Bahçeköy Stele

This Neo-Hittite period stele has a four-line Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription on all four sides of it. It was first reported in 1901 and found on a hill overlooking Kızılırmak, west of the Bohça (now known as Bozca or Bahçeköy) village about 15 km west of Avanos in Nevşehir province. The stele was erected by a ruler named Kurti. In the inscription, he gives his respects to the deities Tarhunza (Storm-God) and Runtiya (Stag-God). The stele might be a claim to hunting rights over the land. At the end of the inscription he says "in this place, I took 100 gazelles..." It is suggested that Kurti might be the same person as Kurti known from the Assyrian records of Sargon II. In those records, Sargon reports deposing the King Kiakki (see Aksaray, Topada) of Shinihtu and giving that land to Kurti of Atuna. If the identification is correct, the stele can be dated to the end of the 8th century BCE. It is currently in the Kayseri Museum.


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