Alacahöyük Phrygian Inscriptions

Alacahöyük, better known for the presence of the Hittites, is also a Phrygian settlement. The Old Phrygian inscriptions found in this area were engraved on block stones (P-01, P-02, P-04), a slab (P-03), a lion sculpture (P-05), and a rock-altar (P-06, see Kalehisar). Most of the inscriptions contains an Assyrian name Kanutî. All of them are tentatively dated to the Middle Phrygian period.

Inscription P-01
It is a single-line sinistroverse Old Phrygian inscription written on a large stone block that has been found in a house wall in Alacahöyük village during Hamilton’s journey in 1842. The fate of the stone is unknown. There is only a drawing of the inscription done by Hamilton.


[-?-]
← [-?-]e[..]u[.. ṭ]ovo iman [-?-]
[-?-]


Inscription P-02

It is a single-line sinistroverse Old Phrygian inscription inscribed on two consecutive sides of a granite stone block. It was found in a house wall in Alacahöyük. It is currently in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.


←   sest bug̣nos va-
←   sos kanutii?evanoṣ?

‘… of Vasos (the grandson) of Kanutî.’


Inscription P-03

It was found together with P-04 in a house wall in Alacahöyük in 1893 by E. Chantre. There is a three-line boustrophedon inscription on the carved face of the andesite slab. It is currently in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.


←   vasous iman mekas
→   ḳanutieivạịs
←   deṿọs ke meḳạs

‘Vasos Iman the great (the son) of Kanutî and the great god.’


Inscription P-04

It was found in 1893 together with P-03 in a house wall in Alacahöyük by E. Chantre. There are inscriptions on three faces of the stone. It is thought that they are independent from each other. Dated not after the 6th century BCE. It is currently in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.

P-04a is a 4-line boustrophedon writing, starting sinistroverse on the upperface of the stone:


A




otuvoi vetei etlnaie
ios ni ạḳenan egeseti
??irterḳọ[..]. tekmoṛ
ot.[….]seti vebru

P-04b is a one-line sinistroverse inscription on the front face of the stone:


B



ios er?v?ot?s?ati kakuioi

P-04c is a two-line sinistroverse inscription on the left side of the stone block:


C




iman olitovo
ẹdạẹ[s] mekas


Inscription P-05

The one-line dextroverse Old Phrygian inscription is discovered on an unfinished lion statue in Alacahöyük. Although the existence of the statue has been known since the 19th century, the horizontal inscription was first described by Arık in 1937. The statue is still in Alacahöyük at the garden of the Alacahöyük Museum. The inscription is highly weathered, and the right end of the inscribed surface has completely disappeared. Another lion statue found near this one is dated to the 8th or 7th century BCE, but the inscription may be later than the statue.


vasus kanutiẹ[‑‑‑]



References:
Arık, R. O. 1937. Les fouilles d’Alaca Höyük 1935, Ankara.
Brixhe, C. & M. Lejeune. 1984. Corpus des inscriptions paléo-phrygiennes, Paris.
Hamilton, W. 1842. Researchers in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia; with some account of their antiquities and geology, London.
Obrador-Cursach, B. 2018. Lexicon of the Phrygian Inscriptions, Thesis, Barcelona.

Image Sources:
R. O. Arık, 1937
Tayfun Bilgin, 2006
Bora Bilgin, 2022