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Source Description
Luwian hieroglyphs surround a figure in royal dress. The inscription, repeated in cuneiform around the rim, gives the seal owner's name: Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. The name of the ruler was previously transliterated into English as Tarkondemos and Tarkummuwa. Other inscriptions naming Tarkasnawa of Mira are known, including seals found at Hattusa (the capital of the Hittite Empire) and the Karabel rock relief carving near Izmir, Turkey. Located in west-central Anatolia, Mira was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. This seal, originally published in the 1860s, was purchased in Izmir by its first known modern owner, A. Jovanoff. Its famous bilingual inscription provided the first clues for deciphering Luwian hieroglyphs, which were previously called Hittite hieroglyphs.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
5130
label
Seal of Tarkasnawa, King of Mira
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
7
Source metadata
id
5130
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Seal of Tarkasnawa, King of Mira
description
Luwian hieroglyphs surround a figure in royal dress. The inscription, repeated in cuneiform around the rim, gives the seal owner's name: Tarkasnawa, king of Mira. The name of the ruler was previously transliterated into English as Tarkondemos and Tarkummuwa. Other inscriptions naming Tarkasnawa of Mira are known, including seals found at Hattusa (the capital of the Hittite Empire) and the Karabel rock relief carving near Izmir, Turkey. Located in west-central Anatolia, Mira was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. This seal, originally published in the 1860s, was purchased in Izmir by its first known modern owner, A. Jovanoff. Its famous bilingual inscription provided the first clues for deciphering Luwian hieroglyphs, which were previously called Hittite hieroglyphs.
provenance
[Purchased at Smyrna (Izmir), ca. 1850]; A. Iovanoff, Constantinople (Istanbul), by 1861. Joseph Brummer, New York and Paris, 1925, by purchase [Brummer inv. no. P2348]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
late 13th century BCE (Hittite Empire)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Gold, Silver & Jewelry
seals (artifacts)
imageCount
7
pageCount
7
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
1
height
4.2
dimensionsRaw
H: 3/8 x Diam: 1 5/8 in. (1 x 4.2 cm)
Source extras
cul
Arzawan
inscriptions
[Translation] In Luwian hieroglyphs and cuneiform: Tarkasnawa
King of Mira
reign
Tarkummuwa
med
silver
creator_ids
4530
collection_ids
ANE
exhibition_ids
170
3606
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
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01f50732e7a2bb04
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
55b5c7590d60e787
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
a7b28b847328678d
hasOcr
no
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no
seq
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type
photo
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75abd2b59f88059e
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no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
8fdbd9ec60f0d17b
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no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
15b6257d7f2ac178
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
7
type
photo
mediaId
8ad9a8e0bf0fd928
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no