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==The Issyk inscription== ==The Issyk inscription==
] ]
The inscription is in a variant of the ] script, and is probably in a ] dialect, constituting one of very few ] epigraphic traces of that language. Harmatta (1999) identifies the language as ], tentatively translating "The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, then added cooked fresh butter on" (compare ] and ] for other ancient inscriptions on vessels that concern the vessel itself). The inscription is in a variant of the ] script, and is probably in a ] dialect, constituting one of very few ] epigraphic traces of that language. Harmatta (1999) identifies the language as ], tentatively translating "The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, then added cooked fresh butter on" (compare ] and ] for other ancient inscriptions on vessels that concern the vessel itself).


Revision as of 21:14, 9 May 2007

File:Issyk golden man.jpg
Reconstruction of the "golden man" interred in the Issyk kurgan

The Issyk kurgan, in south-eastern Kazakhstan, less than 20 km east from the Talgar alluvial fan, near Issyk, was discovered in 1969. It has a height of six meters and a circumference of sixty meters. It is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC (Hall 1997).

"Golden man"

Situated in what was at the time eastern Scythia, just north of Sogdiana, the burial contained a skeleton of uncertain sex, interred with warrior's equipment, variously dubbed "golden man" or "golden princess", and with rich funerary goods, including 4,000 gold ornaments. A notable item is a silver cup bearing an inscription. The finds are on display in Astana.

Although the "golden man" of Issyk was in all probability an 18-year-old Saka (i.e., Scythian) prince or princess, it was adopted as one of the symbols of modern Kazakhstan. A likeness of the "golden man" crowns the Independence Monument on the central square of Almaty. Its depiction may be found on the Presidential Standard of Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The Issyk inscription

Drawing of the Issyk inscription

The inscription is in a variant of the Kharoṣṭhī script, and is probably in a Scythian dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language. Harmatta (1999) identifies the language as Khotanese Saka, tentatively translating "The vessel should hold wine of grapes, added cooked food, so much, to the mortal, then added cooked fresh butter on" (compare Nestor's Cup and Duenos inscription for other ancient inscriptions on vessels that concern the vessel itself).

Pan-Turkist authors prefer a comparison with the 8th century Orkhon script, attempting a Proto-Turkic reading (Amanjolov 2003).

Photographs

References

  • A. Amanjolov "History and Theory of Ancient Turkic Script", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003, pp. 218-219, ISBN 9965-16-204-2
  • Hall, Mark E. Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia. Antiquity 71 (1997): 863-874.
  • Harmatta, Janos. History of Civilization of Central Asia. Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass (1999), ISBN 8120814088, p. 421

External links

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