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History => Ancient and Medieval History => Topic started by: Swampster on June 30, 2020, 08:59:21 AM

Title: Evidence of Midas's Conqueror?
Post by: Swampster on June 30, 2020, 08:59:21 AM
This was apparently first published in February but I don't recall it being mentioned here.
https://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-in-turkey-have-uncovered-a-mysterious-ancient-kingdom-lost-in-history

A Luwian inscription is thought to record a conquest of Phrygia. They have tied this to the Midas of the stories.

I don't think this is anything to do with the two ass's head hieroglyphs :) I know nothing of Luwian and thought it odd that the only natural looking hieroglyphs on the inscription are those heads. A quick look at an online book does mention this hieroglyph though - it either does mean a donkey or is the syllable ta-.

P.
Title: Re: Evidence of Midas's Conqueror?
Post by: Duncan Head on June 30, 2020, 09:45:48 AM
Intriguing, thanks. The U of Chicago's own version at https://news.uchicago.edu/story/oriental-institute-archaeologists-help-discover-lost-kingdom-ancient-turkey says that:

QuoteThe OI's linguistic analysis suggested the stele was composed in the late-eighth-century B.C., which lines up with the time that Midas ruled.

It also says an older stele "refers to a King Hartapu, but no one knew who he was—or what kingdom he ruled". The Wikipedia page referenced by the ScienceAlert article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartapu, refers to Hartapu of Tarhuntassa; but since it also suggests he was son to a 13th-century king, we may be dealing with two different Hartapi.