Italian philologist who specialised in comparative Indo-European linguistics. She spent her career at Oxford University, where she was the Professor of Comparative Philolo ...
and Günther Neumann, who corrected some previous errors about sign values, in particular emending the reading of symbols *376 and *377 from ''i, ī'' to ''zi, za''.


Sign inventory

The script consists of on the order of 500 unique signs, some with multiple values; a given sign may function as a logogram, a determinative or a
syllabogram Syllabograms are signs used to write the syllables (or morae) of words. This term is most often used in the context of a writing system otherwise organized on different principles—an alphabet where most symbols represent phonemes, or a logograph ...
, or a combination thereof. The signs are numbered according to Laroche's sign list, with a prefix of 'L.' or '*'. Logograms are transcribed in Latin in capital letters. For example, *90, an image of a foot, is transcribed as PES when used logographically, and with its phonemic value ''ti'' when used as a syllabogram. In the rare cases where the logogram cannot be transliterated into Latin, it is rendered through its approximate Hittite equivalent, recorded in Italic capitals, e.g. *216 ''ARHA''. The most up-to-date sign list was compiled by Massimiliano Marazzi in 1998. Hawkins, Morpurgo-Davies and Neumann corrected some previous errors about sign values, in particular emending the reading of symbols *376 and *377 from ''i, ī'' to ''zi, za''. List of CV syllabograms:
= }
? = } , , = }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! h- , , = }
? = }
= }
= } , , = }
= } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! hw- , , = } , , = }
= } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! k- , , = }
= } , , = }
= }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! kw- , , = } , , = } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! l- , , = }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , = } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! m- , , = }
= }
= }
= }, } , , = }
= }
= } , , = }, } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! n- , , = }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! p- , , = }, } ?
= }
= } , , = } , , = }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! r- , , = } , , = } , , = }
= }, } ! , , , , , , = } , -style="text-align:center" ! s- , , = } = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
, , = }
? = } , , = }
= }
= } ! , , , , , , = } , -style="text-align:center" ! t- , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
? = }
? = } , , = }, }
= }
= }
= } ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! w- , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! y- , , = }
= }
= } , , , , ! , , , , , , , -style="text-align:center" ! z- , , = }, }
= }
= }
= }
= } , , = }
= }
= }
= } , , ? = }, }
= } ! , , , , , , , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , ++ = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , , -style="text-align:center"} , , = } , , , , , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , + = } , , Transliteration of logograms is conventionally the term represented in Latin, in capital letters (e.g. PES for the logogram for "foot"). The
syllabograms Syllabograms are signs used to write the syllables (or morae) of words. This term is most often used in the context of a writing system otherwise organized on different principles—an alphabet where most symbols represent phonemes, or a logograph ...
are transliterated, disambiguating homophonic signs analogously to
cuneiform transliteration Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
, e.g. ta=ta1, tá=ta2, and ta6 transliterate three distinct ways of representing phonemic /ta/. Some of the homophonic signs have received further attention and new phonetic interpretation in recent years, e.g. tà has been argued to stand for /da/, and á seems to have stood for /ʔa/ (distinct from /a/), representing the descendant of
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
. One of the latest confirmed discoveries pertaining to the decipherment of Anatolian Hieroglyphs is the re-interpretation of the signs ta4 and ta5 as and respectively Rieken, E. and Yakubovich I (2010): "The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172." In: Singer, I.(ed.): ''Ipamati kistamati pari tumatimis: Luwian and Hittite studies presented to J. D. Hawkins on the occasion of his 70th birthday.'' Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, Institute of Archaeology, 199-219. List of Anatolian ideograms , , = }, } , , = } , , . = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = ) = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , , ++ = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } (2nd mil.), } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , . = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = }, } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = }, }, } , , = }, }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , + = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = }, } , , + = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , ()+ = } , , = }, }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , + = } , , + = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = }, } ? , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , ? = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ? = }, }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , ? = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , () = } , , = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , + = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , +.+ = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , + = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , +/+ = } , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , . = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , . = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , + ? () = }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , ? = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , . = }, } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ? = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , (+) = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , . = } , , . = } , , .. = }, }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, }, }, } , , = } , , = } , , ./ = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, } , , ? = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, }, } , , + = } , , + = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , . = } , , . = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, }, } , , = } , , . = } , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = }, } , , = } (earlier variant), } , , (?) = } , -style="text-align:center" , , (?) = } , , (?) = } , , (?) = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = }, } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , ? = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = } , , + = } , -style="text-align:center" , , - = } , , -+ = } , , -?+ = } , , +- = } , -style="text-align:center" , , +?- = } , , = }, }, }, }, } , , = } , , = = } , -style="text-align:center" , , = } , , = } , , = }, }, } , , +. = } , -style="text-align:center" , , ++ = } , , = } , , = } (earlier variant), } , , = } (word separator) , -style="text-align:center" , , . = } , , = } , , = } , , = } , -style="text-align:center" , , 2 = } , , 3 = } , , 4 = } , , 5 = } , -style="text-align:center" , , 8 = } , , 9 = } , , 12 = } , ,


Unicode

Anatolian hieroglyphs were added to the
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
Standard in June, 2015 with the release of version 8.0. The Unicode block for Anatolian Hieroglyphs is U+14400–U+1467F:


See also

*
Hieroglyphic Luwian Hieroglyphic Luwian (''luwili'') is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs. A decipherment was pr ...


References


Sources

* *


External links


Luwian Hieroglyphics
from the Indo-European Database
Sign list
with logographic and syllabic readings

{{list of writing systems Obsolete writing systems Bronze Age writing systems Luwian language