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Aksaray Stele

It is the bottom part of a stele with a relief of Storm God on the front face and the last 5 lines of a Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription on the back and the sides. The last line continues to the front of the stele forming a line below the god relief. In its current shape the stele is about 88x90x39 cm. It was found during the excavations for an office building construction in Aksaray in 1976. The inscription is a dedication by a king named Kiyakiya whose name is also mentioned in Topada monument. Kiyakiya is thought to be the same person known as Kiakki in Assyrian sources, who was deposed by Assyrian King Sargon II in 718 BCE. Thus the stele is dated to the end of the 8th century BCE. It is currently in the Aksaray Museum.


Click on the pictures for larger images.

View of the front side of the broken stele with only the legs of a male figure - photo by D. Morgan, 2008 Right side of the stele showing the edges of the lines of inscription - photo by Tayfun Bilgin, 2019 Right side of the stele showing the inscription in part - photo by Tayfun Bilgin, 2019 Back side of the stele showing the middle section of the lines of the inscription - photo by Tayfun Bilgin, 2019 Left side of the stele showing the edges of the inscription - photo by Tayfun Bilgin, 2019
Black and white photographs of the stele published by David Hawkins in 2000 A drawing of the inscription published by David Hawkins in 2000



Literature:
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 1, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2000: 475–78 and plt. 264.
Kalaç, M. "Ein Stelenbruchstück mit luwischen Hieroglyphen in Aksaray bei Niğde," Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 92, 1978: 117–25.

Image sources:
Tayfun Bilgin, 2019.
David Morgan, 2008.
J. David Hawkins, 2000.