This paper presents and discusses four Latin tombstones relating to Italian residents of medieval Ephesus that have been recovered from properties on the terrace of Ayasuluk (Selçuk), near the Byzantine Church of St John the Evangelist. Two of them, dating from the late 14th century, were originally published in 1937, while the other two, from the mid- 15th century, came to light more recently in January 2017.

The ritual text published by H. Otten as K.U.B. XXXVI 89 + 88 is of great interest both for its linguistic and lexicographical difficulties and for the religious importance of the myth which it contains. This myth is concerned with the Weather-god of Nerik, and although the state of the tablet is too poor for a complete reconstruction to be made, the mutilated fragment that remains bears a striking resemblance to the well-known Telipinus-myth. It begins (obv. 12) with the withdrawal of the Weather-god in anger.

The treaty of a Hittite king, whose name is lost, with Ulmi-Tešub, king of Tarhuntassa (KBo. IV 10 + KUB XL 69 + 1548/u, CTH 106) is a complex and problematic document. Published as a hand-copy by Forrer in 1920, no modern edition of the text has yet appeared in print. It contains an unusually full description of the boundaries of Ulmi-Tešub's vassal kingdom, and in order to provide a sound basis for the reconstruction of Hittite political geography I contributed a translation of the boundary description and of most of the other clauses to John Garstang's book The Geography of the Hittite Empire in 1959. J. Lorenz, a student of Marburg University, prepared an edition in 1986 as a dissertation, but this has remained unpublished. The same is true of a similar edition prepared in 1989 for the University of Amsterdam by T. van den Hout, though this is understood to have gone to press. Dr. van den Hout, however, has published his views on this treaty in some detail in an article “A Chronology of the Tarhuntassa Treaties” in JCS 41 (1989), 100–14, where he introduces the text in his first sentence as “KBo 4 10 (CTH 106), the treaty between Tudhaliya IV and Ulmi-Tešub, king of Tarhuntassa”.

In 1957 the team from Pennsylvania University Museum excavating at Gordion in Phrygia entered the wooden burial chamber in the “Midas Mound”, the largest of the tumuli that dot the plain of the Sakarya. Inside they discovered the body of a man of 60–65 years, 1·59 m. (5′ 2½″) tall, lying on a bed, and surrounded by over 350 bronze vessels and ornaments, three iron stands, wooden furniture and a little pottery. Despite its traditional name, the excavator, Professor Rodney Young, doubted whether the tomb was indeed that of the most famous king of Phrygia, the Midas who according to Eusebius ruled from 738 to 696 B.C., which agrees with the Assyrian records: that king's reign ended with the destruction of his city by the invading Cimmerians. In some accounts the king committed suicide by drinking bull's blood, in others he was killed in the sack. Young believed that after this disaster the Phrygians could not have afforded so wealthy a burial nor so large a tumulus (it still measures some 53 m. high, and was originally 70 or 80 m. in height), and he preferred Midas' predecessor Gordios as the likely occupant of the tomb.

The article discusses the introduction of Ottoman legislation on antiquities and its implication for the Ephesus excavations of 1863–1874, led by John Turtle Wood on behalf of the British Museum. It is argued that instrumental in the termination of the archaeological works at the site was the Ottoman law on antiquities of 1874, which was about to be promulgated and the recurrent difficulties in obtaining renewal of a firman, necessary for any archaeological endeavours undertaken by foreigners. Attention is drawn to the close relationship between the rise of the Imperial Museum in Istanbul, the promulgation and implementation of the Ottoman legislation on antiquities and their effect on circumscribing the archaeological activities of foreign nations. Growing contemporary Ottoman interest in antiquities, reflecting an increased awareness of their role in the re-definition of the identity of the country, laying claim to participation in European culture, is briefly touched upon.

The ancient settlement of Sos Höyük, situated east of Erzurum, is providing a significant stratigraphic sequence of human occupation from the Late Chalcolithic to the Medieval period. This sequence includes the transition from the end of the Bronze Age into the first centuries of the Iron Age, a period which is surrounded by difficult but intriguing historical questions. At the mound of Sos Höyük evidence for this transition is starting to emerge from a relatively small operation on the northern slope, midway down the mound, in trenches M15 and L16.

The stratigraphic record at Sos Höyük together with a large range of radiocarbon readings taken from samples collected over four seasons of excavation indicate that the site was occupied throughout the late fourth/third millennium BC and intermittently in the second millennium. The earliest centuries of the second millennium BC are best defined by storage pits, wattle and daub dwellings and burials that conform generally to a tradition initially documented by Kuftin in his excavations of the Trialeti kurgan burials near Tbilisi, Georgia (Kuftin 1941; Miron, Orthmann 1995: 79–94).

The Urartian castle Ayanıs was built on a hill which stretches eventually to the water, 35km north of Van, near to a village called Aǧartı (old Ayanıs)and 250m inland from Lake Van. An inscription (Çilingiroǧlu, Salvini 1995) on the front of a monumental door that was unearthed at the southeast corner of the castle during the 1993 excavations proved that the castle was built by Rusa (Rusa II), son of Argišti, named as Rusahinili Eiduru-kai (‘Rusahinili in front of Eiduru mountain’). Our suggestion that Eiduru mountain can be equated with Süphan mountain (Çilingiroǧlu, Salvini 1995: 120) is strengthened with new information from the 16m-long inscription found on the façade of the Ayanıs temple. This inscription not only shows that Eiduru mountain gave the castle its name, but also that Eiduru was a god to whom sacrifices were made. We therefore need to add the god Eiduru to the list of Meher Kapı Gods.

The historiography of the later Roman Empire has emphasised the centripetal results of Christianisation, in which the new religion completed the earlier Hellenisation and destroyed independent languages, histories and notions of identity in Anatolia and much of Syria. However, the discourse of ethnic origins, drawn from Christian stories as well as the Classical past, allowed different kinds of cultural independence to survive this process on the edges of the Empire. While more famous cases are provided by the Armenians, Suryoye and Goths, here I examine an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at historical invention and cultural independence, that of the Isaurians from the end of the fifth century. I begin by discussing the stereotypes employed by a Roman élite to distinguish themselves from ‘barbarians’, both within and outside the empire, before examining the attempts of Isaurians to contest this in history and hagiography.

Short preliminary notices of the work at Çayboyu have appeared in recent issues of this journal and the METU series of preliminary reports (Diamant 1971, 1972; Diamant & Aksoy 1972, 1973). No further excavation has taken place since the initial two short seasons (1970–1). What follows is thus only a slightly more detailed summary of the material recovered up to this time.

The mound of Çayboyu lies about one kilometre east of Aşvan village, on the edge of a small wadi. It is barely visible on the northwest side as one approaches from the village, since the change in elevation is very gradual. However, on the southeastern side the wadi and subsidiary irrigation channels have eroded away what may be as much as half of the original mound, leaving an exposed cross-section of it about three metres high. One of the modern irrigation channels runs periodically just at the base of this scarp, from which pottery and obsidian artifacts have been collected.

Since the detailed study by Edith Porada of the cylinder seals and small objects from the celebrated treasure found in the temple of Mont at Tôd in Upper Egypt, questions concerning its origin and date still remain unanswered. Porada suggested that in addition to seals from Eastern Iran and possibly Afghanistan, a North Syrian origin for two of the cylinders seems a distinct possibility. Two other cylinder seals were carved in Mesopotamian style, one of them being datable to the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur. She also showed conclusively that there are no cylinders which can be dated later than 1800 B.C. (Middle Chronology) and that the latest cylinders belonged to the Isin-Larsa period. Her conclusions concerning the origin of the treasure and the importance of parallels for the amulets and other small objects with material from Mari and Ebla are entirely convincing. A recent study by Christine Lilyquist stresses the evidence for a date within the reign of Amenemhet II for the deposition of the treasure which was found in four metal boxes inscribed with the king's name. While in studies concerning the 153 silver vessels Cretan and Mycenaean prototypes have been cited, Anatolia has not received so much attention. Here it will be suggested that there is considerable recently published evidence from Anatolia and Syria which is relevant to the Tôd silver cups, and that a consideration of recently published textual material from Mari, Ebla, Rimah and Brak may also be useful.

During 1989 the Pisidian survey project continued for its fifth season at Sagalassos. The survey was directed in the first half of the season by Dr. S. Mitchell (University College of Swansea) and in the second half by Prof. M. Waelkens (Catholic University of Leuven and National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium). The team consisted of Prof. W. Viaene (geologist), Dr. M. Lodewijckx, R. Degeest, E. Scheltens, L. Vandeput, H. Bracke, A. De Daele, P. De Jonghe (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium), Dr. E. Owens (University College of Swansea), Dr. Chr. Lightfoot (The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara), Mr. R. Fursdon, R. Harrison and A. Young (topographers, University of Newcastle), and F. Richards (Sydney University). For 3 weeks we were joined by Selçuk Baser, director of the Museum of Burdur, who with M. Waelkens, directed a rescue excavation in the potters' quarter. Muhsin Endoǧru (Boǧazköy Museum) represented the Turkish Antiquities Department. The main financial support came from the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium), the Prime Ministry of the Flemish Community (Belgium), the Flemish Ministry of Education (Belgium), the British Academy and the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.

The extensive use of glass inlays on ivories and as separate inlays together with ivories, presumably on the same furniture, is one of the features characteristic of Western Asiatic ivories dating from the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. Their introduction marked a clear departure from second millennium B.C. traditions of ivory carving and their disappearance after the eighth century B.C. coincided with the end of the Golden Age of Western Asiatic ivory carving.

In this discussion I intend to call attention to some phenomena connected with the use of glass inlays on and together with ivories from the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. rather than presenting a full review of the subject — a project beyond the scope of the present study. It will be shown that the distinction between non-inlaid and inlaid groups of ivories in Phoenician style has a bearing on their attribution to different workshops and possibly also on their chronology.

The ruins at Yanıkhan form the remains of a Late Roman village in the interior of Rough Cilicia some 8 kilometres inland from the village of Limonlu on the road to Canbazlı (see Fig. 1). The site has not been frequently visited by scholars, and the first certain reference to its existence was made by the late Professor Michael Gough after his visit on 2 September 1959. Yanıkhan is now occupied only by the Yürüks who for years have wintered on the southern slopes of Sandal Dağ. The ancient settlement at Yanıkhan consisted of a village covering several acres. The remains are still extensive, and some, especially the North Basilica, are very well preserved, but there has been considerable disturbance in recent years as stone and rubble have been removed in order to create small arable clearings. The visible remains include many domestic buildings constructed both from polygonal masonry without mortar and from mortar and rubble with coursed smallstone facing. There are several underground cisterns and a range of olive presses. The countryside around the settlement has been terraced for agricultural purposes in antiquity, and is, like the settlement itself, densely covered with scrub oak and wild olive trees. The most impressive remains are those of the two basilical churches which are of little artistic pretension, but considerable architectural interest. The inscription which forms the substance of this article was found on the lintel block of the main west entrance of the South Basilica.

The publication of another article on the monastery complex at Alahan in Isauria so soon after the appearance of Professor P. Verzone's monograph and Professor G. Forsyth's paper on the same monument may seem premature, and to require some explanation. It can, however, be reasonably justified on the differing times and circumstances in which the various articles appeared.

In autumn 1955, I published “Some Recent Finds at Alahan (Koja Kalessi)”, an article based on two short visits which I had made to the monastery during 1952 and 1953. This paper coincided with the publication of the Turkish text of Professor Verzone's monograph, compiled after a stay at Alahan in the summer of the same year. Meanwhile, I had previously requested and obtained permission from the Turkish General Directorate of Museums and Antiquities to carry out limited soundings in the monastery complex, in particular in the building designated Chiesa n. 1 by Verzone. These soundings were, in fact, carried out in the interval between Verzone's visit and the publication of his monograph.

Anzaf lies approximately north-east of the modern town of Van, and rather less than ten miles from it by road; it is just off, and south-east of, the main road which leads from Van to Erçek and beyond in the direction of the modern frontier between Turkey and Iran and of the high mountains west of Khoi. Three published Urartian inscriptions, all of Menua, are described as having come from Anzaf; and there are, in the neighbourhood of the village, remains of two anciently walled places; one is on an eminence (from which Lake Erçek is visible) above, and close to, the village, which it conceals from the main road; the other is on the other side of the main road, about a mile distant from the village on the way to Van.

In the south-east Aegean, among the earliest finds reported to be Minoan were those of Italian excavators in the Dodecanese. A reference in 1928 to “numerosi avanzi di ceramica del tipo di Camares” in the Vathy cave on Kalymnos is typical (Maiuri, p. 114). Yet little imported Middle Minoan pottery has been published from the south-east Aegean. Many sherds described in preliminary reports as Kamares or MM (as were those at Vathy), when illustrated, have turned out not to be imports but local products. It today seems clear that around the time of the Shaft Graves, many pots with dark ground decoration copying Cretan designs were produced and distributed in this part of the Aegean. Largely on the basis of its decoration (believed in imitation of MM pottery), the discovery of such pottery in the south-east Aegean has been taken as evidence of contact with MBA Crete (Mee 1978: 134). I will argue here, however, that if the contexts in which it has been found are carefully examined, there is little evidence that this local dark ground pottery was produced prior to the beginning of the Late Minoan period; nor is there much unassailable stylistic evidence that it indeed was produced in imitation of MM styles. It becomes necessary to reconsider the evidence for contacts between Crete and the south-east Aegean in the MBA, and MBA settlement patterns in this area.

The question of the site of Derbe has for many years exercised the ingenuity of those who have studied the topography of ancient Lycaonia.

As long ago as 1824 Leake wrote that “of the cities, which the journey of St. Paul has made so interesting to us, the site of one only (Iconium) is yet certainly known. Perga, Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, and Derbe, remain to be discovered”.

Leake's own conjecture as to the site of Perga was confirmed within thirty years; Antioch was fixed beyond reasonable doubt by Arundell in 1833; and fifty-two years later Sterrett confirmed Leake's suggestion that Lystra lay at Hatunsaray.

The following dedication by the council and people of Derbe, found by the writer in 1956 at Kerti Hüyük, twenty-two kilometres north-north-east of Karaman, provides an answer to the last of Leake's problems and shows that his own location of Derbe at Maden Şehir, based though it was on the slenderest of evidence, was probably closer to the truth than any of those proposed by his successors in the field.

It is proposed that the name of the three Bronze Age characters called Sarpēdon(t)- in Greek tradition is a direct rendering of an Anatolian compound noun, approximately *sar-pēdan-, ‘(one having) top position’. Anatolian cognates of both sar-, ‘up, on’, and *pēdan-, ‘place’, are attested with appropriate figurative meanings. At face value this etymology provides a suitably aristocratic name, but two of the Sarpedons are known mainly as leaders of expeditions connected with Lycia, and being an expedition leader does not conflict with the very limited details reported of the third Sarpedon. The coincidence of name and role suggests that the Anatolian original might have really been a military rank or job description. The explicit connection with ‘Lycia’ in two instances, i.e., with some part of the Luwian-speaking Lukka Lands, makes some variety of Luwian a strong candidate as the source language. Attestation of the name in Iron Age Lycian is slight and inconclusive, but its native form appears to have persisted there into Roman times.

The funerary architecture of the Imperial period in south-west Anatolia has long been recognized as deserving of attention due to its variety, complexity, and the sheer number of extant tombs. Recently, a preliminary survey at the Pisidian site of Ariassos has revealed the presence of an extensive necropolis containing a large number of well-preserved tombs. One of the best-preserved and most interesting of these tombs is a large funerary monument, a mausoleum, on a tall podium. An analysis of the mausoleum's type, and its probable antecedents, enables us to reconstruct the architectural climate of this provincial city during the Roman Imperial period.

The site of Ariassos, in Pisidia, is located approximately 3 km. south-west of the village of Bademaǧacı, 50 km. north of Antalya, and is today clearly signposted off the main road. The identification of the site has been known since the late nineteenth century, when Ariassos was visited in around 1885 by an Austrian team, under the guidance of K. Lanckoronski; however, the ruins were identified as those of the city of Cretopolis. Using inscriptional evidence, a French epigraphic expedition to Asia Minor correctly identified the site in a publication of 1892.

A mon vieil ami, le Professeur J. Garstang, en souvenir de nos visites archéologiques aux sites bibliques de jadis.—E. Dhorme.

Si J'associe ces deux dieux dans une même étude, c'est non seulement parce qu'ils représentent l'un et l'autre une conception similaire de la divinité dans les anciennes religions sémitiques, mais aussi parce qu'ils ont subi, l'un et l'autre, un même traitement de faveur, ou plutôt de défaveur, dans la transmission du texte massorétique appuyée par le grec des Septante. En revanche, si la personnalité du Baal n'a fait que s'agrandir en se précisant, grâce surtout aux découvertes de Ras Shamra, l'ancienne Ugarit, celle du Moloch a été l'objet de contestations énergiques depuis une vingtaine d'années, au point qu'une brochure, parue en 1935, annonçait dans son titre “la fin du dieu Moloch”. Nous allons donc examiner les faits qui, selon nous, exigent la présence de Moloch à côté de Baal dans le plus ancien panthéon sémitique attesté par la Bible.