Avnik (A 9-39)
The fragmentary basalt stele was discovered in 1965, reused in the outer wall of a mosque in the village of Avnik (now Güzelhisar), about 60 km east of Erzurum. The six lines on the stele are the closing section of a text. In the blank space below the inscription, a cross in relief was carved in later ages to convert it into an Armenian gravestone. Based on another stele found in the region with an identical ending (see A 9-40 below), it has been suggested that the broken lines indicated a dedication to a god. The stele fragment measures 77 cm in height, 36 cm in width, and 24 cm in thickness and is in the Erzurum Museum.
Transliteration (Işık, 2021):
1 [dx x x x x?]
2 [NA4pu-lu-si-e]
3 [mdsar5-du-ri-i-še]
4 [mar-giš-ti-hi-ni-še]
5 [ul]-gu-⸢ši⸣-[ia-ni]
6 ⸢e⸣-di-ni ku-⸢gu⸣-[ni]
7 mdsar5-du-⸢ri-ni⸣
8 mar-giš-ti-e-hi
9 MAN DAN-NU a-lu-si
10 URUṭu-uš-pa URU
Translation (after Işık, 2021):
“[For the god … this stele Sarduri, the son of Argišti] ere[cted] for (his) life. (I am) Sarduri, the son of Argišti, mighty king, lord of Ṭušpa-City.”
References:
Işık, K. 2021. “A recently discovered Urartian stele dedicated to the god Ua from Avnik/Erzurum in East Turkey,” AJNES 15, 156–162.
Salvini, M. 2008–2018. Corpus dei Testi Urartei, v. 1 p. 452, v. 3 p. 290, v. 5 p. 281.
eCUT – Electronic Corpus of Urartian Texts (https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ecut/Q007084).
CTU A 9-39 = UKN II 426 = KUKN 246
Image Sources:
K. Işık, 2021
Jaba Labadze, 2024
Avnik (A 9-40?)
A basalt stele with a 10-line inscription was reportedly found around 2020 in a garden in the village of Alaca, about 55 km east of Erzurum. The inscription appears to be a duplicate of another found in the nearby village of Avnik (now Güzelhisar), about 6 km to the east. The stele measures 94 cm in height, 45 cm in width, and 26 cm in thickness.
Transliteration (Işık, 2021):
1 dú-a i-ni
2 NA4pu-lu-si-e
3 mdsar5-du-ri-i-še
4 mar-giš-ti-hi-ni-še
5 ul-⸢ú⸣-gu-ši-ia-ni
6 e-di-ni ku-gu-ni
7 mdsar5-du-ri-ni
8 mar-⸢giš⸣-ti-e-hi
9 MAN DAN-NU a-lu-si
10 URUṭu-[uš]-pa-e URU
Translation (Işık, 2021):
“For the god Ua this stele Sarduri, the son of Argišti erected for (his) life. (I am) Sarduri, the son of Argišti, mighty king, lord of Ṭušpa-City.”
References:
Işık, K. 2021. “A recently discovered Urartian stele dedicated to the god Ua from Avnik/Erzurum in East Turkey,” AJNES 15, 156–162.
Image Sources:
K. Işık, 2021