KAI 026
Inscription of Azitiwada from Karatepe (Cilicia)
Gibson 3:15
Metadata
- Collection
- Karatepe (Public)
- Keyword
-
- Inscription | Monumental
- Find Type
- Excavation
- Material
- Stone
- Updated by
- Cody Beasley, 2026-08-23
- Date (Composition)
- Gregorian -760 to -720
General Notes
The text survives in three exemplars, all discovered in 1946-1947 at Karatepe (eastern Turkey). The grammar and wording differ slightly between the portions of the exemplars that survive. Following Gibson 1988, a reading of the most complete exemplar is provided below (Gibson and KAI's "A" text), along with a portion of the second most complete exemplar (Gibson and KAI's "C"). Gibson reports that the most complete text (lines 1-62 below) "was apparently set up in one of the gates of the city and comprises three columns of text...distributed over four orthostats and the base of a fifth uninscribed one, ending with three lines...carved on the body of a stone lion" (1988, 41). The second most complete text (lines 63-96 below) was inscribed on a statue of Baal thought to have been at once a temple installation (Gibson 1988, 41). It should also be noted that the inscription survives as a bilingual, with a Luwian and Phoenician text.
Images
Textual Notes
Line 3: On the function and distribution of the infinitive as a narrative past tense, see Krahmalkov 2001, 209 ff; and Otero 2013. Line 35: On the use of infinitive followed by suffixes, see Krahmalkov 2001, 202. Here, the suffix is anaphoric, referring to the city. Line 40: Narrative tense function of the infinitive, despite the fact that a 1cs independent pronoun is missing. Line 44: It is difficult to know where the suffix of the infinitive is resumptive or anticipatory. Although it would be possible to read it as resumptive, co-referential with the substantives preceding the infinitive, Krahmalkov describes this form as a jussive/optative and notes that the pronoun is anticipatory and co-referential with the following subject (2001, 207). Line 48: On the use of the short imperfect as a jussive, see Krahmalkov 2001, 185ff. Line 90: Likely a misspelling of מלכ "king."
Moore, James D., Cody Beasley. 'KAI 026.' DEAPS. 19 Feb, 2026. https://deaps.osu.edu/text_objects/11466. Accessed: 25 Aug, 2026.