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Graffito on Sphinx

The small 5-character-long inscription on a fragment of the west wing sphinx of the inner doorway of the Sphinx Gate is classified as graffito. It can be read as "Niya, king's charioteer (and) scribe." The fragment is in the inventory of the Boğazkale Museum but remains unattached to the sphinx.


Left (west) side lion in Istanbul Museum (now in Boğazkale) - B. Bilgin, 2006 Inscribed sphinx fragment - J. D. Hawkins, 2024 (photo: A. Schachner) BOĞAZKÖY 4 - M. Alparslan, 2013


Literature:
Alparslan, M. "Ein hieroglyphen-luwisches Graffito auf einer der Sphingen am Sphingen-Tor," Archäologischer Angeizer 2013: 174–75.
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 3, Berlin, 2024: 80–81 and plt. 54.
Peker, H. "BOĞAZKÖY 4, A New Reading and Interpretation," NABU 2014, no. 68.


Image sources:
Bora Bilgin, 2006.
J. David Hawkins, 2024.
Metin Alparslan, AA 2013.