An Iron Age Rosetta Stone
In 1946, archaeologists Helmuth Theodor Bossert and Halet Çambel discovered a set of inscribed basalt slabs at Karatepe, the site of an 8th-century BCE fortress in southern Turkey. These stones, called orthostats, formed parts of two monumental gateways. They contained a lengthy text written in two different scripts: the familiar alphabetic Phoenician and the then-undeciphered Hieroglyphic Luwian. This discovery provided the tool that scholars needed to unlock the Luwian language, similar to the Rosetta Stone enabled the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The text, known as the Azatiwada Inscription, was originally composed in Phoenician and then translated into Luwian. The ability to compare a known script with the unknown one allowed linguists to systematically decode the Luwian symbols, confirming phonetic values and revealing the grammar of a long-dead Anatolian language. The fortress itself, called Azatiwataya by its builder, was destroyed by the Assyrians around 725-720 BCE, not long after its construction.
The Proclamation of a Neo-Hittite Ruler
The inscription is the autobiography of Azatiwada, a local ruler of the fortress city he founded and named for himself, Azatiwadaya. He presents himself as a subordinate of King Awariku of Adanawa, a Neo-Hittite kingdom that emerged after the fall of the Hittite Empire. The text is a work of res gestae, a recitation of the ruler's deeds. Azatiwada claims to have brought peace and prosperity, expanded the kingdom's borders west and east, and subdued rebellious factions for the "House of Mopsus," his king's dynasty. He states, "I expanded the Adanawa country, both westward and eastward, And during my reign, I made Adanawa city tastes prosperity and comfort." The text also includes dedications to the storm god Tarhunzas (called Baal in the Phoenician text) and contains detailed curses against any future ruler who would deface the inscription or his name. Anyone attempting to erase his legacy would face the wrath of the "Sky deity, Nature deity and Sun of the universe and generations of all deities." The text records the politics and culture of the small kingdoms that occupied Anatolia during the Iron Age.