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How old was the Ankara Silver Bowl when its inscriptions were added?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

S.P.B. Durnford
S.P.B. Durnford
Affiliation:
c/oBritish Institute at Ankara
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Abstract

The artefact known as the Ankara Silver Bowl bears two short Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, each in a different ‘handwriting’. They tell us about the origin of the bowl in the year that Tudhaliya labarna conquered Tara/i-wa/i-zi/a. Unparalleled phrasing and tantalising historical allusions make dating and interpretation problematic. The conquest mentioned is widely held to be that of Taruisa in the Troad by the 14th-century bce Hittite king Tudhaliya I/II, but epigraphy points to a Karkamiš origin for the inscriptions and probably to a post-Empire date. Treating the text as contemporary with the conquest requires either that the bowl be classed as an exceptional Empire document or that a later Tudhaliya is intended. This paper offers a new approach. It accepts a late date, offers an amended translation and proposes that the narrative be viewed as literature alluding to the past and not as contemporary chronicle. The bowl's possible status as a relic prompts questions about the transmission of history, motives for alluding to the past and the words chosen for the purpose. An interpretation of sign *273 is ventured within a speculative scenario that encompasses the bowl's various oddities.

Özet

Ankara Gümüş Kasesi olarak bilinen eser, herbiri farklı ‘elyazısıyla’ yazılmış iki kısa Luvice resim yazısı taşır. Bu yazıtlar, Tudhaliya labarna'nın Tara/i-wa/i-zi/a'yı fethettiği yılda kasenin kökeni hakkında bilgi verir. Benzeri olmayan anlatım tarzı ve yanıltıcı tarıhı göndermeler, tarihlendirmeyi ve yorumlamayı sorunlu hale getirmektedir. M.Ö. 14. yy.'da Hitit kralı I. veya II. Tudhaliya'nın Troad bölgesindeki Taruisa'yı ele geçirmesinden genişçe bahseder fakat epigrafi, yazıtlar için Karkamış kökenine ve muhtemelen İmparatorluk sonrası bir tarihe işaret eder. Metnin bu fetihle aynı döneme ait olduğunu düşünmek için, ya kasenin sıradişı bir İmparatorluk belgesi olması ya da daha sonraki bir Tudhaliya'dan bahsedilmiş olması gerekmektedir. Bu makale yeni bir yaklaşim ortaya koymaktadır. Geç bir tarihi kabul etmekte, düzeltilmiş bir çeviri sunmakta ve hikayenin o döneme ait tarihsel bir kayit olarak deǧil de, geçmişten bahseden edebi bir eser olarak algılanması gerektiǧini öne sürmektedir. Eski eser olarak kasenin olası durumu, tarihin aktarılması konusunda bazı sorular akla getirmektedir, geçmişten bahseden motifler ve kelimeler bu amaç için seçilmiştir. Kasedeki çeşitli çelişkileri de içeren şüpheli bir senaryo dahilinde, *273 işaretinin yorumlanması riskli bir girişimdir.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 60 , December 2010 , pp. 51 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 2010

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