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Prince Kamani. Detail from the relief ‘Regent Yariri presenting Kamani’.
From the ‘Royal Buttress of Yariri and Kamani’ in Carchemish/Karkamış (on the Euphrates River and on the Turkish-Syrian border, c. 25 km south of Birecik). Neo-Hittite, c. 8th century BC, Assyrian style.
Surrounding the figures: the accompanying text, written in Luwian hieroglyphs.
Luwian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They are typologically similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs, but do not derive graphically from that script. As in Egyptian, characters may be logographic or phonographic - that is, they may be used to represent words or sounds. The number of phonographic signs is limited; they are predominantly from the CV-type (consonant sound followed by a vowel sound). A large number of these are ambiguous as to whether the vowel is a or i. Words may be written logographically, phonetically, mixed (that is, a logogram with a phonetic complement), and may be preceded by a determinative. Unlike Egyptian hieroglyphs, the lines of Luwian hieroglyphs are written alternately left-to-right and right-to-left. This practice was called by the Greeks boustrophedon, meaning "as the ox turns" (as when plowing a field).
Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Sources: Website of ‘hittitemonuments.com’ & Wikipedia .
Copyright Dick Osseman. For use see my Profile.
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