Kaleköy (A 12-6) The rock inscription is located at the entrance to a rock-cut room above the village of Kaleköy, approximately 15 km northeast of the town of Mazgirt. The inscription is carved on two right-angled walls in the antechamber of a rock tomb, to the left of the entrance. It is in very poor … Read more
Karataş (A 9-10) This is the western of two rock inscriptions separated by roughly a hundred meters, located in the district known as Karataş, about 2 km east of the city center of Erciş on the northern shore of Lake Van. It was seen and copied by F. E. Schulz in 1827. It is carved … Read more
Zvartnots (A 12-8) In the late 19th century, the stele was found beneath the ruins of the northwest gate of the church of Surp Zvartnots. It is displayed outdoors in front of the museum at the medieval Armenian site of Zvartnots, a few kilometers east of Echmiadzin (now Vagharshapat) in Armenia. The stele is 2.70 … Read more
Hazine Piri Kapısı (A 2-5) The 4-line Urartian inscription is written on a door-shaped niche, locally known as Hazine Piri Gate, which is carved into an isolated rock outcrop near Elmalık (Zivistan), south of the city of Van. The niche is about 1.5 meters high, 1.2 meters wide, and 8 cm deep. The center of … Read more
Nashteban (A 11-5) The rock inscription is on the southern slopes of the Savelan (Sabalan) Mountains, near the now-abandoned village of Nashteban, located about 20 km northeast of the city of Sarab in Iran. The inscribed surface covers an area 64.5 cm high and 112 cm wide. It was carved in a deep niche, but … Read more
Ezhdaha Bulaqi (A 5-59) The rock niche with an inscription of Minua is located 18 km north of Uşnaviyeh, near the turnoff for Zeyveh on the road to Urmia, beyond the watershed and along the Qasemlu River. It is carved into a very jagged rock face flanking the road, set back about twenty meters from … Read more
Keşiş Göl and Gövelek (A 14-1) The tall stele was found in multiple pieces at different locations and times. The lower section was found in 1891 by W. Belck halfway up a ravine slope near the western shore of Keşiş Göl/Lake Keşiş (today Turna Göl), on the eastern side of Mt. Erek, about 30 km … Read more
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 … Read more
Kelishin (A 3-11) The Kelishin stele once stood in its original stone base at the Kelishin Pass in the northern Zagros Range, on the road between Ushnaviyeh (Ushnu) and Rowanduz, which marks the border between Iran and Iraq. “Kel-i-shin,” meaning “blue pillar,” refers to the bluish diorite stone. The stele has a height of 175 … Read more
Adilcevaz (A 12-4) Four inscribed blocks were found reused at various locations in Adilcevaz, on the northern shore of Lake Van. Two of these, a large one (C) and a small one (D), were seen by W. Belck in 1898 reused in the walls of the medieval fortress at Adilcevaz. These blocks were moved to … Read more
