The Old Phrygian Areyastis-inscription

Abstract

The Old Phrygian (OPhr.) corpus comprises almost 240 inscriptions, of which only two contain more than ten words: the Germanos inscription (B-01) and the so-called Areyastisinscription from Yazlkaya (W-01). The former, however, is rather worn and contains no word divisions. The Areyastis-inscription thus appears to be of paramount importance for the study of OPhr. Dating from the first half of the sixth century B.C. (Haspels 1971: 105), it is engraved with utmost care and is perfectly legible except for a few mutilated letters. The inscription has been edited and treated several times, but as the proposed interpretations are unsatisfactory and as there is not even a consensus about the direction in which it must be read, it seems justified to look at this inscription once more. The Areyastis-inscription is engraved on a faade dedicated to Kybele (there is a niche for the statue of the goddess in the middle of the faade) and consists of three parts: (a) on the band around the pediment, (b) on the rugged rock surface above the faade, and (c) on the inner right-hand side below turning onto the faade (see Fig. 1). Brixhe and Lejeune in their standard work on the OPhr. inscriptions (1984: 38ff.) give the following text: