this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2025
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

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102
New Hittite Tablet Shows Striking Correspondences with the Narrative of Homer's Iliad (www.thearchaeologist.org)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Quick summary: a tablet written in Hittite, from a likely vassal to their king, recounts how Attaršiya [Atreus?] of Ahhiyawa [the Achaeans] and his sons attacked Taruiša [Troy]. And at the end there's a fragment in another Anatolian language, Luwian, saying the following:

wa-ar-ku-uš-ša-an ma-a-aš-ša-ni SÌ[R
wrath.ACC god(dess).VOC? si[ng

So roughly "Sing, oh goddess, the wrath..."

This is pretty much how the Illiad starts in Greek:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
mênĭn áeide theā́ Pēlēïádeō Akhĭlêos
rage.ACC sing.IMP goddess.VOC Peleus.GEN Achilles.GEN
Sing, oh goddess, the rage of Achilles [son] of Peleus

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I've seen biblical scholars point out how prevalent Homer's work was in the mind of people at the time, and that leveraging these themes were a huge draw for attempting to spread a new religion. seems that's why Luke has this huge raging sea sequence when the sea of galilee is like a puddle, pretty silly really.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

But this is a Hittite tablet. So it predates Homer by centuries.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago

Wow, that is a hugely interesting find.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

What doe the capital letters (eg ACC) in the translations refer too?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Gloss info. In a simplified way:

  • ACC = accusative = direct object; e.g. "I see you."
  • VOC = vocative; e.g. "oh you!"
  • GEN = genitive; e.g. "this is your book."
  • IMP = imperative; e.g. "do it!"

It's important in this case because both Luwian and Greek allow you to shift words back and forth for emphasis, and it's poetry so the order gets even messier, so without that it's hard to parse the sentence.

Also note that this is from my part, it isn't present in the original.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Grammar, I think. VOC = vocative, ACC = accusitive, GEN = genitive, IMP = small hellish creature (but probably Imperative, were I to guess).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Nothing is original these days. Smh

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Nothing is original these days. Smh

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Might be whoosh on my side, but the article was published on April 1st.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Nolan's marketing campaign is going well I see