Bor Steles
Bor Stele is also known as Warpalawa Stele after the king who is depicted on it. It was recorded for the first time in Bor but was said to be originally found in 1860 during the excavations for a house construction in Kemerhisar in Niğde. The stele was in two pieces and restored to one; however scholars believe the restoration to be incorrect as it has given too much space in between the two pieces. Suggested correct shape is shown in Hawkins' picture and drawing below, which puts the stele at about 2 meters in height. The stele shows King Warpalawa of Tuwana in prayer, similar to the scene in İvriz. Warpalawa’s name also appears in Bulgarmaden inscription. This stele is dated to the mid-8th century BCE.
The inscription (J. D. Hawkins): In 2012 another stele was found by farmer Abdullah Arı in farm field at Kayı Yolu location of the Bağdüz district of Bor. The basalt stele is about 2.35 meters in height and 1 meter in width. On the front side, it depicts a Storm-God holding grapes and long stems of wheat, similar to those in İvriz and Keşlik. The right side of the must have originally contained a long Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription of which only a small section of five lines have been preserved. The inscription must have suffered intentional damage as evidenced by chiseled grooves towards the back. The stele is on display at Niğde Museum. Click on pictures for a larger image.
| ||||
Bor/Warpalawa Stele
| ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Storm-god Stele
|
| ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Image sources:
Literature:
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 1, Berlin, 2000: 518–21 and plt. 296.
Mora, C. and S. Balatti. "Stelae from Tuwana," FsFales, 2012: 527–38.
Ünal, A. "Yeni bir Geç Hitit steli ve hiyeroglif yazıt," Aktüel Arkeoloji 45, Mayıs-Haziran 2015: 54–57.
(List of Abbreviations)
Bora Bilgin, 2006.
Ertuğrul Anıl, 2011.
J. David Hawkins, 2000.
Tayfun Bilgin, 2017.