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View of the first two orthostats in a series of four orthostats from Carchemish. My comments focus on the Luwian Inscription and the relief with the two standing figures on the right—from a sign in the museum.
On the right, King Araras holds the wrist of his son, Kamanis. The king holds a scepter in his hand and has a sword on his waist. The prince leans on the stick set on the ground and carries a sword with a strap on his shoulder. The Luwian Inscription above the figures reads: "This is Kamanis, and these are his younger brothers. Here I took him by the hand, and I established him over the temple though he was a child. This is the image of Yariris [the "child"]." From a sign in the museum.
On the left is a long text in Luwian that seems to indicate that the king is placing his heir on the throne—the first part of the translation on the sign in the museum did not make any sense to me. In the end, there is a curse that reads: "If this seat shall pass down to any king, who shall . . . , whether he shall take away on the one hand a stone from the stones, or whether he shall take away a stele for a stele, or who shall erase my name, or who shall take away on the one side (a child_) from the children, or on the other side (a eunuch) from the eunuchs, (for) him may Nikarawas' dogs eat up his head!"
The orthostats date` to the Neo-Hittite Period (ca. 900-717 BC).
