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DOI Artikel:Sayce, A. H.: The decipherment of the hittite inscriptions
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12260#0027
THE DECIPHERMENT OF THE HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS
21
THE DECIPHERMENT OF THE HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS
' ' BY
A.-H. Sayce
In a récent nnmber of the Recueil (t. XIV, p. 43-53), I have endeavoured to
indicate the conclusions which the decipherer of the Hittite inscriptions raay draw, from
the new materials discovered by Mssrs. Ramsay, Hogarth and Headlam, and have at
the same time given a summary of my latest views in regard to the interprétation of the
Hittite texts. Since the article was printed I have, I believe, made some important steps
in advance in the decipherment of the inscriptions, thanks to the light thrown upon
them by the new materials. The blank wall which so long defied my efforts to pass
beyond it has at last been scaled, and I think I can now, not only describe the principles
upon which the graphie System of the Hittites was based, but also translate to a certain
extent the inscriptions of Hamath and Carchemish. The reader must judge from the
following pages whether my belief is justified.
The Ashmolean Muséum at Oxford has lately acquired what may be called a new
bilingual inscription. It is upon a small cylinder of luematite which was found inCilicia.
The cylinder is very beautifully engraved; indeed, from an artistic point of view, it is
one of the hnest objects of the sort I have ever seen. A maie figure, in the Hittite costume,
with a conical cap, and a long ribbon floating behind bis back, is represented upon it in
the act of worshipping a female deity, whose robe descends to lier feet and who wears
a rounded bat with a broad brim. Behind this are two horns, perhaps the horns of the
crescent moon. There are three lines of cuneiform characters which have Babylonian
forms, like those on the tablets of Tel el-Amarna, and read : " Indilimma, the son of
Serdainu, the worshipper of the goddess Iskhara. " Bcsidcs thèse three lines of cuneiform
there are four Hittite characters, consisting of a goat's head, a character which I cannot
identify with certainty, a sort of crux ansata, and a triangle. The two latter characters
are found on a seal from Cilicia, now in the Ashmolean Muséum, where I have tried to
show they must represent the name of a divinity (Journal of the Archœological Insti-
tute, 1889).
In the mythological tablets of Assyria and Babylonia, Iskhara is stated tobeaname
of the goddess Istar. The name, however, is not Assyro-Babylonian, nor does it seem to
be Sumerian. The cuneiform lexical tablets contain words from various languages, and
the mytliological tablets are particularly full of such foreign terms. Three years ago, in
the Zeitschvift fur Assyriologie (t. IV, p. 386), I pointed out one word of the kind
which I thought might be Hittite. This is Kharankal, which is interpreted a ' ' fortress ",
Assyrian birtu. Kliarankal is not Sumerian, but, on the other hand, it corresponds exactly
with the name of Harankal which, according to the Egyptian monuments, was that of a
great fortress in the Hittite district. In Kharankal, therefore, I proposed to see a Hittite
word, the Harankal of the Egyptian monuments, perhaps the place called Birtu by the
Assyrians, now Birejik on the Euphrates.
21
THE DECIPHERMENT OF THE HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS
' ' BY
A.-H. Sayce
In a récent nnmber of the Recueil (t. XIV, p. 43-53), I have endeavoured to
indicate the conclusions which the decipherer of the Hittite inscriptions raay draw, from
the new materials discovered by Mssrs. Ramsay, Hogarth and Headlam, and have at
the same time given a summary of my latest views in regard to the interprétation of the
Hittite texts. Since the article was printed I have, I believe, made some important steps
in advance in the decipherment of the inscriptions, thanks to the light thrown upon
them by the new materials. The blank wall which so long defied my efforts to pass
beyond it has at last been scaled, and I think I can now, not only describe the principles
upon which the graphie System of the Hittites was based, but also translate to a certain
extent the inscriptions of Hamath and Carchemish. The reader must judge from the
following pages whether my belief is justified.
The Ashmolean Muséum at Oxford has lately acquired what may be called a new
bilingual inscription. It is upon a small cylinder of luematite which was found inCilicia.
The cylinder is very beautifully engraved; indeed, from an artistic point of view, it is
one of the hnest objects of the sort I have ever seen. A maie figure, in the Hittite costume,
with a conical cap, and a long ribbon floating behind bis back, is represented upon it in
the act of worshipping a female deity, whose robe descends to lier feet and who wears
a rounded bat with a broad brim. Behind this are two horns, perhaps the horns of the
crescent moon. There are three lines of cuneiform characters which have Babylonian
forms, like those on the tablets of Tel el-Amarna, and read : " Indilimma, the son of
Serdainu, the worshipper of the goddess Iskhara. " Bcsidcs thèse three lines of cuneiform
there are four Hittite characters, consisting of a goat's head, a character which I cannot
identify with certainty, a sort of crux ansata, and a triangle. The two latter characters
are found on a seal from Cilicia, now in the Ashmolean Muséum, where I have tried to
show they must represent the name of a divinity (Journal of the Archœological Insti-
tute, 1889).
In the mythological tablets of Assyria and Babylonia, Iskhara is stated tobeaname
of the goddess Istar. The name, however, is not Assyro-Babylonian, nor does it seem to
be Sumerian. The cuneiform lexical tablets contain words from various languages, and
the mytliological tablets are particularly full of such foreign terms. Three years ago, in
the Zeitschvift fur Assyriologie (t. IV, p. 386), I pointed out one word of the kind
which I thought might be Hittite. This is Kharankal, which is interpreted a ' ' fortress ",
Assyrian birtu. Kliarankal is not Sumerian, but, on the other hand, it corresponds exactly
with the name of Harankal which, according to the Egyptian monuments, was that of a
great fortress in the Hittite district. In Kharankal, therefore, I proposed to see a Hittite
word, the Harankal of the Egyptian monuments, perhaps the place called Birtu by the
Assyrians, now Birejik on the Euphrates.