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The Decipherment of the Hittite Hieroglyphic Texts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

There are the same recognized rules for the decipherment of an unknown script as there are for that of an ordinary cipher, and if they can be followed the script can be deciphered with as much ease as the cipher. Sometimes they cannot be followed, sufficient materials being absent; in this case, all we can do is to wait patiently until the materials are forthcoming.

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Articles
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1922

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References

page 540 note 1 Khalbis, I believe, was the older form of Khêbê, Khubis, “ the queen of heaven ” and goddess of Aleppo, whose name occurs so frequently at Boghaz Keui. Khubis-na, “ the land of Khubis,” the Greek Kybia-tra, took its name from her. She must be the original of the Lydo-Phrygian Kybelê, one of whose names, according to Hesychius, was Κμβη, while another was κνββη, corresponding with the Khalbaba of Ordek-burnu. κứβεβις signified one of the eunuch-priests of the goddess, the κυβηκο being “ Korybantes ”, whence came κυβκη as a title of the deity. Κứβεβις is the Kombabos of Lucian's “ De Dea Syria ”, who was the eunuchpriest and chief architect of the goddess of Hierapolis or Membij, the later Carchemish. In the epic of Gilgames Kombabos appears as Khumbaba.

page 541 note 1 The name of the goddess is Khalmassuttum in the Boghaz Keui tablets, in which she is identified with Ilbaba (K.A.B. iv, No. 9, Obv. 17). In a Liverpool tablet (Annals of Archaeology, iii, 3, pi. xxviii, 7, 3) the name is spelt Khal-ma-su-tum. The form has been Semitized from Khalmas. The name of the goddess is ideographically written DUKH-SUM-SAR, “ fertility—destroyed—renew,” an appropriate title for the Earth-goddess. For the reading Ilbaba instead of ZA-MA-MA see Langdon, JRAS., October, 1920, p. 515. Ilba-ba = Khalma-s, Khal-was. In some passages of the hieroglyphic texts we have to read Khubis instead of Khalmis. Thus an unpublished inscription seems to make it clear that in C. All, a4, 6, the reading is KU-khu (rather than khal)-mis-k-is, i.e. khumis-kus, “ chief mason ” or “ architect ”. (It may be noted that Khalmi or Khalbi would appear as Akhlam in Assyrian, and that just as Tiglathpileser I states that the army of Carchemish consisted of “ Hittites and Kaskians ”, so Shalmaneser I states (Keilschrifttexte aus Assur, 16, p. 20) that the army of Khali-galbat consisted of “ Hittites and Akhlamê ”.)

page 541 note 2 We know from the way in which the name of Mer'ash is written in M. xxi, 2, that KUAN-gu(s)-is and KUAN-isi are intended to represent the Assyrian khas, gas; hence the name in the text must have been pronounced Nâkhas, or, rather, Nâghuwis. This must be the Nukhassi of the cuneiform texts, Anuqas probably in Egyptian, which lay between Melitene and Carchemish. The form of the word in cuneiform makes it probable that the first syllable should be transcribed nua rather than .

page 542 note 1 It was the hieroglyphic spelling in the Kirsh-oghlu inscription which originally led me to correct the false reading “ Patinâ ” for “ Khattinâ ” in the Assyrian texts, which up to that time had misled the Assyriologists. A re-examination of Mr. Anderson's squeeze of the Kara-burna inscription (M. xlvi) has cleared up completely the reading of the last line. It is D.P. mi-Ml-mi-a NUWI Tua-uan-a-na-i-yi UANA MISNA-.si-[i] Khat-tuna-is-mi atti-ś KAN(?)-wi a-na Mis-na-i | MISNA kuan-a-KUANA-na, “ for the people of the Tyanian king, son of the Sun-god of the land of the Hittites; I the prince havè erected to the lord Sun-god his (or this) sanctuary.”

page 543 note 1 The phonetic value of the ideograph for “ god ”, which is usually followed by the complement na and ni, is settled by the Emir Ghazi inscriptions B 4 and C 2, where in the duplicate passage it is replaced by the character uan. On a coin of Tarsus the word appears as Ana.

page 543 note 2 The interchange of m and w in Assyro-Babylonian was due to Asianic influence. The pot was more usually wi or bi than mi; when mi was intended, or some other character denoting mi was usually attached to it.

page 544 note 1 Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, i, 11, Rev. 29–32, where “ the AN-ZA-QAR and GIS-guśias in the city of Khatti ” are mentioned. The AN-ZA-QAR (“ god+stone+tie ”) was a pole or column of stone to which a sacred stone was attached, and the two cult-symbols are similarly associated together in the Carchemish texts (e.g. C. A6, 8 ; M. xi, 5). The first of them seems to have been a Sun-pillar (M. lii, 5).

page 545 note 1 The name of the god Aramme, Aramis in the hieroglyphs, is represented by the picture of a bunch of grapes.

page 545 note 2 An inscription from Assur translated by Ebeling shows that in Assyria also a similar belief prevailed. Offerings were placed before an image of “ The Mouth and Tongue ” of Istar, and the priest then implored it to intercede with the goddess (Ebeling, , Quellen zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion, ii, pp. 2, 47).Google Scholar

page 545 note 3 Or Yamuis. It is probably the Greek Imois.

page 547 note 1 Besides “ the 9 rivers ” we find also “ the 9 states ” and “ kings ” (M. xviii, B5, etc.), “ the 9 sanctuaries ” and “ the 9 gods ” (M. x, 3, 4). There were also the 9 sacred horses (yuami, M. xlviii, 2). In a Cappadocian tablet (Cuneiform Texts from Cappadocian Tablets in the British Museum, 113644, 4) mention is made of Khana-Narim, “ Khana of the River ” or “ Rivers ”. If it is “ Rivers ” it will be the name of a country, thus distinguished from Khani-galbat or Melitene; otherwise it would be the name of a city. Besides nis “ water ” tutis also meant “ river ”.

page 548 note 1 Cf. M. i, 3, D.P. a-(i)s-mi-i-us khul-i-nas, “ basins of green,” i.e. “ spring water ? ” In the Boghaz Keui tablets the Khulana is interpreted the “ Green ” river.

page 548 note 2 Nana-AMEL-is, “ The Man of Nana,” is the name of a son of the king of Carchemish in a Boghaz Keui text (K.A.B. iv, No. 4, Obv. 52, 58).

page 549 note 1 The head of the ass which was usually mias had also the value of anas, nas (cf. Greek ὔννος); hence it could be used for anas “ king ”.

page 550 note 1 Perhaps we should read akuana-nawis, since the word is sometimes written with a second na or nau (e.g. M. xxxiii, 2). In the Asianic languages l and n so frequently take the place one of the other that I am inclined to see in akuana-nawis the Old Phrygian akenano-lawos, “ High Priest.” The initial a is the Kaskian word a “ man ” (literally “ the speaker”); the ideograph akuana is a compound of the arm (ku), the numeral “ one ” (ua) and na- Just as ak(u)ana-nawis, also written ak(u)anana-nawis, is the Phrygian akenano-lawos, so the Hittite kuana-mia, “ consecrated place ” or “ temple ”, would be the Phrygian kene-man, “ consecrated place ” or “ tomb ”.

page 550 note 2 In a mutilated passage, Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, iv, 17, 17 seq., we read : “ … whatsoever matter below, at home, abroad (mamian kuinki sapal biran khatrâ) … any Hittite or Arzawan (Arzauwa) … now do thou these Kuśan people (kuies kûs D.P. Kuŝawanas).”

page 550 note 3 In Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, iv, 39, 56, the city of Mâsa is mentioned ; it was in the neighbourhood of Winawanda (Oinoandos), also written Winianda (Oiniandos), the later Epiphaneia, and Ussa or Issos (probably the Washash of the Egyptian texts).

page 552 note 1 The first of the three Lydian tribes whose names are recorded was entitled Mασδνς, which I should correct to Mασγνυς, “ that of the Sungod.” It would have been the royal clan.

page 552 note 2 The photograph reads : ID.-a(?)-mî yis-mi-a atus A-atus-A-atus GUA-ku-(ku)ana-D.A., “ ruler of this country, prince of the princes of Kuana.”

page 552 note 3 Cf. Vannic at-qanas, “ priest,” at-qana-we, “ consecrated,” at-qana-duni, “ he consecrated.”

page 553 note 1 Has the name of Perseus been derived from that of the Cilician city of Pursakhanda or Parsakhanda, which figures prominently in the legend of the invasion of Asia Minor by Sargon of Akkad, and appears again in the Boghaz Keui tablets ? Perseus, the founder of Tarsus, is merely a Hellenization of the name of Tarsus.

page 553 note 2 In the Aleppo inscription (M. iii, 3) Aleppo is called Ku-GUANA-mi- MIA (Kuana-mia), “ the Sanctuary-city” ; the Assyrian King Shalmaneser II similarly entitles it “ the city of Hadad ”. The inscription in question reads : “ This temple-court of my (sic) Sun-god Attys Ka-atus (Katys) king of the land of Tarkondemos … has built… being a Yanâtian of Hierapolis.”

page 553 note 3 Represented by the picture of the winged genius with the head of an eagle, which was a symbol of the Assyrian god En-Urta. It was pronounced Amuis or Amois.

page 554 note 1 Yaena stands in the same relation to Uana that the Hittite gaenas, “ priest,” stands to kuanis. The passage of u (w) into i (y) was a distinguishing feature of the Hittite languages.

page 554 note 2 The first syllable is represented by the ideograph of “ god ”, which interchanges as a phonetic with uan [wan, yin).

page 555 note 1 The photograph shows that the other place conquered by the king was MIA-mi-a Yi-uan-na-uan, “ The city of the Yuanians.” Are the Ionians meant ?

page 556 note 1 The character is that which represents ur in (A)mur-wis, “ Amorite.” Since ir or ar (found in the names Gamir and Markhasi) is a picture of a seal with its string, and in M. xxxii, 2, 3, forms the first element in the compound iry-ni-me (sic)-i-us, i.e. “ written stones ” (ni-meis), to which the determinatives of an inscribed tablet and a stone are attached, I conclude that it means “ to write ”. Cf. the Vannic armanida-d, “ written tablets.” The title ir-wis is frequently assumed by the writers of the inscriptions; e.g. in C. A5, al, we have : yi-a …,-wy Yi-mi-ian-na-is ir-wi-ś akuan-na-a-wi-is-wi D.P. Aram-a-[mia] amistus a-na-is Khal-kuan-uan-mia, “ This have I set up, Yimiannas, the writer; I am arch-priest, chief swordsman of Aram, king of the Cilicians.”

page 559 note 1 Or perhaps “ king of the gods ”.

page 559 note 2 At Kara-Dagh also the inscriptions of Khattu-kuanis record the construction of “ this sanctuary of the gods Tarkus, Attys, and the Serpent ” (AGU-ku); Ramsay and Bell, The Thousand and One Churches, p. 515.

page 559 note 3 See my paper on “ The Monuments of the Hittites ” in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vii, 2, p. 12. In M. Hi, 1, 2, 4, the character ‘Atu also interchanges with a-ti in the name of the country , written Yaeti in Assyrian (Black Obelisk, 90). In line 1 we have Ya-‘atuyu-a-si-ian-D.A., in line 2 Ya-ti-a-si-ian-D.A., in line 4 Ya-ti-[asian].

page 559 note 4 ’Aδαγυος was the name of “ a Hermaphrodite ” deity among the Phrygians, with which Thomopoulos (Pelasgika, p. 447) compares δαγς, “ an image of Aphroditê.” Ada-gyus would be the Kaskian ’Atu-gus, “ the oxhorn-pole of ’Atu,” which might be described as Hermaphrodite, since the guśiyas or pole was properly the symbol of the bull-god Hadad- Tarkus.

page 560 note 1 Kuaruwan above (p. 538) is a derivative from Queras. Similar formations in -uan, -ian from divine names are common on the Kaskian seals.

page 560 note 2 Or Sanda, since we are here in Cilician territory.

page 561 note 1 This is how we now know the lines should be read and translated.

page 561 note 2 The Boghaz Keui reading of MI-i-a-MI-i would, therefore, have been ZI-i-a-NZI-i.

page 562 note 1 So in C. A6, 5 : ki-i-is ky-i atta-na-a Khattu, “ I have given gifts to our father Khattu.” Cf. line 7 : ki-i-is ky-i ID. IX Mas-n-a-i, “ I have given gifts to the Sun-god of the 9 heavens.”

page 563 note 1 With the forefinger crooked inward it denoted “ conqueror”, “ possessor.” The two forms are clearly distinguished in C. A6, 2. The name of the Karaburna king (M. xlvi, 1) is Sianas, and he calls himself “ king of the land of Siana ”, Si-ana-s-mi-a nais. Sir W. Ramsay places Sanisênê to the. north of it, and the fortress itself is either the Byzantine fortress Sania-na or its earlier representative. Sianas calls it Kamissa, “ the fort,” which must be the Kμησος of Polybius (xxv, 4). The use of the hieroglyph of hand or arm by the Hittites influenced their use of the Sumerian Â, “ hand,” “ arm.” Thus, Â-DU (âttû) is used for attas, âttûs, “ lord,” Â-AS (addu) for SI+DU-is, “ general,” Â-SAL, Assyrian Sarkhattu, for Kharâu, “ an Amazon ” (Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi, i, 42; ii, 7–9).

page 563 note 2 It is noteworthy that the same oblique stroke ia found on the famous Disk of Phæstos;

page 565 note 1 Or galbe, kalbe, as it should more probably be read. Does this represent the Khalbi(s) of the Kaskian texts ?

page 565 note 2 Similarly, Parnassos on the Halys is the modern Parlasson.

page 565 note 3 In the Cappadocian tablets the name appears as Waskhania (e.g. Contenau, Tablettes cappadociennes du Louvre, 4, 8).

page 566 note 1 Or rather, perhaps, “ people,” since we find Markhas-kanis, “ of the people of Mer'ash,” and similar formations, as well as the form -kan-mi, “ in the land of the people of ” such and such a locality.

page 566 note 2 M. liii; xxxv, 3; xxxvi, 2.

page 567 note 1 Cf. Vaunic ies.

page 568 note 1 Possibly ti in M. vii, 1, 2, is the demonstrative rather than the locative suffix ((gu)-ka-s-mi i-us-i-ti, “ for this high-place ”).

page 568 note 2 The inscriptions attached to the series of figures in C. A7 will illustrate the use of the demonstrative and at the same time serve as a practical verification of my system of decipherment:— a. (1) yi-s-mia-a KA-kuan-n-i-s Yi-is-mi-a-na-i ID. -yis akuan-ni-i-(y)is a-mi-mi-a-ian yi-mî ki-i-is (2) ky-ian ti-mi-a-ian UAN-KA-ti sy(?)-mi AGU-a-ku-s-mi-MI akuan-na-s a-ś (3) ku-wi a-mis-s, (1) “ Here (is) the priest of this land, the supporter of the king, the arch-priest of the people : here (2) giving the gift, an altar in the temple-court I have erected as arch-priest of Agusimis. Now (3) I have done (it), being swordsman.” b. yi-mi-MIA-a I-my-yu-s Amis-tu-ś, “ Here is Imois the chief swordsman.” c. d. yi-[is-]a Kuan-i-Tarku-mi-Ml-ś yi-s-mi-a-MIA, “ This (is) Kani- Tarkamos.” “ Here (is) ” e, f. AMIS-s mî Tarku-ku-wi-s yis-mi-a Ku-ni-wi-s-mi-ś, “ the swordsman of the country Tarkois. Here (is) the attendant of Kuniwis.” g. yi-s-mia-a I-si-ku-wî-s-mi-s, “ Here (is) the attendant of Isikois.” h. yi-s-a Isi-ka-wy-s, “ This (is) Isikois.” i. yi-s-a Tarku-di-mi-û-s yi-is-s-a Is(i)-ka-wî-s-mi-s, “ This (is) Tarkondemos; this is the attendant of Isikois.” j. (1) yi-s-mi-a-MlA Na-û-is-i-ś kuan-ni-i-s Nanay-wy (2) yi-me-s DET.- isi-mî a-kuanis yi-me-i-ś ISI-MI-s, (1) “ Here (is) Nawisis the priest of Nana: I (am) supreme arch-priest of the land, I (am) supreme over the land.” Isi-kuwis is really a title signifying “ lifter-up of the standard ”.

page 569 note 1 I should now render this last passage, which reads: a-(a)nin agu-ti-is a-kuana-s nasmewi, “ the (sacred) stone I the priest of the inner shrine have set up.”

page 570 note 1 The Hittites were already established there in the time of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I (1110 B.C.); cf. his Annals, v, 49.

page 572 note 1 The list of Carchemish kings hitherto recoverable from the inscriptions is as follows : Yakhans (C. Al a), Khalbi-iyaki(?)me (M. x), Kanas (C. A2, 3, 11; M. ix, xi), Yimiannas (C. A5, al), Imois (C. A6, 7), and Agu-sis, the father of Kanas, who was Swordsman of Nukhassi and. lord of Melid (C. All, b1, A4, b7). Yimiannas could also be read Yiwiannas, and be compared with the Assyrian Yamanu, Yavanu, “ Ionian.” It must be remembered that the hieroglyphs were employed for more languages than one, and that consequently where the characters are used ideographically (and to a certain extent, at all events, phonetically) they would have different values in the different forms of speech. At Boghaz Keui, for example, they would not have the same pronunciation as at Mer'ash or Carchemish. That was certainly the case in Cilicia, where an Indo-European language, which we may call proto-Ionian or Yavanian, was spoken. On the seal (misnamed “ boss ”) of Tarkondemos the goat's head (is in Kaskian) is tarku, Greek τργος, and the temple (guana in Kaskian) is dimme, Greek δμος. So on the bilingual seal of Indi-limma in the Ashmolean Museum the hieroglyphic legend reads “ Life-stone (NA-ZI at Boghaz Keui) of Indilimma ”, the name of the deity being represented by a character not found elsewhere, while limma or livva is expressed by the stone which had the value of ani, ana, syllabically na, in Kaskian. As Tarkondemos is “ the temple of Tarkus ”, so Indi-livva is “ the stone of Inda ”, livva being the Greek λεω, “ to stone,” Doric λέυς “ stone,” usually identified with , which is, however, more probably a loan-word from Asia Minor.