Anatolian History

Acem Hoyuk - Ulama - Purushattum ?

by Joost Blasweiler

Comments are welcome !

Work Notes on Etruscan Mirrors & Murals II

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file from our website covering Etruscan Mirrors and Murals, with images compiled from the Etruscan Phrases website http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

In contrast to offerings from the British Museum and University of Bologna, where their analyses, following Pallottino, are generally speculation based on guesswork relating to short funerary inscriptions, the Etruscan Phrases work is supported by a strong grammar and vocabulary based on all texts, small and large. Thus, to clear the mystery of the Etruscan language alleged by such esteemed institutions, it is imperative that the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls be audited. We mention this since the only prospect of clearing up the Etruscan Mystery is through a verifiable audit of the Etruscan Grammar recorded in Etruscan Phrases. The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" works have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

Most important to the work are the Etruscan mirrors and murals that contain known Classical stories and the names of the principle characters in the stories. The star of the mirrors is Helen of Troy who was the young daughter of King Tyndareüs of Sparta and abducted by the equally beautiful son of King Priam of Troy, thereby causing the Trojan War. While the entire story has captured the hearts and imaginations of generations since that event (Troy was destroyed ~1180 B.C.) we can presume through Etruscan mirrors that the event was part of their history – and they had a somewhat different recollection of it than the Greek version passed down to us.

Because the story is familiar and linking the genesis of Greek heroes and gods, containing their names and actions, we have comparative texts to use in analyzing the Etruscan language, its shifts from Greek and Latin to Etruscan. For instance the heroes of the story follow a regular shift, of dropping vowels and final consonants, etc. Heracles (L. Hercules) is Hercle (almost like the French, Hercule). Helen’s name declines: Helenai and Helenei, leading us to the declension of other nouns. Her father was Zeus who transformed into a swan and raped the goddess Nemesis THALNA (retribution) who had transformed into a goose. She laid an egg or two eggs, one of which was Helen which was found by shepherds near Sparta and taken to Tyndareüs and Leda to bring up. From the egg came Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world.

The most beautiful man at the time was Alexander, spelled ELCHSENTRE and he abducted Helen from her husband Menelaus, MENLE, the brother of King Agamemnon: ACHMEMNVN. His wife Clytemnestra is CLVTHVMVSTHA who murdered her husband in the bath upon returning from the Trojan War, and their son, Orestes (VRSTE) killed her and her lover in revenge. Athena (L. Minerva) is MENRFA; Hera (L. Juno) is VNI, her consort is Zeus (L. Jupiter) Etr. TINIA. Thetis is THETIS and THETHIS, she was a dangerous shape-changer and compelled by the gods to wed her husband Peleus, PELE; they produced the Greek hero of the Trojan War, Achilles who the Etruscans call ACHLE. The mother of Helen, Leda, is LATFA and her brothers, Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux) are CASTVR and PVLTVCEI. Their father Tyndareüs is TVNTLE. Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) was a cause of the Trojan War when she was judged by Alexander as “The Fairest” as written on an apple thrown into the wedding of Thetis and Peleus by Eris (Etr. ERIS). Aphrodite’s son was Eros (Etr. ERVS) – appearing in many texts. Another popular figure in Etruscan mirrors is Hermes (L. Mercury) TVRMS.

Apollo (APLV) and Artemis are represented frequently in the texts. Ajax Telemonos EIFAS TELMVNVS committed suicide after Achilles was killed, because he did not deserve Achilles’ armor. Apollo (APLV) and his sister the virgin huntress Artemis (ARTVMES) were highly active in the Trojan War. The Etruscans introduce a new character like Artemis called MEAN who crowns Alexander, awarding him the hand of Helen, though we understand from the Greek version that it was Aphrodite (Etr. TVRAN) that awarded Alexander the hand of Helen in the Judgment of Paris. MEAN appears to be a goddess of the hunt like Artemis from Lydia, recalling the old name of Lydia, Maionia (Μαιονία). This is just a tease, for the mirrors and murals carry amazing details never before known to modern man. The images, names and texts associated with the mirrors and murals set the baseline for understanding Etruscan Grammar and the words recorded in Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.pdf. (The most current version available at http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays.

Etruscan GlossaryA.pdf an index to about 2,500 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words equal the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek)

The mirrors with the Devotional Plates may be an easy entry into an audit, for those who are hesitant to examine the larger texts, such as the Zagreb Mummy (Script Z).

Work notes on Etruscan Devotional Plates III

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file of our website, 'Translation of Etruscan Devotional Plates III," with images compiled from the Etruscan Phrases website (http://www.maravot.com/Translation_ShortScripts_e.html)

In contrast to offerings from the British Museum and University of Bologna, where their analyses, following Pallottino, are generally speculation based on guesswork relating to short funerary inscriptions, the Etruscan Phrases work is supported by a strong grammar and vocabulary based on all texts, small and large. Thus, to clear the mystery of the Etruscan language alleged by such esteemed institutions, it is imperative that the Etruscan Phrases GlossaryA.xls be audited. We mention this since the only prospect of clearing up the Etruscan Mystery is through a verifiable audit of the Etruscan Grammar recorded in Etruscan Phrases. The British Museum, University of Bologna and other "Pallottino School" works have not produced a vocabulary or grammar that can be audited, since their theory is that the Etruscan language is unlike any other known to man, not Indo-European. Etruscan Phrases claims that the Etruscan Language is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian, an Indo-European language. It offers a grammar, declension patterns and regular, measurable shifts between Etruscan and these languages; ergo the work can be easily audited.

We should hope, therefore, that there will be many linguists / scholars who will jump at the chance to clear up the Etruscan Mystery and rewrite the histories so clearly overshadowed by the Pallottino School theories, to help even the museums containing Etruscan artifacts explain a bit more about the items in their displays.

Etruscan GlossaryA.xls an index to about 2,500 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words equal the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglypics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging, since we have no multilingual Rosetta Stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar is provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek)

The Devotional Plates may be an easy entry into an audit, for those who are hesitant to examine the larger texts, such as the Zagreb Mummy (Script Z).

Work notes on the Lemnos Stele

by Mel Copeland

The Lemnos Stele was found on the island of Lemnos, containing a writing style that is similar to the Etruscan texts found in Italy. It differs somewhat in the use of the punctuation marks. Etruscan texts tend to separate words and phrases using a dot or a colon. This text, like Phrygian texts on the mainland adjacent to Lemnos, uses two-dot and three-dot colons. Also, like the Phrygian texts (See our Phrygian.html) it uses the omega “o”  rather than the “V” = “O.”
Lemnos is an island in the northern Aegean Sea. When Hephaestus was thrown out of heaven, he fell on Lemnos, where the Sintians (an ancient people of whom nothing else is known) cared for him. One version of the story says his mother Hera was disgusted at him, because he was lame, and threw him out of heaven, where he landed in the sea and was saved by Thetis. Another story says Zeus threw him out of heaven, to land on Lemnos, because he had come to the rescue of Hera who at the time was being punished by Zeus.  He was later reinstated on Mount Olympus, but never forgot Lemnos, which became his chief cult center. Hephaestus was a blacksmith and became the master artisan of the gods. Among his chief works were the armor of Achilles (son of Thetis) and the creation of Pandora. In the Iliad Hephaestus was pitted against the river god Scamander, which he temporarily dried up in order to save Achilles from drowning. 

The Lemnians also claimed close connections with Dionysus, saying that he brought Ariadne there after their marriage. One of the four sons that she bore him was Thoas, who became king of the island. During his reign a series of events initiated by Aphrodite led the Lemnian women to kill all the males on the island. (Aphrodite was married to Hephaistus.) Only Thoas escaped, thanks to his daughter’s loyalty. Realizing that a life without men did not promise well for the island’s future, the women welcomed Jason and the Argonauts when they stopped at Lemnos on their outward voyage. Among the new generation that resulted from this timely visit was Euneüs, who was king at the time of the Trojan War.

During much of that war Philoctetes remained stranded alone in a cave on Lemnos, but the assumption in this myth that the island was unpeopled at the time is not supported by the other myths. Lemnos, together with several other islands of the northern Aegean, was a center of the obscure but important cult of the Cabeiri. The Cabeiri are believed to have originated on the mainland in Phrygia and were prominently worshiped on Samothrace, Lemnos and Imbros — and also had a cult in Thebes.  They were honored in the Samothracian mysteries, which were second in importance only to the Eleusinian mysteries. It is generally believed that the Cabeiri were originally fertility-spirits who had a reputation for bringing safety and good fortune, as well as good crops. They were attendants of the “Great Gods” variously believed to be Demeter or Rhea, Hermes and other Olympian divinities.
This translation, “Work Notes on the Lemnos Stele,” follows other “Etruscan Phrases” Work Notes posted in Academia.edu and linked on http://www.maravot.com/Etruscan_Phrases_a.html.

All of the Work notes are based on Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf and our Indo-European Table.    Etruscan GlossaryA.xls/pdf. is an index to about 2,500 Etruscan words that are similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. Declension patterns follow those in Latin. The 2,500 words = the repeated words in 6,000 words of the major extant texts. The texts have been frozen in time, covering ~700-400 B.C., representing a lens to understanding the early formation of Indo-European languages, particularly the early Italic-Latin-Celtic languages, such as Italian, French & Romanian / Dacian. (By 45 BC. the language was a dead language - no one understood or could write Etruscan)

This GlossaryA works together with Indo-European Table 1 which refutes theories by the Pallottino school of thought that the Etruscan language is not Indo-European and an isolate, unlike any other language. It is very close to Latin and, curiously, Romanian, Italian and French. The Latin suffix, "us" shifts to "o" as in Italian (Titus vs Tito); first person conjugation patterns are similar to French and Romanian. This GlossaryA provides a quick look at the grammatical structure of the Etruscan language, how closely it coincides with Latin. A more detailed Declension Table can be seen on the Etruscan Phrases website. These PDF documents facilitate independent confirmation of the words in GlossaryA.xls , the Grammar and Declension Table. All words can be examined from actual images of texts on the Etruscan Phrases website. Over 150 texts, with about 6,000 words can be examined at Etruscan Phrases.

The Etruscans surfaced in Italy about 1,000 B.C., reputed to have arrived from Lydia / Phrygia. The Phrygians originated near Macedonia in Thrace, according to Herodotus. One may therefore inquire whether the ancient Thracians (Dacians, Gettae, modern Romanians), spoke a language common to the Phrygians, at the time of the Trojan War and after (~1180 B.C.). The Thracians, Phrygians and Lydians (also dead languages) were allies of the Trojans, according to the Iliad. Etruscan Phrases finds a common vocabulary among Latin, Italian, French, Romanian, Etruscan and Phrygian. While French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian are considered Romance languages, showing a similar Latin heritage, Etruscan is not, of course, a Romance language, as it preceded Latin, at least in the written form (giving Rome its alphabet).

Resolution of the Etruscan Mystery may be likened to Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B and Jean-François Champollion's decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone - written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. The decipherment of Etruscan is a bit more challenging; since we have no multilingual Rosetta stone, but we do have enough vocabulary and grammar to establish that Etruscan is similar to Latin, French, Italian and Romanian. (Certainly far more vocabulary and a more extensive grammar are provided in Etruscan Phrases than that used by Ventris to claim translation of Linear B as an old form of Greek.)

We look forward to the time when a peer review of these Work Notes will warrant corrections to the prevailing record, showing that the Etruscan language was similar to Latin and decry the theory that the "Etruscan language is unlike any other and not an Indo-European language." The theory of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is absolutely false.

Asia Minor to the Ionian Revolt

by Koray Konuk

in W. E. Metcalf (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage (Oxford, 2012), 43-60.

A scenario: Fugitives from Kanesh and the origins of the Old Hittite Kingdom

by Joost Blasweiler

Bir senaryo : Kaniş’in yerinden olmuş halkı ve Antik Hitit Krallığı’nın kökeni.
İçerik:
M.Ö. yaklaşık 1710 yılında Kaniş Krallığı’nın, belkide o zamanlar Alahzina adını taşımakta olan başkenti yıkılmış ve akabinde yüzyıllar boyunca bir daha şehir olarak inşa edilmemiştir. İki yüzyıl boyunca Anadolu’da Asur ticaretinin merkezi konumundaki, kale surlarının hemen yanında kurulmuş bulunan Kaniş’in Karum Şehri de aniden terk edilerek harabeye dönmüştür. Yıkıldıktan sonraki dönemde Kaniş ülkesinde Anadolu ve Asur tüccarlarına ait kalıntılara bir daha hiç rastlanamamıştır. Hattuşa Şehri M.Ö. yaklaşık 1750 yılında Kral Anitta tarafından yıkılmış, ancak muhtemelen küçük bir yerleşim birimi varlığını sürdürmeye devam etmiştir. Arkeolog Andreas Schachner, Hattuşa (2011 – 71) adlı etkileyici kitabında şunları bildirmektedir: “Wahrscheinlich bestand dort trotz der Eroberung durch Anitta eine funktionierende Siedlung, deren Ausbau sich fur einen ambitionierenden Herscher lohnte”. M.Ö. 17. ve 16. yüzyıllar arasındaki asır değişimi civarında, büyük yeraltı tahıl silolarının ve büyük savunma duvarlarının yapımı gibi önemli inşaat faaliyetleri hayata geçirilmiştir. Bunu 16. yüzyılın başında küçük yerleşim birimlerinin büyük ve planlı genişlemeleri takip etmiştir. Bu makalede Kaniş ve Hattuşa’daki bu tarihi olayların birbirleriyle doğrudan bir bağlantısı olup olmadığı incelenmiş ve aynı zamanda Kaniş ve Kussara Krallıkları’nın Antik Hitit Krallığı ile tarihi bağı tanımlanmıştır. Bir senaryo şeklinde Kaneşli mültecilerin kil tabletlerdeki Nesili’nin gelişimi üzerindeki muhtemel etkileri ve Antik Hattuşa Krallığı’nın doğuşu kaleme alınmıştır.

About 1710 BC the capital of the kingdom of Kanesh, probably ruled at that time by Zuzu, the Great King of Alahzina, was laid waste and no longer inhabited as a town for hundreds of years Also suddenly abandoned and sacked was the karum of Kanesh, situated alongside the citadel and established for a good two hundred years as the centre of Assyrian trade in Anatolia. From the period after the destruction no Assyrian mercantile artifacts have been found in the land of Kanesh. The city of Hattusa was similarly devastated about 1750 BC by King Anitta. Nevertheless it is plausible that a small settlement persisted there. The archaeologist Andreas Schachner reports in his impressive book Hattusha (2011: 71): ‘’Wahrscheinlich bestand dort trotz der Eroberung durch Anitta eine funktionierende Siedlung, deren Ausbau sich für einen ambitionierenden Herrscher lohnte’’. Around the turn of the 17th to the 16th century important constructions were carried out, namely the building of large underground grain silos and a large defensive wall. At the start of the 16th century large and well planned enlargements to the small settlement followed. Whether these historical events in Kanesh and Hattusa are directly linked with each other is investigated in this article, and the historical relationships of the kingdoms of Kanesh and Kussara with the Old Kingdom of the Hittites are described. The possible significance of fugitives from Kanesh in the development of the Nesili language of the clay tablets and in the origins of Old Kingdom Hattusa is laid out in scenario form

Kann man Kamma, die Frau des Galatertetrarchen Sinatos, für die keltische Religion heranziehen?, in: Herbert HEFTNER – Kurt TOMASCHITZ (Hgg.), AD FONTES!. FS für Gerhard Dobesch zum 65. Geburtstag am 15. September 2004, dargebracht von Kollegen, Schülern und Freunden, Wien 2004, 705–711

by Andreas Hofeneder

Confronting the menaces from the East: the United States’ policy during the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922

by Yannis G.S. Papadopoulos

Published in Istorika, V. 27, no. 52, Athens July 2010, pp. 51-72.

During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), American citizens that came into contact with the Ottoman Empire either... more During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), American citizens that came into contact with the Ottoman Empire either propagated the image of the "Terrible Turk" as the enemy of Christianity or portrayed the Ottoman Empire and later Turkey as a civilizing force in the Near East. Until the signing of the Sevres Treaty, the State Department’s main goal was to protect Christian minorities in the region. Nevertheless, after 1920, the State Department opted for a "realist policy" against Turkish nationalists due to Congress’ opposition to an American military presence in the region, the growing interest on the part of American businessmen in investing in Turkey, and the antagonism between Western powers over the control of Mossul oil.

Hittite Research - A Short Overview

by Dirk Paul Mielke

Co-authored with H. Genz, published in: H. Genz / D. P. Mielke (Hrsg.), Insights into Hittite History and Archaeolgy. Colloquia Antiqua 2 (Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA 2011), 1-29.

New publications on the Anatolian Iron Age

by Dirk Paul Mielke

Published in: Ancient West & East 2.2, 2003, 375-379.

Review of:

Eva-Maria Bossert, Die Keramik phrygischer Zeit von Boğazköy. Funde aus den Grabungskampagnen... more Review of:

Eva-Maria Bossert, Die Keramik phrygischer Zeit von Boğazköy. Funde aus den Grabungskampagnen 1906, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1931-1939 und 1952-1960. Boğazköy-Hattuša. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen XVIII (Mainz 2000).

Dietrich Berndt, Midasstadt in Phrygien. Eine sagenumwobene Stätte im anatolischen Hochland. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie. Sonderbände der Antiken Welt (Mainz 2002).

Dominik Bonatz, Das syro-hethitische Grabdenkmal. Untersuchungen zur Entstehung einer neuen Bildgattung in der Eisenzeit im nordsyrisch-südostanatolischen Raum (Mainz 2000).

New publications on Hittite Archaeology and History

by Dirk Paul Mielke

Published in: Ancient West & East 3.1, 2004, 167-172.

Review of:

Peter Neve, Die Oberstadt von Hattuša. Die Bauwerke. II: Die Bastion des Sphinxtores und die... more Review of:

Peter Neve, Die Oberstadt von Hattuša. Die Bauwerke. II: Die Bastion des Sphinxtores und die Tempelviertel am Königs- und Löwentor. Boğazköy-Hattuša. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen XVII (Mainz 2001).

Gernot Wilhelm (Hrsg.), Akten des IV. Internationalen Kongresses für Hethitologie, Würzburg, 4.-8. Oktober 1999. Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten Bd. 45 (Wiesbaden 2001).

Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Hrsg.), Die Hethiter und ihr Reich. Volk der tausend Götter. Ausstellungskatalog Bonn (Stuttgart 2002).

K. Aslihan Yener – Harry A. Hoffner Jr. (Hrsg.), Recent Developments in Hittite Archaeology and History. Papers in Memory of Hans G. Güterbock (Winona Lake, Indiana 2002).

Trevor Bryce, Life and Society in the Hittite World (Oxford 2002)

De gevluchte bevolking van Kanesh en de oorsprong van het Oude Rijk van Hattusa.

by Joost Blasweiler

Commentaar of reacties zijn welkom.

Bir senaryo : Kaniş’in yerinden olmuş halkı ve Antik Hitit Krallığı’nın kökeni.

İçerik:
M.Ö.... more Bir senaryo : Kaniş’in yerinden olmuş halkı ve Antik Hitit Krallığı’nın kökeni.

İçerik:
M.Ö. yaklaşık 1710 yılında Kaniş Krallığı’nın, belkide o zamanlar Alahzina adını taşımakta olan başkenti yıkılmış ve akabinde yüzyıllar boyunca bir daha şehir olarak inşa edilmemiştir. İki yüzyıl boyunca Anadolu’da Asur ticaretinin merkezi konumundaki, kale surlarının hemen yanında kurulmuş bulunan Kaniş’in Karum Şehri de aniden terk edilerek harabeye dönmüştür. Yıkıldıktan sonraki dönemde Kaniş ülkesinde Anadolu ve Asur tüccarlarına ait kalıntılara bir daha hiç rastlanamamıştır. Hattuşa Şehri M.Ö. yaklaşık 1750 yılında Kral Anitta tarafından yıkılmış, ancak muhtemelen küçük bir yerleşim birimi varlığını sürdürmeye devam etmiştir. Arkeolog Andreas Schachner, Hattuşa (2011 – 71) adlı etkileyici kitabında şunları bildirmektedir: “Wahrscheinlich bestand dort trotz der Eroberung durch Anitta eine funktionierende Siedlung, deren Ausbau sich fur einen ambitionierenden Herscher lohnte”. M.Ö. 17. ve 16. yüzyıllar arasındaki asır değişimi civarında, büyük yeraltı tahıl silolarının ve büyük savunma duvarlarının yapımı gibi önemli inşaat faaliyetleri hayata geçirilmiştir. Bunu 16. yüzyılın başında küçük yerleşim birimlerinin büyük ve planlı genişlemeleri takip etmiştir. Bu makalede Kaniş ve Hattuşa’daki bu tarihi olayların birbirleriyle doğrudan bir bağlantısı olup olmadığı incelenmiş ve aynı zamanda Kaniş ve Kussara Krallıkları’nın Antik Hitit Krallığı ile tarihi bağı tanımlanmıştır. Bir senaryo şeklinde Kaneşli mültecilerin kil tabletlerdeki Nesili’nin gelişimi üzerindeki muhtemel etkileri ve Antik Hattuşa Krallığı’nın doğuşu kaleme alınmıştır.


About 1710 BC the capital of the kingdom of Kanesh, probably ruled at that time by Zuzu, the Great King of Alahzina, was laid waste and no longer inhabited as a town for hundreds of years. Also suddenly abandoned and sacked was the Karum of Kanesh, situated alongside the citadel and established for a good two hundred years as the centre of Assyrian trade in Anatolia. From the period after the destruction no Assyrian mercantile artifacts have been found in the Land of Kanesh. The city of Hattusa was similarly devastated about 1750 BC by King Anitta, nevertheless it is plausible that a small settlement persisted there. The archaeologist Andreas Schachner reports in his impressive book Hatttusha (2011 – 71): ‘’Wahrscheinlich bestand dort trotz der Eroberung durch Anitta eine funktionierende Siedlung, deren Ausbau sich für einen ambitionierenden Herrscher lohnte’‘. Around the turn of the 17th to the 16th century important constructions were carried out, namely the building of large underground grain silos and a large defensive wall. At the start of the 16th century large and well planned enlargements to the small settlement followed. Whether these historical events in Kanesh and Hattusa are directly linked with each other is investigated in this article, and the historical relationships of the Kingdoms of Kanesh and Kussara with the Old Kingdom of the Hittites are described. The possible significance of fugitives from Kanesh in the development of the Nesili language of the clay tablets and in the origins of Old Kingdom Hattusa is laid out in scenario form.

Work notes on the Zagreb Mummy - a survey of Etruscan Phrases texts, update 12.05.11

by Mel Copeland

This is a PDF file of work notes relating to the longest extant Etruscan text, the Zagreb Mummy. Because of its length and abundance of words used in other texts, the Zagreb Mummy text can be helpful in auditing the translations of the other 160 texts (and growing) on the Etruscan Phrases website.

We have converted appropriate documents into PDF files in order to facilitate review of the work. The documents work together with the Etruscan Phrases.a.html which should be opened as an index to the other pages that are covered in the discussion of the Zagreb Mummy.

This work focuses on refining declension and conjugation patterns used throughout the Etruscan Phrases texts. Although most of the words decline following Latin patterns, there are some words that are not Latin but rather like French / Italian. Conjugation patterns tend to follow Latin cases, except for 1st person singular, where the tense tends to be like French and Romanian verbs.

The Etruscans separated words and phrases by means of single or double dots ; i.e., a period and a colon. We respected those punctuation marks from the beginning, as we compiled the words that make up the Etruscan vocabulary. The definition and case / tense of a word has to be consistent wherever it is used in all of the texts, and while words may have several meanings, as in Latin or any other language, we have attempted to be conservative applying the same meaning across the texts where a word is used.

It is hoped that this work, Etruscan Phrases, will take the discussion on the Etruscan civilization from the darkness of mystery to a measurable landscape, of the Etruscan people describing their own times, hopes, dreams, regents and history. We trust that other scientists will agree and embrace the prospect of rewriting history using factual data based upon a true understanding of the Etruscan writings, to free us from the obtuse speculations of the past. There is a great opportunity, as it was when Jean-François Champollion gave us the ability to read the writings of the Egyptian monuments, their histories and their Book of the Dead.

In a manner of speaking the Zagreb Mummy is of the same nature, as it is what could be called the Etruscan Book of the Dead.

This document includes like phrases and words from other major texts, such as the Tavola Cortonensis, Tavola Eugubine, Perugia Cippus, etc. Tavola Novilara, the Pyrgi Gold tablets, and miscellaneous short inscriptions on pottery.

Map languages Anatolia,North Syria and Upper Mesopotamia 1700 BC.

by Joost Blasweiler

Explanation of the languages of Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia and North Syria around 1700 BC after the destruction of the karum and city of Kanesh. With gegographic and historical information.
Comments are welcome !

Comparison of the NAA Data for Six Mycenaean-style Samples from Kilise Tepe with Chemical Reference Groups from Mainland Greece, Crete, Cyprus and the Levant

by Jonathan Tomlinson

J. E. Tomlinson. 2007. “Comparison of the NAA Data for Six Mycenaean-style Samples from Kilise Tepe with Chemical Reference Groups from Mainland Greece, Crete, Cyprus and the Levant”. In Excavations at Kilise Tepe 1994-1998. From Bronze Age to Byzantine in Western Cilicia, McDonald Institute & BIAA 30, J. N. Postgate and D. Thomas eds., 377-378.

Philoppapos aus Selinus/Kilikien

by Elke Krengel

publiziert in: "Die Numismatische Gesellschaft zu Berlin, Festschrift zum 150-jährigen Bestehen, Berlin 1993, S. 69-73."

2011 “Assyrians and Urartians.” In S. R. Steadman & G. McMahon (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia (Oxford 2011) 734-751.

by Karen Radner

These are the uncorrected proofs which, apart from some small corrections, correspond to the published version. Note, however, that the publication date for all contributions to the conference volume Biainili-Urartu = Acta Iranica 51 must be corrected to 2011 (instead of 2010). And it's of course Mirjo Salvini (not Mario).

The early second millennium ceramic assemblage from Kenan Tepe, southeastern Turkey. A preliminary assessment

by Lynn Dodd

Published in Anatolian Studies

In the initial survey of the upper Tigris river valley the authors of the survey report concluded that 'either this... more In the initial survey of the upper Tigris river valley the authors of the survey report concluded that 'either this portion of the Tigris basin was bypassed entirely by Middle Bronze Age development attested to elsewhere or, more likely, it is characterised by a thus far unreported and unrecognised assemblage' (Algaze et al. 1991: 183). Recent research by members of the Upper Tigris Archaeological Research Project (UTARP) at the site of Kenan Tepe confirms the latter hypothesis, that the early second millennium in this area is marked by a regionally distinct material culture assemblage that is influenced by ceramic traditions in upper Mesopotamia and other material culture traditions in Anatolia. This article outlines our initial assessment of these data including an analysis of the ceramic corpus, architecture, archaeobotany, small finds and carbon-14, and places these data in a regional context. We conclude by speculating that the inhabitants of Kenan Tepe may have participated in interaction spheres that linked the upper Tigris river region to greater Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

Dicle Nehri yukarı vadisi yüzey araştırması çalışmalarının ön raporunda yazarlar şu ortak sonuca varmışlardır: 'Dicle havzasının bu bölümüne ya Orta Bronz Çaǧ sırasında diǧer bölgelerde yaşanan gelişmeler hiç uǧramadan geçti ya da, daha büyük olasılıkla, henüz rapor edilmeyen ve tanımlanmayan farklı bir karakterde oluştu' (Algaze et al. 1991: 183). Yukarı Dicle Arkeolojik Araştırma Projesi (UTARP) üyeleri tarafından son zamanlarda Kenan Tepe'de yapılan araştırmalar ikinci hipotezi onaylamakta, yani ikinci binyıl başlarında bu bölgeye özgü farklı ve kısmen Yukarı Mezopotamya'daki seramik geleneklerinden ve Anadolu'daki diǧer materyal kültür geleneklerinden etkilenen farklı bir kültür oluşumu yaşandıǧını göstermektedir. Bu makale söz konusu verilerin ilk deǧerlendirmesine ait bir ön çalışma olup, seramik koleksiyonları, mimari, arkeobotani, küçük buluntular ve karbon 14 analizlerini de içermekte ve bu verileri bölgesel baǧlamda yerlerine oturtmaktadır. Sonuç olarak tahminimiz, Yukarı Dicle bölgesindeki Kenan Tepe halkının Mezopotamya ve Anadolu arasındaki bölgesel etkileşimler içinde yerlerini almış olabilecekleridir.

Strategies for Future Success: Remembering the Hittites during the Iron Age

by Lynn Dodd

Published in Anatolian Studies

The Maraş and Sakçagözü valley surveys on the east side of the Amanus mountains provide new data regarding patterns of... more The Maraş and Sakçagözü valley surveys on the east side of the Amanus mountains provide new data regarding patterns of Hittite territorial management and administration. Sites dating to the Late Bronze Age II period were identified by the presence of burnished pottery, drab ware and, occasionally, by animal-shaped ceramic vessel fragments. The standardised drab ware pottery is emblematic of mass production and rigid control of labour sources and raw materials through systems designed to support the economic and political strategies of the Hittite court and to serve its interests. The settlement pattern is linked to Hittite regional needs for agricultural production, raw materials and territorial security. The distinct site location pattern indicates a strategic, restrained use of space by the Hittites. This left room for beneficial integrative features that local élites might emphasise for their own purposes, which comprise a foundation for the prestige later accorded to the Hittite legacy.

Amanos dağlarinin doğusunda uzanan Maraş ve Sakçagözü vadisinde yapilan yüzey araştirmalari, Hitit topraklarinin organizasyonu ve yönetim yapisina ilişkin yeni veriler edinmemize olanak sağlamiştir. Geç Bronz II dönemine tarihlenen yerleşmeler, perdahli kaplarin, bezemesiz mallarin ve arada bir bulunan hayvan biçimli kaplara ait parçalarin varliği ile belirlenmiştir. Standartlaşmiş bezemesiz mallar, Hitit sarayinin ekonomik ve politik stratejilerini desteklemek ve onun çikarlarina hizmet etmek üzere tasarlanmiş bir seri üretimin, siki bir iş gücü kaynaklari ve hammadde denetiminin göstergesidir. Yerleşim dokusu Hititlerin tarimsal üretim, hammade kaynaklari ve toprak güvenliği bakimindan bölgesel gereksinimleri ile bağlantilidir. Farkli bir yerleşim konumu Hititlerin statejik ve amaca yönelik bir seçim yaptiğini gösterir. Bu, yerli seçkin zümrenin kendi amaçlari için ön planda tutabilecekleri yararli, tamamlayici özelliklerin seçimine de olanak vermiştir. Bu Hititlerin daha sonraki ünlerine bir temel oluşturmuştur

Monuments and memory: Architecture and visual culture in ancient Anatolian history

by Ömür Harmansah

Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia (10,000–323 BCE)]. Edited by Sharon R. Steadman and Gregory McMahon. Oxford University Press 2011: 623-651.