Mergeh Karvan (A 10-4)
The four-sided stele fragment with a Urartian-Assyrian bilingual inscription was discovered in 1976 among the ruins of the medieval village of Mergeh Karvan, located about 7 km east of the Kelishin Pass on the Iraq-Iran border. It was subsequently transported to the Museum of Ancient Iran in Tehran. The stele is damaged on the obverse with a large hole from secondary use, and the inscribed surfaces are badly preserved. It measures 68/70 cm in height, 66/67 cm in width, and 26.5 cm in depth. The text is a near duplicate of two other steles of Rusa I: Movana (A 10-3) and Topzawa (A 10-5). The line arrangement of the preserved Assyrian text is identical to the other two, suggesting the complete stele was likely similar to the almost fully preserved Movana stele, with a height of about 2.73 m.
Transliteration (CTU V):
obverse
1ʹ [x x x]-bi MAN [x x] MAN? […]
2ʹ [x x x] dhal-di-e EN 1? ⸢UDU?⸣ [ŠUM-ṣi? x x]
3ʹ [x x x]-e?-ni-e [x]-ni-a x x […]
4ʹ [x x x] ni?/ir?/sa? […]
6ʹ [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ú? […]
1ʹʹ [x x x] du?/bi? x ⸢ru?⸣ [x x] ⸢šá⸣ x ⸢ŠUM⸣-ṣi […]
2ʹʹ [x x] x di? x [x x] a? [x]⸢MEŠ?⸣ a […]
right side
1ʹ [x x x] x [x x]
2ʹ [KURbi]-⸢a⸣-[i-ni-li]
3ʹ [nu-ul]-⸢du⸣-[ú-li]
4ʹ [KURlu-lu]-i-[ni-li]
5ʹ ⸢zi⸣-el-[du-bi]
6ʹ ⸢ar⸣-tú-me ⸢DINGIR⸣MEŠ-[še]
7ʹ [pi]-ṣu-[li?]
8ʹ [U4-ME]⸢MEŠ⸣ U4-ME⸢MEŠ⸣
9ʹ [SILIM pi]-ṣu-ši-[ni]
10ʹ [a-ti]-⸢bi iš⸣-[tú-x]
reverse
1ʹ [x x x x x x] x [x x] x [x] x [x]
2ʹ [x x ana] URUmu-ṣa-ṣir ú-bi-lu-⸢ú⸣-[ni]
3ʹ [x x x ina] ⸢ŠÀ⸣ URUe-a-ú-[x]
4ʹ [x x x] AN.NA ka-ap-pi UDU.⸢HI..A⸣MEŠ x […]
5ʹ [UDU.HI.AMEŠ] ina ŠÀ URUar-ṣí-qi(-)el [x]
6ʹ [x?] ⸢gab⸣-bu mru-sa-a LÚARAD šá dhal-[di-a]
7ʹ [ana d]⸢hal⸣-di-a [EN-šú] U4-ME il-tam-⸢mu⸣-[ú]
8ʹ [x ana]-⸢ku⸣ DÙG.GA [šá ana] ⸢UGU⸣-ia i-⸢re?⸣-[ú?]
9ʹ [x x x ki]-li-ú na!-ṣir e-⸢qú⸣-[ti]
10ʹ [x MAN]MEŠ LÚADMEŠ–ia ⸢mah⸣-ru-ti šá x [x]
11ʹ [x x] an-⸢ni⸣-[e ana] ⸢URU⸣mu-ṣa-ṣir la ⸢ú⸣-[x]
12ʹ [x? a]-⸢na⸣-ku [ina ŠÀ 1] ⸢KASKAL⸣ a-a ú-bi-⸢lu⸣-[ni]
13ʹ [x] ⸢gab⸣-bi MAN⸢MEŠ⸣ [ana URU]⸢mu⸣-ṣa-ṣir at-⸢ta⸣-[rad]
14ʹ [x x MAN] GIŠIG šá ⸢É⸣ [DINGIR]MEŠ ina IGI-ia ⸢e⸣-[dil]
15ʹ [ù? ana KURaš-šur] ZÁH dhal-di-a EN IGMEŠ–šú ⸢BAD⸣ [x]
16ʹ [x ina ŠÀ] ⸢DÙ⸣-šú EGIR m[ur]-⸢za⸣-na-⸢a⸣ su-[qu?-x]
17ʹ [x e-mu-qé] mur-za-na-a ana MÈ UGU-ia ⸢na⸣-[a-x]
18ʹ [ina qí-bi]-⸢it⸣ dhal-di-a ana-ku mru-[sa-a]
19ʹ [ana šá-de]-⸢e⸣ KURan-da-ru-tú a-ta-[la-ak]
left side
1ʹ [x x] x ši/me? [x x]
2ʹ [x x] x hu-[x x]
3ʹ [x x]x-ku[-x]
4ʹ [d]⸢hal⸣-⸢di⸣ [x x]
5ʹ ⸢d⸣IM ⸢d⸣[UTU]
6ʹ [x x] x DINGIR x [x]
7ʹ [x] x GAL [x]
8ʹ [NUMUN]-šú NUMUN.[NUMUN-šú]
9ʹ [lu]-⸢hal⸣-li-[qu]
10ʹ [x] x ana ⸢TI⸣ [x]
11ʹ [x] x hur–ba [x?]
12ʹ [ú-šá]-te-[ru]
Translation:
“(obv. 1ʹ) […] the king […] the king(?) […] for Haldi, the lord 1 sheep [is to be offered …] (3ʹ) untranslatable (1ʹʹ) […] … […] of(?) … is to be offered […] … […] … […]
(r. side 1ʹ) […] . […] (2ʹ) I enlarged the territory [of the Bi]a [lands], [I] restrict[ed] the [ene]my [land]. (5ʹb) The gods gave to me joyful [da]ys, innumerable (lit. ten thousands?) [favorable] days […]
(rev. 1ʹ) […] … […] (2ʹ) [that I?] brought [to] Muṣaṣir (3ʹ) [… in] the city Eau […] (4ʹ) [ . . . ] bowls of lid, sheep … […] (5ʹ) [ . . . ] in the city Arziqil … [ . . .] (6ʹ) [ . . . a]ll. I (am) Rusa, the servant of the god Hal[di]. (7ʹ) [who] listened [to the god Ha]ldi, [his lord]. (8ʹ) [ . ] As for me, I am I am good at [wat]ching(?) over. (9ʹ) [ . . ] . the guard of the ēqūtu-offering. (10ʹ) [ . the king]s my forefathers and predecessors, who [ . . ] (11ʹ) did not c[arry] these [gifts to] the city Muṣaṣir (12ʹ) [ . . . ] I carried (them) [in only one campai]gn (13ʹ) [more than] all the (previous) kings. I [wen]t [down to the city M]uṣaṣir (14ʹ) [but the king] clo[sed] the door of the house of [the gods] in front of me (15ʹ) [and] he fled [towards the land Aššur]. The god Haldi, the lord, [reopened] his doors [of the] ci[ty wall] (16ʹ) [inside of which I performed (rituals). Against Urzana I [ . . ], (17ʹ) Urzana lined up [his military forces] in battle against me. (18ʹ) [By the comm]and of the god Haldi I, Rusa, (19ʹ) we[nt to Mou]nt Andarutu.
(l. side 1ʹ) . . . (untranslatable)”
References:
Salvini, M. 1984. “La bilingue urarteo-assira di Rusa I,” in Tra lo Zagros e l’Urmia. Ricerche storiche ed archeologiche nell’Azerbaigian iraniano, P. E. Pecorella et al. (eds.), Roma, pp. 79–95.
Salvini, M. 2008–2018. Corpus dei Testi Urartei, v. 1 pp. 503–505, v. 3 pp. 311–315, v. 5 pp. 292–294.
eCUT – Electronic Corpus of Urartian Texts (https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ecut/Q007088).
Image Sources:
M. Salvini, 1984
M. Salvini, 2008