Here we see King Sulumeli offering a libation to a God. The height is 86,2 cm. the material is basalt, it’s from Malatya’s Aslantepe (Lions’ Hill), tenth-nineth century BC.

Neo-Hittite sculpture in traditional style.
The Stormgod is represented twice: on the left, he is riding his war chariot; on the middle, he is accepting the king’s homage. In the right lower corner a servant is restraining a bull, probably to be sacrificed soon. Two inscriptions in hieroglyphic Luwian give some indications about the figures represented.

Comparison with other reliefs from the Lions Gate, more specifically in connection with the costume, the beard (or its absence) and the hair dress of the ‘king’, leads to the conclusion that this personage could be the Queen (named Tuwasta). If this is indeed a king, the figure is not Sulumeli (because that king has a beard on other reliefs). Unless there were more than one Sulumeli… Anatolian archeology is not simple.

Luwian is an ancient language or group of languages of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The two varieties of Luwian are named for the scripts that they were written in: Cuneiform Luwian (CLuwian) and Hieroglyphic Luwian (HLuwian). As to whether these were one language or two, there is no consensus. Luwian is closely related to Hittite.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen
Sources: Website of ‘hittitemonuments.com’ & Wikipedia (French version)