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Orthostats from the West Wing of the Gatehouse

The basalt orthostat fragments belong to the west wing of the Gatehouse entrance at the top of the Great Staircase. The reliefs show a male deity, a ruler(?) and a four-winged being. The Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription (KARKAMIŠ A22c) around the ruler figure is highly damaged, and its content is unclear. They are dated to the second half of the 8th century BCE. The first two pieces shown below are in the British Museum, and the bottom half of the third piece is in the inventory of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum. The whereabouts of some of the fragments are unknown.


Trustees of the British Museum Trustees of the British Museum W. Orthmann, 1971 Suggested composition of the orthostat fragments J. D. Hawkins, 2000


Literature:
Gilibert, A. Syro-Hittite monumental art and the archaeology of performance, Berlin, 2011. (Carchemish 32–34)
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 1, Berlin, 2000: 164–65 ve levha 50–51. (KARKAMIŠ A22c+)
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 3, Berlin, 2024: 208. (KARKAMIŠ A22c+)
Orthmann, W. Untersuchungen zur späthethitischen Kunst, Bonn, 1971. (Karkemis Ba/3–5)


Image sources:
Trustees of the British Museum.
Winfried Orthmann, 1971.
J. David Hawkins, 2000.