The Veliisa Stele is a fragment of a

Luwian hieroglyphic Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...

inscription of

Neo-Hittite The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwestern ...

date. It is on display in the

Niğde Archaeological Museum Niğde Archaeological Museum () is located in the centre of the Turkish provincial capital, Niğde between ''Dışarı Cami Sokak'' and ''Öğretmenler Caddesi''. It contains objects found at sites in the surrounding area, including the tell of K ...

, where its inventory number is 53.

Description

The grey basalt stone has a vaguely triangular cross-section. From the two surfaces on the reverse of the stone and vertical centre line between them it is believed that slightly more than half of the original stele has survived. The surviving stone represents the bottom part of the original stele. The fragment has a height of 43 cm and a width of 44 cm. The maximum depth is 20 cm. On the upper half of the well-preserved front face, deeply cut hieroglyphic letters can be read. Hawkins gives the translation of the text as follows:Bossert's translation reads, "But the ivinitywas well-disposed to me... and did all good for me." Based on the shape and the style of the script, Hawkins placed the document in the late 8th century BC. The findspot places the stele within the Iron Age Luwian kingdom of Tuwana.

Discovery & Publication

The exact find situation of the fragment is not known. The original publication by the Polish-American

Assyrologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeas ...

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 ...

only says that the fragment was found at Veliisa (now called Yaylayolu), 15 km north of

Niğde Niğde (; grc, Νίγδη; Hittite: Nahita, Naxita) is a city and the capital of Niğde province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey at an elevation of 1,299 m. In 2017 the city population was 141,010 people. The city is small with plenty ...

in the central district of Niğde province, on the eastern slopes of . The German archaeologist Helmuth Theodor Bossert published the first translation of the inscription in 1954. Another edition was produced by

Piero Meriggi Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host *Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero del Pollaiuolo (c. 1443–1496), Italian painter *Piero de ...

in 1975. The Hittitologist produced a new translation in 2000 for his ''Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions''.

References

Bibliography

Dietrich Berges Dietrich () is an ancient German name meaning "Ruler of the People.” Also "keeper of the keys" or a "lockpick" either the tool or the profession. Given name * Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg (c. 1398 – 1440) * Thierry of Alsace (german: Dietric ...

Johannes Nollé Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

. ''Tyana - Archäologisch-historische Untersuchungen zum südwestlichen Kappadokien''. Habelt, Bonn 2000, pp. 106. * John David Hawkins. ''Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions.'' Vol. I: ''Inscriptions of the Iron Age.'' Part 2: ''Text. Amuq, Aleppo, Hama, Tabal, Assur Letters, Miscellaneous, Seals, Indices.'' (= ''Studies in Indo-European Language and Culture'' 8). de Gruyter, Berlin. 2000, {{ISBN, 3-11-010864-X. p. 529 No. X.49 Tab. 303.

External links

hittitemonuments.com
8th-century BC steles 1954 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Turkey Luwian inscriptions History of Niğde Province