In a remarkable development from Turkey, researchers have unlocked the secrets of a once-undecipherable inscription from antiquity.
The Arslan Kaya monument, which has withstood the elements for over two and a half millennia, had long baffled experts due to its eroded engravings, rendering the script of an obscure language inaccessible.
At the forefront of this breakthrough is Professor Mark Munn of Penn State University. His pivotal research paper describes how he leveraged enhanced imagery of the monument’s script—both contemporary photographs and reexamined archival ones—to bring to light what was once thought to be irretrievably lost. The interpretative efforts culminated in a groundbreaking discovery: the stone’s message honors an age-old Phrygian Mother deity, commonly worshipped as “Matar” or simply, “Mother.”
Discovery Sheds Light on Phrygian Beliefs
This finding stands out for its distinctive characteristics among known Phrygian relics. In discussions with ArtNet, Munn revealed, “Arslan Kaya is distinguished by being the sole Phrygian relic that portrays the Mother alongside an inscription bearing her name.” This newfound comprehension of the text gives historians and linguists an exceptional insight into the spiritual lore of ancient Phrygia, prompting reconsideration of established beliefs in the field of ancient Anatolian dialects.
The scarcity of texts in the enigmatic Phrygian tongue means that each new piece of evidence carries significant weight for historical understanding. Munn’s study hints at a more extensive inscription that may not only identify the individuals responsible for the monument’s erection but also assigns a title to the goddess—a term mirrored in a separate, neighboring monument that reads “materan areyastin.”
Published in the esteemed journal Kadmos, the research enriches the collective knowledge of early Anatolian civilizations and their communicative expressions. Experts in linguistics and history keenly await further advancements in this vein, with the promise of unraveling additional mysteries from the rich tapestry of the ancient past.