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Portal Lions

The partially inscribed gate lions were excavated in 1878-79 by Henderson around the Great Staircase area, but during the digs of Woolley, only the broken fragments of them were recovered. The fragments probably belong to two gate lions that decorated the inner doorways of the Gatehouse at the top of the Great Staircase. The Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions (KARKAMIŠ A14a ve A14b) apparently belong to father-son rulers Suhi I (west lion) and Astuwalamanza (east lion) and date to the 10th century BCE. Their original height must have been around 1.50 meters without the base. The surviving fragments are in the inventory of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.


Lion fragments as found by Woolley - J. D. Hawkins, 2000 (Photo: British Museum) Suggested position of the west wing lion fragments - L. Woolley, 1921 Hind leg and base fragments of the west wing lion - D. Ussishkin, 1967 Inscribed fragments of the west wing lion - J. D. Hawkins, 2000 Inscribed fragments of the west wing lion - J. D. Hawkins, 2000 Suggested position of the east wing lion fragment - J. D. Hawkins, 2000 Inscribed fragment of the east wing lion - J. D. Hawkins, 2000


Literature:
Gilibert, A. Syro-Hittite monumental art and the archaeology of performance, Berlin, 2011. (Carchemish 38)
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 1, Berlin, 2000: 83–87 ve levha 3–5. (KARKAMIŠ A14b, A14a)
Hawkins, J. D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions, Vol 3, Berlin, 2024: 188–89, 300–1.
Orthmann, W. Untersuchungen zur späthethitischen Kunst, Bonn, 1971. (Karkemis K/19, K/21)
Peker, H. Anadolu Hiyeroglif Yazılı Belgeler 1: Geç Hitit Karkamış Krallığı Yazıtları, Bologna, 2022: 14–17.
Ussishkin, D. "Observations on Some Monuments from Carchemish," JNES 26, 1967: 87–92.
(List of Abbreviations)


Image sources:
J. David Hawkins, 2000.
Leonard Woolley, Carchemish II, 1921.
David Ussishkin, 1967.