Kuttamuva stela is a basalt stela weighing about 350 kg, measures 1 meter by 60 centimeters and was found in the vicinity of Zanjirli (southern Turkey) in sector 5 during excavations in the northern lower region of the site. It was discovered by Virginia Rimmer and Benjamin Thomas, graduate students from the University of Chicago, in the third season of excavation of the Newbauer expedition, organized by the Institute of the East. A quality image of the stele can be found in the publication on the Daily Hebrew website. The stele was located in the kitchen, reconstructed in the tomb of Kuttamuva.
This stele was ordered for himself by Kuttamuva , who in the VIII century BC. e. was a tsarist official from Samal . Its master, King well known to historians for a number of ancient inscriptions from the same culture. The stele was made during the life of Kuttamuv and was established after his death.
The inscription says that official Kuttamuv was commemorated with a feast. The last lines describe the memorial rite next to the Kuttamuwa monument. The phrase ืืืืจื. ืื ืืฉื โand kill in front of my soulโ in lines 10โ11 suggests that the sheep should be stabbed before the stele for the funeral feast, and the shoulder of the sacrificial animal (a symbol of strength) should be placed in front of the stele for Kuttamuw - ืืืฉืื. ืื. ืฉืง โAnd He shall lay his shoulder,โ lines 12โ13. Special attention was drawn to the phrase ืื ืืฉื. ืื. ืื ืฆื. ืื โfor my soul, which is in this steleโ in line 5, on the basis of which it is concluded that Kuttamuvโs body was cremated, and his soul was believed to have passed into this stele. This is one of the oldest documents that speak of the soul as something separate from the body. Cremation is characteristic of Indo-European cultures and is usually not found among the Semites. Zanjirli's archaeological culture is important for studying the interaction of Indo-European and Semitic cultures in the Iron Age.
Transliteration and Translation
The translation of the text is preliminary and unofficial. The official publication of the translation and description of the artifact is planned by the end of 2009 . Dots indicate word separators.
| Page | Transliteration | Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| one | ืื ื. ืืชืื. ืขืื. ืคื ืื. ืื. ืงื ืช. ืื. ื ืฆื. ื | I, Kuttamuva, the servant of Panamuva, who made for himself a stele (this) at |
| 2 | ืืื. ืืฉืืช. ืืชื. ืืกืืจ. ืขืืื. ืืืืืช. ืก | my life. And I put her in the room of my eternity. And I dedicated |
| 3 | ืืจ. ืื . ืฉืืจ. ืืืื. ืงืจืคืื. ืืืื. ืื ื | this nature: the calf for Hadad of Kirpadalsky (?), and the ram for NG- |
| four | ื . ืฆืืจื . ืืืื. ืืฉืืฉ. ืืืื. ืืืื. ืืจืื . A. | D ลWRN. And a ram for Shamash. And a ram for Hadad Karminsky (?). |
| five | ืืืื. ืืืืื. ืืืื. ืื ืืฉื. ืื. ืื ืฆื. ืื . A. | And Aries for KBBW. And a ram for my soul, which is in this stele. |
| 6 | ืืขืช. ืื . ืื . ืื ื. ืื. A. | And now, (when) is one of my sons or |
| 7 | ืื ืื ื ืืฉ. ืืืื. ืื. A. | from the sons of someone, and he will be able to be |
| eight | ื ืกืืจ. ืื ื . ืืื ืืงื. ืื | in this room. And if you take from |
| 9 | ืืื. ืืจื. ืื ื . ืฉื. A. | the best (of) fruits of these sheep |
| ten | ืืืื . ืืืืื . ืืื | day after day and |
| eleven | ืจื. ืื ืืฉื. A. | years before my soul |
| 12 | ืืืฉืื | then (let) put |
| 13 | ืื. ืฉืง | for me shoulder (sacrifice). |
Language Analysis
The inscription contains 13 lines, 202 characters and 52 word separators. It is made by a variant of the Phoenician alphabet. The language of the stele belongs to one of the dialects of the Western Semitic languages, although Kuttamuva and the king of Panamuva bear the Luwian (Indo-European) names. The dialect cannot be called purely Samalian, because many. the number is transmitted by the letter Nun , as in Aramaic, but many other features of the text bring it closer to the Samali dialect. The definite article is not presented in any way. Dennis Pardi believes that this dialect is located somewhere between Samali and Old Aramaic . It is more archaic than Aramaic, but not as ancient as Samali. Pardi suggests that two related dialects coexisted nearby: one was used for the royal texts, which we find in the inscriptions of Tsar Panamuv, and the other was used by the lower class in society, and is represented by this stele. In later inscriptions, such as โBR RKBโ, the Old Aramaic language supplants the unique dialects that were prevalent before in the vicinity of Zanzhirli.
At the SBL presentation, Dennis Pardi noted some grammatical features of the text. This is the relative pronoun and ืื and the indicative pronoun ืื ื (spelling with two letters nun is not typical of such ancient texts). The meaning of the word ืกืืจ or ืกืื is not entirely clear. According to ืืกืืจ. ืขืืื suggest the translation "in the room of my eternity." In lines 3-5, the famous deities Hadad and Shamash are mentioned, but also a number of unknown names. Line 2 uses the word ืืชื - an indicator of wines. case with the pronoun 3 persons - โherโ, that is, the stela. Spelling ืืช is used in Zanzirli dialects and corresponds to the Phoenician version of ืืืช , Aramaic ืืช, Jewish ืืช.
In line 6, the phrase ืื appears . ืื . ืื ื "one of my sons." Here, the first time ืื denotes, apparently, an indefinite pronoun similar to Akkadian mannu , and the second ืื is already a general Semitic pretext โfrom, fromโ. A similar phrase is found in the inscription of King Panamuv on the colossal statue of the god Hadad.
One of the problems of reading the inscription is that the letters ื (dalet) and ืจ (dec) are difficult to distinguish, except in context. The letter ื has certain graphic features. In lines 7 and 8, word separators are sometimes missing.
Links
- The soul is in stone. Archaeologists have found an ancient monument to the soul .
- Ten of the most significant archaeological events of the year . Newspaper Vremya Novostei N ยฐ 242 December 29, 2008.
- Kuttamuwa Inscription Lines 6-13: Image, Text and Translation . The publication of preliminary data on the stele in English.
- Kuttamuwa Inscription Update: Pardee's transcription . Another publication about the stele in English.
- SBL: Kuttamuwa Stele from Zincirli . In English.
When compiling the article, the following editions were used:
- A Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions by rev. GA Cooke, MA Oxford at the Clarendon Press. 1903
- The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon. Published by Hendrickson Publishers. Tenth Printing - October 2006.
- O. M. Steinberg. Jewish and Chaldean etymological dictionary of Old Testament books. Vilna, 1878.