CHAPTER THREE THE INSCRIPTIONS A. Introduction The most direct and important sources of Carian language are obvi- ously the inscriptions in Carian alphabet, although strangely the bulk of this epigraphic corpus does not come from Caria itself, but from various other locations in Egypt. The historical reasons for this curi- ous circumstance have been covered in Chapter 1. Inscriptions on funerary stelae and other objects, mainly from Memphis and Sais, and graffiti found in other parts of Egypt are the result of this long presence of Carian-speakers in Egypt. About 170 inscriptions have been found in Egypt to date. All these texts are relatively short, given their typology (onomastic formulae in funerary texts—Carians were somewhat laconic when writing epitaphs—and brief graffiti).1 The epigraphic material found in Caria itself is far less abundant (approximately 30 inscriptions), but it includes several texts that are more extensive than those discovered in Egypt, particularly the fol- lowing three: a decree from Kaunos whose precise terms are still unknown (C.Ka 2), the proxeny decree for two Athenian citizens writ- ten in Carian and Greek, also from Kaunos (C.Ka 5), and a decree enacted by the Carian satraps Idrieus and Ada, possibly concerning a syngeneia of the temple of the god Sinuri, near Mylasa (C.Si 2). To these three inscriptions now must be added the new inscriptions of Mylasa (C.My 1) and Hyllarima (C.Hy 1), the latter in fact a fragment that completes the inscription already known. Besides Egypt and Caria, we know of several other inscriptions found in the bordering regions of Lydia and Lycia, as well as in Greece. For convenience, I will classify the texts of Tralleis and of Krya (on the Gulf of Telmessos) as Carian, since we are dealing in both cases with areas very close to Caria. It is logical to assume that there was 1 On Carians in Egypt, see Masson (1969), Masson (1977[78]) and now Vittmann (2003:155–179). 18 chapter three a linguistic continuity beyond the alleged political boundaries of Caria, and Carian was spoken in some border zones of Lydia and Lycia.2 For the same reason I classify as Carian the graffito from Didyma, near Milet, situated on the Carian border. 1. The Revised System of Transcription of Carian Letters Before dealing with the Carian corpus of inscriptions, it seems appro- priate to present here the system of transcription of Carian letters that will be used throughout this book, since certain new conventions are introduced here. The phonological reasons behind the new transcrip- tion procedures for several signs will be dealt with in Chapter 7, and here I will limit myself to giving a brief justification of them. Although the bilingual of Kaunos has confirmed the overall ‘Ray- Schürr-Adiego’ system (see Chapter 4), and by extension the deci- pherment tables in Adiego (1993a), (1994a) remain essentially valid,3 I believe that this is a good opportunity to introduce slight modifications to the system. These will allow us to adjust the transcriptions of sev- eral letters more precisely to their actual phonological value, and to simplify other conventions in transcribing Carian signs. Moreover, since the publication of the works mentioned above, hypothetical sound val- ues have been proposed for some formerly undeciphered letters, which will also be considered in the revised system presented here. 2. Vocalism The method of transcribing vowels used until now has been largely superseded by our improved understanding of the Carian vocalic sys- tem. In the case of i / j and u / v, a purely diacritical distinction 2 Tralleis was situated north of the River Maiander, which served as the traditional boundary between Lydia and Caria, but this boundary was undoubtedly permeable to contact between people, see Hornblower (1982:2). According to Strabo (XIV, 1, 42), Tralleis was inhabited by Lydians, Carians and Ionians, and the Carian flavour of the alternation -ll-/-ld- in Tralle›w vs. Tralde›w was already noted by Benveniste (apud Robert 1945:20, n. 2). As for the Krya inscription, it clearly belongs to the Kaunian alphabetic variety, which is congruent with the geographical proximity of the two places. 3 As a exception note only the Kaunian letters T t (vs. “ in the rest of the alpha- bets) and / “ (a specific Kaunian sign), whose value has been established from the bilingual (about these letters see here pp. 228–229). .