THE HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS OF RAPPADOKIA AND THEIR DECIPHERMENT

BY

A. -H. Sayce.

The Hittite inscriptions copied in Asia Minor, in the summer of 1890, by Messrs. Ramsay, Hogarth and Headlam, are of high importance. They not only increase the amount of materials at the disposai of the decipherer, but f urnish several facts which are of peculiar value to him. For some years past I had been confronted, as it were, by a wall over which I could not climb ; the bilingual boss of Tarkondêmos had led me a little distance and had then left me in darkness; and I began to despair of ever being able to Suive the Hittite problem. But the new inscriptions published in the Recueil, along with this Paper, hâve allowed us to surmount the wall, and to advance much further in the path of decipherment than I had imagined to be possible a few months ago.

Some of the inscriptions discovered by the three Oxford explorers were already known, but they had either not been copied at ail or else the copies were so imperfect as to be practically worthless. The long and important inscription of Bulgar Maden, for instance, had been firstnoticed by Mr. Davis, but it wasreserved for Messrs. Hogarth and Headlam to make the first copy of it as well as take a squeeze.

The inscriptions of Ivrlz hâve more than once been described and copied, but we now hâve for the first time accurate facsimiles of them, as well as photographs which do some justice to the magnificent monument of Hittite art with which they are associated. The inscriptions of Gurûn were discovered by Sir Charles Wilson some years ago, and photographs of them were sent to me about three years since; but it is only now that with the combined assistance of eye-copies, squeezes and photographs we are able to gain some idea of the nature of thèse very decayed texts. Lastly the inscription of Bor (or Tyana) was first seen by Prof. Ramsay in 1882; but the copy which he then made of it was too hurried to be more than approximately correct, and the copy published herewith from two excellent squeezes is consequently the first thoroughly accurate one.

The inscription of Andaval, which apparently came from the same ancien t édifice at Bor as the inscription of Tyana, was discovered by the Oxford explorers last summer. The copy is published from a squeeze, and leaves nothing to be desired. The remarkable sculptures of Fraktin, with the inscriptions that accompany them, are also new. They resemble those of Boghaz Keui, and, as Prof. Ramsay observes, settle the question as

1a^ iujliIVi»h i»das Kauderwâlschen der Himjar« Kàmil 363, 2 wird * »la» l o erklart »dass die Spracbe klingt wie die der Auslânder».

to the meaning of the symbols which are attached to the figures of the deities at the latter place. It is needless to remark that the inscription on the splendid silver seal purchased by Mr. Hogarth, is also given hère for the first time. We may gain an idea from the seal of the excellent state of préservation in which the famous boss of Tarkondêmos (lost, alas, in the great fire of Pera) must hâve been.

In the références to the texts, A will mean the inscription of Andaval, B that of Bulgar Maden, F those of Fraktin, G those of Gurùn (1 and II), I those of Ivriz (I, II and III), T that of Tyana. The other known Hittite inscriptions will be quoted according to their order in the second édition of Wright's Empire ofthe Hittites (London, Nisbet and Co., 1886), H representing the inscriptions of Hamath (I, II, III, IV and V), J those of Jerablûs (I, II and III), M that of Mar'ash, Fr. denoting fragments, and " Seals I " and '' II " the seals from Kouyunjik published in plate XIII of Wright's book and those belonging to Mr. Schlumberger published in plate XVI.

I must begin by improving in one point my reading of the bilingual legend on the boss of Tarkondêmos. The Assyrian character |»- has the value of ve or we as well as of me; in the name of the country over which Tarkondêmos ruled I hâve hitherto read it as m£. But the reading must be changed for two reasons. On the one hand the Hittite character which represents it interchanges with u-e (e. g. J. m. 4. À:a-KUE-«-e, H. v. 2. kw-u-e, v. 3. D. P.' ku-u-^, compared with J. i. 1 and M. 4. D. P. ku-we-es, M.) *; on the other hand, Tarkondêmos is a Kilikian name, and if we read the name of the country over which he ruled as Erwé we should hâve the native name of Olba, the famous priestcity of Kilikia. This was Ourwa, as had been concluded by Prof. Ramsay and is now proved by Greek inscriptions.

I will assume the correctness of the values and powers of certain of the Hittite characters which I hâve given in Wright's Empire ofthe Hittites, With the exception of the determinative of divinity, my identification of which was due to a study of the sculptures of Boghaz Keui, and the " determinative prefix of an individual ", they were ail based on the bilingual inscription of Tarkondêmos and the identification of the name of the Kilikian king Sanda-sarve. In some cases, however, what I hâve said about them requires to be supplemented or corrected.

The inscriptions attached to the figures at Fraktin show that I was right in my identification of the determinative of divinity. The determinative is usually expressed in the texts, tho' it could be omitted, as is the case in Babylonian cuneiform, more especially where the name of a deity formed part of a proper name. What I hâve called *' the determinative of an individual " had a more extended application. It may be prefixednot only to proper names, but also to gentilic nouns, to adjectives used as epithets, and to titles. On a seal purchased by Mr. Greville Chester it interchanges before a proper name with the numéral '' one '* 1 ; on the lion of Mar'ash the numéral, and not

(1) Determinative prefix.

(2) So loo J. IJ. 8. D. P. + ID. + kue + oîe + kus compared with M. front, last Une, D. P. + ID. + kue-kus.