Hittite Monuments - Tell Tayinat

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Tell Tayinat
Tell Tayinat (Tell Tainat) is located about 25km to the city of Antakya. The site is about 800 meters to the site of Tell Açana. The site's ancient name was probably Kunulua which was the capital of Neo-Hittite kingdom Patina/Unqi. Patina or Unqi were names used by Assyrians. The Hittite name is not known. Several orthostats and ornamated columnbases were found, which date to 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Some of the orthostats are from the later Assyrian period which are now in the Oriental Institute of Chicago. Many other findings are in Antakya Museum.
Several inscribed fragments of a colossol statue of a seated figure was found near the East Gate in 1936. It was probably similar to the one that was found at the King's Gate of Karkamış. Among the few readable words of this hieroglyphic Luwian inscription is the name Halparuntiya who is mentioned in Assyrian sources as Qalparunda in 857 and 853 BCE. If they are the same person, the statue should date to mid-9th century BCE. About 12 large and several small fragments that were found in different areas of the site has been put together to form parts of a rectangular block with 5-line hieroglyphic Luwian inscription running around the statue. There are many more fragmental as well as re-used pieces from Hittite era. Such a destruction may indicate that the monuments were destroyed in 738 BCE when the city was captured by the Assyrians.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Fragments of a Monumental Statue

Image sources:
Bora Bilgin, 2006.
Tayfun Bilgin, 2010.
Ertuğrul Anıl, 2010.
Oriental Institute of Chicago.
Ignace Jay Gelb. 1939. Hittite Hieroglyphic Monuments. (OIP, 45.) Chicago.
J.David Hawkins, Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. 2000.

Tell Tayinat Tell Tayinat (Tell Tainat) is located about 25km to the city of Antakya. The site is about 800 meters to the site of Tell Açana. The site's ancient name was probably Kunulua which was the capital of Neo-Hittite kingdom Patina/Unqi. Patina or Unqi were names used by Assyrians. The Hittite name is not known. Several orthostats and ornamated columnbases were found, which date to 9th and 8th centuries BCE. Some of the orthostats are from the later Assyrian period which are now in the Oriental Institute of Chicago. Many other findings are in Antakya Museum. Several inscribed fragments of a colossol statue of a seated figure was found near the East Gate in 1936. It was probably similar to the one that was found at the King's Gate of Karkamış. Among the few readable words of this hieroglyphic Luwian inscription is the name Halparuntiya who is mentioned in Assyrian sources as Qalparunda in 857 and 853 BCE. If they are the same person, the statue should date to mid-9th century BCE. About 12 large and several small fragments that were found in different areas of the site has been put together to form parts of a rectangular block with 5-line hieroglyphic Luwian inscription running around the statue. There are many more fragmental as well as re-used pieces from Hittite era. Such a destruction may indicate that the monuments were destroyed in 738 BCE when the city was captured by the Assyrians. Click on the picture for a larger image.


Fragments of a Monumental Statue