Çineköy inscription


The Çineköy inscription is a Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription, uncovered in 1997 in Çineköy, Adana Province, Turkey. The village of Çineköy lies 30 km south of Adana.
The inscription is dated to the 8th century BC. It was originally published by Tekoglu and Lemaire. Another important inscription of the same type is known as the Karatepe inscription, which was known earlier. Both of these inscriptions trace the kings of ancient Adana from the "house of Mopsos". He was a legendary king of antiquity.

Background

The object on which the inscription is found is a monument to the Storm God Tarhunza.
The inscription was authored by the man known as Urikki in Assyrian texts, which is equivalent to Warika in Luwian. The question whether it is the same person as Awarku of the Karatepe inscription or a different one remains debatable. He was the vassal king of Quwê, the modern Cilicia. In Luwian this region was known as 'Hiyawa'.
In this monumental inscription, Urikki made reference to the relationship between his kingdom and his Assyrian overlords.

Significance

The Çineköy inscription was the subject of a 2006 paper published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, in which the author, Robert Rollinger, lends support to the age-old debate of the name "Syria" being derived from "Assyria".
The Luwian inscription reads "Sura/i" whereas the Phoenician translation reads ’ŠR or "Ashur" which, according to Rollinger, "settles the problem once and for all".

The text

The examined section of the Luwian inscription reads:
The corresponding Phoenician inscription reads:
Also, in the Phoenician version of the inscription, Awariku claims to have built 15 fortresses in his kingdom. In the Luwian version of the same inscription, the same sentence is misinterpreted as a reference to destroying fortresses.