184 herbert niehr
(ca. 840–810 B.c.) and panamuwa i (ca. 790–750 B.c.).279 as part of the
sacrificial rules in the stele’s inscription, line 9 states: wbmqm.mlky.šʾyn.ly
(“and in this necropolis of kings two rams for me”). the speaker is a prin-
cess or queen of whose name only the element Piya- remains.280 a. lemaire
and B. sass clarify the exact origin of the stele of Ördekburnu as follows:
“on pourrait songer au tell de Karapınar höyük ou à celui de Karapınar
Mezarlık. ce dernier, situé à environ 2 km d’Ördekburnu, pourrait avoir
été le lieu d’origine de la stèle.”281 it is possibly the necropolis of King
hayyan (ca. 870–850 B.c.), whose ascent to the throne marked a change
in dynasties.
Whatever persuaded King panamuwa i to build a new royal necropolis
in gerçin (cf. Kai 214: 1) a few decades later is unknown except that the
god hadad commissioned it. a dynastic change is unlikely to have been
the cause.282
this site is located seven kilometers northeast of samʾal on a bed-
rock hill that visibly dominates the surrounding landscape. in gerçin the
remains of five statues were found, some of which had inscriptions. these
inscriptions, and the statues themselves, clearly refer to the practice of the
royal ancestor cult and the existence of a necropolis in gerçin. however,
gerçin has not yet been archaeologically explored. there have been only
two small efforts so far to inspect and recover the statues, one in June 1888
and one in February 1890. therefore, any statements made today about
royal funerals and ancestor worship in gerçin are based only on stray
archaeological finds, especially the statues, and on epigraphic evidence.
this refers specifically to the following five statues (statue fragments):
- a 2.85-m-tall basalt statue of an upright standing god with a horned
headdress. according to its inscription (Kai 214) it is a statue of the
god hadad. the statue was broken into several pieces in antiquity.
the head (in two pieces) and the upper body were found at the foot
of the hill, while the lower body, with the 24 lines of the inscription,
still lay on its crest. the original height of the statue is estimated at
3.50 m to 4 m.283
279 cf. lemaire – sass 2012 and iid. 2013.
280 cf. lemaire – sass 2012: 239 and iid. 2013: 123f.
281 cf. lemaire – sass 2012: 240.
282 cf. lipiński 2000a: 243.
283 cf. von luschan 1893: 49–52 with fig. 19 and pl. Vii; orthmann 1971: 75f; Voos 1986:
28f and catalogue no. 5; Wartke 2005: 25–28 figs. 24–27; 33–36, 68 fig. 61.