A Hieroglyphic Hittite Inscription from Porsuk

Abstract

The inscription under consideration is at present on exhibition in Niğde archaeological museum, where it bears the inventory number 369. For permission to publish it, as well as for every assistance in taking a squeeze and photographs I am much indebted to Bay Kemal Germiyanoğlu, the curator. While working on this inscription in Niğde, and on the Babil stele in Adana published below, I received the necessary permission and support from the Turkish Department of Antiquities, for which I am very grateful. My work was made possible by a travel grant from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.The inscription is incised on a rectangular-faced block of white limestone approximately 130 cm. in length. The ends and the top of this block are only roughly smoothed, the top in fact sloping away towards the back. In this upper surface at either end a shallow groove is visible, such as would have held the metal clamps often used in antiquity to secure masonry. This would indicate that the block had formed part of a wall, with only the inscribed front face exposed.