Warpalawa(s) (possibly ''Warpalawa II'') was a late 8th century BC (ca 730-710 BC?) Late Hittite (or Neo-Hittite) king of

Tabal Tabal (c.f. biblical ''Tubal''; Assyrian: 𒋫𒁄) was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom (and/or collection of kingdoms) of South Central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to archaeologist Kurt Bittel, references to Tabal first appeare ...

in south-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 ...

(modern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

). The political center of this 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 mostl ...

regional state was probably Tuwana (later Graeco-Roman

Tyana Tyana ( grc, Τύανα), earlier known as Tuwana ( Hieroglyphic Luwian: ; Akkadian: ) and Tuwanuwa ( Hittite: ) was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern Kemerhisar, Niğde Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey. It w ...

). Warpalawa is first attested among the five regional rulers who paid tribute to

Tiglath-pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

(745-727 BC).

Monuments

Among other commemorative monuments, Warpalawas most notably commissioned the carving of the İvriz relief, a

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, ...

at the site of Ivriz near a spring, south of Tuwanuwa in the province of

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it ...

. In the relief, he is depicted with the storm-god Tarhunzas. His attire in the relief is seen as an evidence for his kingdom's close affinity with the Phrygians. The relief is accompanied with a

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 ...

inscription. The Tabalian king Urballa, mentioned in the

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n texts at the time of

and Sargon II probably is Warpalawas. Some scholars assume that Warpalawa was a subordinate of Wasusarma.Weippert, M. 1973: Menahem von Israel und seine Zeitgenossen in einer Stelinschrift des assyrischen Königs Tiglathpileser III. aus dem Iran, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 89, 26–53. This assumption was being made based on the fact that Wasusarma assumed the title ‘‘Great King’’. Some scholars believe that there was a small dynasty of Warpalawa's, with Warpalawa I ruling early in the 8th century before Warpalawa II.

Notes

Bibliography

* Melchert, H C. (ed.); 2003. ''The Luwians.'' (Leiden: Brill Publishers). (ebook) (print) * Hawkins, J. David; 1999. ''The Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions.'' Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. .

External links

Bor Stele, also known as Warpalawa Stele
- hittitemonuments.com Tabal Iron Age Syro-Hittite kings Rock reliefs in Turkey {{Rulers of the Ancient Near East