In recent years, several studies have focused on the interpretation and possible function of the so-called Hittite landscape monuments. For many of these monuments, a connection with the sphere of religion and cultic celebration has been suggested, especially taking into account the possible sanctity of their location, often connected to mountains, rocky outcrops, and water. The landscape monuments would in this sense represent a form of immaterial appropriation of the landscape by the Hittite king, the elites, or, in some cases, local rulers, and would play a specific role in the transmission of messages aimed at consolidating identity and/or spreading consensus. This contribution aims to provide further elements of discussion on the subject, and particularly on the use of landscape monuments as the scene of public events, through a (re)examination of some characteristics of the so-called sacred pool of Eflatunpınar, its possible connection with cult celebrations, and the identity of the ruler that sponsored its construction.
The main goal of the research work is to present a survey on the Anatolian hieroglyphic script between the middle of the 2nd millennium BC – when a series of symbols already known and used in Anatolia takes the form of a proper writing system – and the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC. The text corpus chosen as case study mainly consists of the monumental inscriptions dating to the Hittite Empire Period. These inscriptions and their main characteristics have been subsequently compared with some representative texts dating to the Neo-Hittite period. Concerning the methodological aspects of the research, instead of a philological and linguistic analysis of the corpus taken into consideration, it has been preferred an approach able to take into account the social practices connected with the use of the writing system. According to this methodological choice, special attention has been paid to the text carriers, the organization of the texts' layout, the role played by the authors and the scribes, the 'consumption' of the texts by the target audience, and the political and ideological character of the inscriptions. In addition, in the light of the fundamental nature of the Anatolian hieroglyphic system, the signs of which are both images and signs of writing, particular attention has also been paid to the link existing between 'writing' and 'visual' codes, and especially to the ambiguous relationship existing between the iconographic and textual elements of the inscriptions. ; L'objectif du travail de recherche est de présenter une analyse du système d'écriture hiéroglyphique anatolien entre la moitié du IIe millénaire av. J.-C. – quand des symboles graphiques déjà connus et employés en milieu anatolien commencent à s'organiser en système – et les premiers siècles du Ier millénaire av. J.-C. Le corpus pris en considération est constitué essentiellement par les inscriptions monumentales de la période hittite. Les caractéristiques principales de ces inscriptions ont été par la suite comparées avec un certain ...
The main goal of the research work is to present a survey on the Anatolian hieroglyphic script between the middle of the 2nd millennium BC – when a series of symbols already known and used in Anatolia takes the form of a proper writing system – and the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC. The text corpus chosen as case study mainly consists of the monumental inscriptions dating to the Hittite Empire Period. These inscriptions and their main characteristics have been subsequently compared with some representative texts dating to the Neo-Hittite period. Concerning the methodological aspects of the research, instead of a philological and linguistic analysis of the corpus taken into consideration, it has been preferred an approach able to take into account the social practices connected with the use of the writing system. According to this methodological choice, special attention has been paid to the text carriers, the organization of the texts' layout, the role played by the authors and the scribes, the 'consumption' of the texts by the target audience, and the political and ideological character of the inscriptions. In addition, in the light of the fundamental nature of the Anatolian hieroglyphic system, the signs of which are both images and signs of writing, particular attention has also been paid to the link existing between 'writing' and 'visual' codes, and especially to the ambiguous relationship existing between the iconographic and textual elements of the inscriptions. ; L'objectif du travail de recherche est de présenter une analyse du système d'écriture hiéroglyphique anatolien entre la moitié du IIe millénaire av. J.-C. – quand des symboles graphiques déjà connus et employés en milieu anatolien commencent à s'organiser en système – et les premiers siècles du Ier millénaire av. J.-C. Le corpus pris en considération est constitué essentiellement par les inscriptions monumentales de la période hittite. Les caractéristiques principales de ces inscriptions ont été par la suite comparées avec un certain nombre de textes de la période post-hittite. Au cours du travail de recherche, à une analyse proprement philologique et linguistique des textes qui constituent le corpus examiné, on a préféré une approche différente, capable de prendre en considération tous les aspects et les propriétés des hiéroglyphes anatoliens. Les pratiques sociales liées aux phénomènes d'écriture, le choix des supports, les pratiques de mise en page des textes, le rôle des rédacteurs, la perception des textes de la part des lecteurs et le caractère « politique » du corpus ont constitué le véritable cœur de la recherche. Un intérêt particulier a été également porté au rapport entre « code scriptural » et « code visuel », et notamment au fait que, dans le cas de l'écriture hiéroglyphique anatolienne – comme dans le cas de toute écriture hiéroglyphique – l'opposition figuratif vs textuel doit forcement être mis de côté en raison des principes mêmes du fonctionnement du système d'écriture.
The purpose of this paper is to update the study and analysis of the administration of Karkemish during the final phase of the Hittite kingdom. The first introductory part outlines previous contributions and results. The second part presents the updated lists of princes and officials belonging to the court of Karkemish. The third part attempts to place princes and officials in chronological order (according to the different periods of reigns). Lastly, the fourth part provides an in-depth prosopographic analysis regarding some important or interesting officials.
