Earliest known written traces of the Western Hun Empire in Syria uncovered during excavations by ISIS
The inscription, which was unearthed during the illegal excavations carried out by ISIS between 2013 and 2015 in the ancient city of Sura, located near the Syrian city of Raqqa, was evaluated as the oldest known written trace of the West Hun Empire in the Middle East.
The inscription on an antique column piece that was found by chance during the illegal excavations carried out by ISIS in the ancient city of Sura in order to generate income from the illegal antiquities market between 2013 and 2015, is the first known and written name left by the Western Hun Empire. oldest trace found.
It was noticed in the photos sent by the French scientist
Dr. Cengiz Saltaoğlu, the inscription was first read by Ali Othman, a French scientist from the University of Paris, who participated in the excavations in the ancient city of Sura until 2011, when the security in the region disappeared due to civil war and terrorism, and had to leave there after that date. He stated that he was noticed in the photographs sent to him by his local contacts documenting the destruction of ISIS in the ancient city in the region.
Saltaoğlu said, “After ISIS, there is no scientific study in the city. For this reason, researchers seek help from local contacts in the region to convey the situation in the Ancient City to them. Local people are also making videographs in the Ancient City with their mobile phones, under the threat of security, as much as they can in the terror environment. While examining the photographs taken between 2013 and 2015, Ali Othman sees an inscription with a writing system that has never been seen before in the region, on a fragment of an ancient column, that is, on a fragment of an ancient column that was accidentally found in an illegal excavation pit in 2015.
In the light of the intense examinations made on the inscription, researchers who applied to the Turkish runic writing system determined that the inscription was written in a type of Turkish engraving that was known to have been used in the Yenisey region of Southern Siberia, and called on Turkology scholars to read the inscription.
‘The inscription includes one of the West Hun commanders’
Cengiz Saltaoğlu stated that the name of Kurçik, one of the commanders of the Western Hun Empire, was mentioned in the inscription.
Saltaoğlu continued as follows:
“Of course, there are some textual data in the inscription, such as the name of the person, ‘Apa Kurçik’. The name of one of the leaders of the Hun raid on the region over the Caucasus in 395–396. Here, ‘Apa’ corresponds to the military conjecture of the Western Hun commander Kurçik, which is also used in the Old Turkic Orkhon inscriptions, meaning ‘a high rank’. The name “Kurçik” in West Hun Turkish is recorded as “Kursik” with its Greek adaptation and spelling in the old Western sources mentioning this influx. Pointing out that this inscription is an important proof that the Turks were in the Middle East in the 4th century under the name of ‘Hun’, Saltaoğlu said, “It is the first known inscription from the European Huns that has been revealed so far. At the same time, it is the oldest known written document in Turkish at the moment.”
‘His faithful comrades let him sleep peacefully’
Saltaoğlu evaluated the inferences he made from the content of the inscription as follows:
“If I mention the content of the inscription, it is an inscription about the death of a high-ranking military personality named Kurchik, that is, a Western Hun commander. For Commander Kurçik, there is a content called “Let his faithful comrades (her) sleep peacefully”.
Looking at the contents of the inscription, I think that there was a Hun commander (probably, the Hun chief in the historical sources mentioning this raid) in that era, 395–396 West, who descended to the Middle East through the Caucasus, that is, a Hun commander who died in the conflicts there during the European Huns raid and was buried there. It is not yet known whether the inscription has survived after 2013–2015, when its last photographs were taken, because researchers and archaeologists have not yet been able to enter and study the area. It probably still stands in the ancient city, but even if it had been destroyed in some form and for some reason, it is an inscription that exists, is, and will be, for the scientific world and for us, now that it has been documented.”
