New Urartian Inscriptions from Malazgirt, East Turkey, and the Localization of the City of Mezaiani.

• Author: Isik, Kenan

INTRODUCTION

The district of Malazgirt in the province of Mus. in eastern Turkey is located on the west bank of the Murat River where it turns to the west--a strategic point on Urartu's western campaign route. This route starts at the capital Tuspa (Fortress of Van) on the eastern shore of Lake Van, passes through the plains of Muradiye, Ercis, and Patnos to the north of the lake, reaching first Malazgirt and then following the Murat River until it reaches the westernmost region of the kingdom around Elazig-Malatya. Numerous major Urartian sites and inscriptions are located along this route (Cavusoglu et al. 2010: 36-37) (Fig. 1).

Inscriptions of the Urartian king Minua (810-785/80 be) were discovered in and around Malazgirt already in the late nineteenth century. The first of these is a building block inscribed on both faces found near the medieval fortress of Malazgirt. According to this inscription, Minua built a temple (Urartian susi) and a fortress (E.GAL) here (CTU I A 5-51). The second text is a rock inscription from the vicinity of Adalar (or Ada), near a strong spring in the south of the district (CTU I A 5-20) (Figs. 1, 2). The inscription reports the construction of an irrigation canal fed by the spring and states that Minua named it after himself (Minuai pili). A further inscription that mentions the same canal and the cities to which it brought water was found twenty-five kilometers west of Malazgirt in Kotanh (CTU I A 5-21). Finally, a stele fragment also belonging to Minua was recognized in the Surp Sarkis Church in the city center of Malazgirt (CTU I A 5-96). In recent years, three additional Urartian stele pieces of various sizes have been found in and around the town center of Malazgirt. (1)

Authors' note: A version of this paper was given at the Annual Meeting of ASOR in 2021 in the Biblical Texts in Cultural Context program unit. We are grateful to the conference attendees who offered suggestions, to Jeremy Smoak for his generous feedback on early drafts of the essay, and to Angela Roskop Erisman who graciously shared her research with us. The usual caveat applies: We are responsible for any errors within.

LETER STELE FRAGMENT

As in the Adalar and Kotanh inscriptions, the subject of the first of these texts is Minua's construction of an irrigation canal. This inscription was carved on the upper portion of a large basalt stele, which before its recovery had been carefully cut in the middle. The lower portion, which probably included the foot, is missing. This fragment was found in the village of Leter (official name Elmakaya), thirteen kilometers southwest of Malazgirt (Fig. 1). According to the villager in whose yard the stele was identified, it was originally uncovered in Malazgirt. The careful division of the stele--as with many recovered Urartian stelae--and the round depression carved on it show that it was probably transported in the medieval period. The extant fragment is 91 cm high, 62 cm wide, and 34 cm thick. Twelve lines of cuneiform text with five-centimeter spacing between them have been preserved on the obverse (Fig. 3).

Transcription

1. [.sup.D]hal-di-i-ni-ni

2. us-ma-a-si-i-ni

3. [.sup.m]mi-i-nu-u-a-se

4. [.sup.m]is-pu-u-i-ni-hi-ni-se

5. a-li-e pi-i-li-e

6. [.sup.URU]me-e-za-i-a-ni

7. a-gu-bi [.sup.m]mi-nu-a-i

8. pi-i-li ti-i-ni

9. [.sup.URU]u-qu-'a-a-ni

10. a-da-ni 'a-la-du-ni

11. [.sup.URU]zu-gu-hi-e

12. [.sup.URU]ir-nu-u-ni-e

    The text duplicates the Kotanh stele fragment. According to the latter, the missing final line would have been:

13. [.sup.URU]a-ba-si-i-ni

    Translation

    (1-2)Thanks to the protection of the god Haldi,(3-4)Minua son of Ispuini, (5-8)says: I dug a canal from the city Mezaiani--"Canal of Minua" is (its) name. (9-13) I directed (the canal) from the right of the city of Uqu'a towards the cities of Zuguhi, Irnuni, Abasini... The text of this fragment enables us to restore the Kotanh text, some of whose signs are damaged and illegible. The real contribution...