The unpublished unique manuscript of the 14th century Persian work known as al-Walad al-Shafiq (‘The Compassionate Child’) held in the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul has hitherto never been studied in detail, although it is of considerable importance as a source for medieval Anatolia. This article assesses al-Walad al-Shafiq in the context of the Persian historiography of Anatolia and the historical milieu in which it was composed, arguing that the work is characterised by a sense of loyalty to the vanished Seljuk dynasty that ruled much of Anatolia from the late 11th to the early 14th century. I also examine such information as has survived about the life and background of its author, Qāḍῑ, Aḥmad of Niğde, and consider why the work was written and for whom.

Ancient literary sources indicate that Daskyleion was under the control of the Lydian kingdom from the late seventh century to the mid sixth century BC, before it was made a regional Achaemenid capital of the Persian empire. This literary evidence is supported by the archaeological data. Lydian painted pottery from Daskyleion includes examples of so-called early Fikellura, Ephesian, Ephesianising, bichrome, streaked and marbling wares. Study of this pottery and comparison with parallels from Sardis suggest that most of it was imported from Sardis between the last quarter of the seventh century and the fifth century. A little over 15% of the sixth and fifth century pottery seems to have been produced outside Sardis.

Of the Assyrian rock-reliefs in Turkey, only two long-known groups, those of the Cudi Dağ and Bırklin (“the Tigris Tunnel”) have been fully published. These groups are both accompanied by inscriptions and present no problems of dating. A further relief at Eğil has been known for some time but is somewhat inaccessible, to the extent that it is still unclear whether or not it is inscribed. It has been the subject of a recent study.

It is the purpose of the present article to make known some further Assyrian rock-reliefs, a single one from Cilicia, and a group from the Hatay. These reliefs were located by the author during surveys and travels, 1973–74. That these reliefs have remained undiscovered up to the present is a curious coincidence, and they may now take their place alongside those of the Cudi Dağ and Bırklin, as well as the rather few other reliefs discovered outside Assyria proper such as those of the Nahr el Kelb; we shall also see that they offer parallels to some of the native Assyrian reliefs such as those of the Maltai. In the absence of any identifying inscriptions the new reliefs present greater problems of dating.

As early as 1900, with the Körte brothers' excavation of Tumulus III at Gordion, Anatolian archaeology has been aware of the existence of a Phrygian linear animal style. In 1941, further examples of the same style were retrieved from the mound of Alaettin Tepe in Konya. Since 1950 and the beginning of the University of Pennsylvania's excavations at Gordion, the corpus of examples of this style has grown considerably. While important in itself as the only attested school of early Phrygian figure painting, the style also bespeaks importance in a larger sphere, for the evidence at hand strongly suggests that the forms were derivative, adopted by the Phrygians from the world of North Syrian art. As such, the style represents an important addition to the growing list of fields in which Phrygian indebtedness to the North Syrian sphere can be documented. The present study will use the evidence of Gordion as its focal point, since this city has yielded the greatest number of examples of Phrygian linear animals.

The region of Turkey whose Classical sites and monuments are discussed in this article lies wholly within the Western Taurus mountains, and consists of the eastern section of “the West Taurus Lake District”—as modern geographers now call it. The foothills of Taurus which extend around the south-western edge of the Konya Plain define both its northern and eastern limits; its western are established by the massive ranges which separate Lake Beyşehir from Lake Eğridir. Between these two mountainous regions, which join the main heights of Taurus further south, lies the rift valley occupied by Lake Beyşehir and the now partly-drained Lake Suğla.

Here is to be found the borderland of Pisidia and Lycaonia, as indicated by Strabo. To the north-west and north lies Phrygia Paroreius; to the south, the borderland of Pamphylia and Cilicia Tracheia; and to the south-east, Isauria.

The purpose of this short article is to draw attention to a number of features presented by these well known monuments near Beyşehir which are in need of further clarification, and to offer yet another suggestion about its original appearance.

During the last decade, a number of articles from the pen of Professors H. G. Güterbock, K. Bittel, R. Naumann and E. Laroche have been devoted to the sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar and it might be thought that there is little to add. That this is not so, I trust this article will show. These remarks are the result of three visits to these monuments in 1952, 1955 and 1957.

The Fasıllar statue (7·40 m. in height) lies in the Roman stadium of a classical site above the village of that name. Its rough condition suggests, as Güterbock has already pointed out, that it may have been unfinished and locally quarried, roughed out for transport and for some reason left there. The material is trachyte, which occurs locally. Güterbock comments on the lack of “Hittite” sherds at Fasıllar. One can go further; there is no site there earlier than the Classical one. The nearest Late Bronze Age sites are Karahisar, Evreği and Kızılviran Hüyüks. The latter site is the largest, but it is difficult to see why anyone should want to quarry a statue at Fasıllar, 50 km. away, if the statue was meant to be erected at this site, which is surrounded by trachyte rocks within a few kilometres.

The Inscribed Pillar of Xanthos is the most elaborate example of the Lycian pillar tombs. It is important for its reliefs preserved in London and Istanbul but particularly for the long historical inscription in Lycian which covers the south, east, and half of the north side of the pillar shaft. This is followed on the north side by a Greek epigram and a moderately long inscription on the remainder of the north and the whole west side in Lycian B or Milyan. The date of the pillar is generally placed around 400 B.C. This is based on the style of the reliefs of the upper burial chamber and on the analysis of the historical inscription.

The name of the author of the pillar appeared three times in the inscriptions – twice in the Lycian historical inscription (south side or a lines 1 and 29/30) and once in the Greek epigram (north side or c line 24, epigram line 5). Yet in the Lycian the name is missing entirely in both cases and in the Greek only the last two letters are preserved: [ … ]ις. The fact that he is called in the Lycian and Greek the son of Harpagos does not help identify him because this Harpagos is otherwise known only from two inscriptions, one still unpublished. Recently it has been argued by Laroche that the author of the inscription cannot be the formerly favoured Kherẽi (χerẽi) because the space for the name must have contained six letters. Bousquet has also shown that a plausible restoration of the name of the author of the inscription in the Greek epigram is [Gerg]is, the Greek equivalent of Kheriga (χeriga).

Modern scholarship has produced a large volume of literature on the Phrygian goddess Kybele. The image of the Great Mother-Goddess, both on European and on Anatolian soil, has long attracted scholarly attention. Besides works that have become classics (Graillot 1912; Vermaseren 1977), I will list just a few more recent studies (Naumann 1983; Borgeaud 1996; Işık 1999; Roller 1999). The representations of Kybele are gathered in the eight volume Corpus by M J Vermaseren (most valuable for the present study being volumes 1 and 2: Vermaseren 1982; 1987). Numerous articles are devoted to different aspects of Kybele's figure and cult. All contributions to the subject must take into consideration the recent exhaustive study on the Mother cult in Phrygia, Greece and Rome by L E Roller (1999). The present paper aims at offering another point of view on some disputable questions and at introducing new comparative material.

The material in this article was collected during a three-month stay in Trebizond (now Trabzon) in the summer of 1958, financed by the Henry L. Florence bursary awarded by the R.I.B.A., to whom I am most grateful not only for the bursary but for permission to publish the material collected.

My especial thanks are due to Mr. David Winfield, leader of the Russell Trust Expedition which is cleaning the wall-paintings in St. Sophia, Trebizond, for immense help and encouragement and for introductions both to churches and to officials; to the officials, especially the Director of Education and the Mufti, for their courtesy and assistance; to Bayan Aliye Aşurbay; and to the many tapeholders, both Turkish and British, who were pressed into service.

This text is one of a number of first millennium compilations that reflect a certain philosophical and religious outlook of those times. The compilers sought to find evidence of current theology in the physical universe, which, viewed dispassionately, had only little relevant to show. Whereas “primitive” man had observed the forces of nature and had worshipped them with anthropomorphic attributes, more sophisticated man imagined signs of divine ordering where certainly none exist. This text is based on birdcalls. The sounds were interpreted as Babylonian phrases of mythological content, and the bird in question was thus “the bird of” the deity to whom the phrase applied. Of course one does not know if in fact the connexion of god and bird preceded or followed the interpretation of the call, and the answer need not be the same in every case.

This paper adds a new interpretive layer to the already extremely well-investigated site of Demircihüyük, a small Early Bronze Age settlement at the northwestern fringes of the central Anatolian plateau. It presents a reassessment of the evidence for prehistoric mining in the region, as well as a new programme of chemical composition analysis integrated with an object functional and technological typology of the site's metal assemblages. The results reveal complex manufacturing techniques (such as bivalve mould casting, plating and lost wax) and the co-occurrence of several alloying types, including the earliest tin bronzes in the region. Object typology further indicates that the Demircihüyük community was at the intersection of two distinct metallurgical networks: one centred on the western Anatolian highlands, the other spanning the northern part of the central plateau. Additionally, several strands of evidence suggest that the beginning of interregional exchanges, linking central Anatolia to northern Levantine and Mesopotamian societies, may have started at an earlier date than the commonly assumed ca 3000–2800 BC.

After three seasons of survey it is perhaps appropriate to set out briefly the aims of the project, to describe the techniques that are being developed and to make some assessment of the goals that have been achieved so far. The project is officially sponsored by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and we would like to thank David French for his initial encouragement, constant help and sound advice. The research is undertaken with a permit issued by the Directorate of Monuments and Museums and we are particularly grateful to Prof. Dr Engin Özgen, the late Mr Osman Özbek, Mrs Emel Yağcı and Mr Levent Vardar for encouragement, help and advice. The work could not have been undertaken without the keen participation of representatives from the Directorate, Mr Kazım Mertek of Konya Museum (1993–94) and Mr Uğur Terzioğlu, of Samsun Museum (1995). In the province of Yozgat we have been greatly supported by the Vali, Mr Ertuğrul Ersoy, and by Mr Musa Özcan, Director of the Yozgat Museums. We were sorry to say goodbye to the Kaymakam of Sorgun, Mr F. Necmi Kurt who, after three years in office, has taken up a new post at Suluova. Although not an author of this report, we are deeply indebted to Scott Branting for his contribution to the 1995 season.

I. Scholars who attempted the decipherment of the Hittite hieroglyphics began their task with only slender hopes. They had, it is true, before their eyes the successes of their predecessors in solving the secrets both of the Egyptian hieroglyphics and of the Assyrian cuneiform scripts. But these successes had been made possible because in each case a ready key had, been at hand in the shape of a bilingual. Until six years ago no bilingual equal to the Rosetta stone or the Behistun texts had been found for Hittite hieroglyphics and, except for the doubtful help accorded by the inscriptions on a seal or two, to which we shall return, the decipherers had to rely upon their own unaided intuition. It is one thing to elucidate the meaning of an unknown language when it is written in an already known script, such as the Etruscan: or when it is a more or less known language written in a mysterious character, such as turned out to be the case with the Assyrian (for the decipherers were much aided by the discovery that it was a Semitic language akin to Hebrew). But when neither the script nor the language nor their authors are known, when it is known neither what the signs are likely to mean nor what sounds they represent nor who spoke them, the task is indeed a hard one. The degree of success which was achieved in spite of all is sufficiently remarkable to deserve a brief description, since it is a feat which it was always said would prove impossible.

The following inscription was found at Oenoanda, an antique city in north Lycia, by the late Alan S. Hall in 1974. The text (inv. no. YÇ 1014) is inscribed on the short face of a large grey limestone statue base, found lying on its left side at the northern margin of the Upper Agora (the “Esplanade”), directly before the outer edge of the portico of the north stoa (cf. Figs. 1 and 2). Its position suggests that it has fallen forward, with other bases beside it to the west, from its original situation on the pavement of the Upper Agora, immediately fronting the podium of the stoa. There was no evidence that it had been re-used, as originally thought by Hall. Its dimensions are h. 0·73 m.; w. 0·74 m. (slightly broken to the left); th. 1·50+ m. (buried behind). Since it is unmoulded and there are no foot-holes in the top, it is probable that top and bottom sections have become detached. The large base beside it to the west, measuring h. 1·25 m.; w. 2·10 m.; th. 0·60+ m., has two sets of foot-holes and a moulded top; a connection between this and our base is perhaps not unlikely—possibly they formed part of a family monument. On architectural grounds it has been argued that the north stoa was built in either the first century B.C. or the first century A.D. Since it is reasonable to suppose that the base, which we date to the 90s B.C. for reasons that will become clear shortly, was erected after its construction, the stoa should probably be dated no later than second century B.C.

Three years after taking office as Director of our Institute Seton Lloyd was collaborating with the late Nuri Gökce, Director of the Archaeological Museum at Ankara, in the excavation of sites in the plain of Harran. One week's work at Sultantepe–now generally accepted as the site of an Assyrian city named Huzirina–proved memorable for the discovery of a small library of cuneiform tablets and especially of one particular tablet which introduced to Assyriology an entirely new genre: the Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur. It is fifteen years since this entertaining text was first translated in the volume in honour of the Institute's founder and first Director. In the intervening years significant contributions have been made, especially by V. Julow of Debrecen, Hungary, and J. Faragó of Cluj, Rumania, to the study of the tale in its comparative aspects. Some of these publications may not be easily accessible, and as the authors have had the kindness to send offprints to the present writer, it may be of interest, not least to the excavator of the tablet, to show in greater detail, in a volume in his honour, how the tale compares with similar tales from various times and places.

Seventy-five votive reliefs have been identified from the survey of the Balboura city site and the west part of its territory. Several reliefs include inscriptions, yielding crucial information about their date and function in Greco-Roman northern Lycia; these are studied by N. P. Milner in the epigraphical appendix. This paper presents a catalogue of the reliefs, an analysis of the iconographic types and distribution outside the survey area, and an examination of their location and function. Prior to extensive survey of the Balboura area many of the reliefs were undiscovered and unpublished. This treatment of the votive reliefs aims to increase our knowledge of religious life and art at Balboura—first during its period of hellenisation (from c. 200 B.C.), and later as a small urban centre of the eastern Roman Empire. The majority of reliefs are rock-cut and remain in situ; the others are carved on slabs. The general condition of the reliefs is poor. Many are badly weathered, as well as being of a generally low artistic standard.

The mound of Kilise Tepe, formerly known as Maltepe, stands above the left bank of the Göksu near where the river leaves the Mut basin to plunge between cliffs down to the coast at Silifke about 45km to the southeast. It thus dominates one of the best-known routes from the Mediterranean to the central Anatolian plateau. Excavation at the site began in 1994, and confirmed the presence here of Late Bronze Age occupation, already deduced from collections of surface sherds by Mellaart and French, but also revealed Iron Age, Hellenistic and Byzantine layers. The present article addresses rather specifically the ceramic evidence for the end of the Bronze Age and subsequent Iron Age occupation, with particular emphasis on the chronological framework and certain wares in these levels not previously described.

Of the roughly 160 inscriptions currently held in the Archaeological Museum at Burdur, only a fraction has been published hitherto. The following articles have published monuments from the Museum:

1. G. E. Bean, “Sculptured and inscribed stones at Burdur”, Belleten 18 (1954) 469–88 (Turkish version: 489–510); inscribed stones: nos. 3–5, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17–22 (SEG 14.797–809), of which nos. 8, 13, 19–22 seem no longer to be located in the Museum or the adjacent garden (it should be mentioned that Bean wrote before the Museum was formally established).

2. Id., “Notes and inscriptions from Pisidia, I”, AS 9 (1959) 67–117; inscriptions from Burdur: nos. 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4–9, 21, 87 (SEG 19.734–42, 753, 819), of which nos. 4 (at the Lycée in 1959) and 6 (at Aşkış in 1959) have not been located.

3. Id., “Notes and inscriptions from Pisidia, II”, AS 10 (I960) 43–82, no. 135 (SEG 19.802). A photograph of this monument is included in the present article as Pl. XXXII (b); see further, pp. 126, 127, 131–32 below.

4. S. Mitchell, “Requisitioned transport in the Roman Empire: a new inscription from Pisidia”, JRS 66 (1976) 106–31 (AE [1976] 653; SEG 26.1392); redated to early under Tiberius by E. A. Judge, “The regional kanon for requisitioned transport”, in G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, I. A Review of the Greek Inscriptions and Papyri published in 1976 (North Ryde, 1981) 36–45 no. 9 (SEG 31.1286); the date accepted with further refinement by Mitchell in Chiron 16 (1986) 25–27 (SEG 36.1208).

L. A. Mayer's Islamic Architects and their Works, a provisional list of individuals associated with the erection of Muslim buildings, has justly become a standard handbook of Muslim architectural practice. However, this varied as much as in the West, from Byzantium through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. There are differences of basic vocabulary: the ustādh (master builder or master craftsman) of Seljuk Anatolia is unknown in the Maghrib; differences of status, suggested by the frequency of “signatures” in Seljuk Anatolia and their rarity in Mamlūk Syria and Egypt; or even differences of organization, particularly the Ottoman khāṣṣa mi‘mārlari, a corps of architect-engineers whose rôle in the 16th century has been briefly described by Şerafettin Turan but whose existence in Seljuk Anatolia is highly dubious. The present article is an attempt to use the Seljuk foundation inscriptions of Anatolia, which have not hitherto been exploited as a source, to illuminate Seljuk practice, despite the obvious difficulty of generalizing from the very inadequate evidence.

The survey of these two sites was resumed on 1 July 1987. The Cremna season, directed by Stephen Mitchell, ran until 25 July; from 27 July to 20 August the team worked at Sagalassus under Marc Waelkens. The other participants were Mustafa Büyükkolancı, Sarah Cormack, Christopher Lightfoot and Edwin Owens (archaeologists), William Hargrove and Claire Robinson (student assistants), Anthea Cudworth, Robin Fursdon, Duncan Mallace, and Mark Willy (surveyors), Greg Horsley (epigraphist), and Kirsty Norman (conservator). Our representative was Sabri Aydal of Antalya Museum, who also provided valuable and expert assistance to the surveyors. We are grateful, as in previous seasons, to many local people for help and support: to Selçuk Başer, Ali Harmankaya and the staff of the Burdur Museum; to the officers of the Emniyet Müdürlüǧü at Burdur and of the Jandarma at Bucak and Aǧlasun; to the villagers at Çamlık, and to Sabit Kaya, Kaymakam of Aǧlasun, who provided us with accommodation. The work was funded by the British Academy, the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, the Craven Committee of Oxford University, the Roman Society, and the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium). Above all we are grateful to the Director General of Antiquities and Museums in Turkey, Nurettin Yardımcı, and to his staff, especially to Nimet Berkok and Mustafa Karahan, for granting permission for the survey and for much other assistance.