The Ladder-men at Alaca Höyük

Extract

In the preceding article Professor Ahmet Ünal has announced his discovery of the long-sought textual evidence for the sword-swallower depicted on one of the relief blocks at Alaca Höyük. This figure was already recognized as a kind of “juggler” (bateleur) by Perrot and Chipiez in their prestigious first publication of these reliefs in 1887 and most writers have followed them, but John Garstang and others mistook the sword for a trumpet. It is good that this uncertainty has been finally dispelled.

In the same article Professor Ünal has made a similar claim for the other scene on the same block showing two men with a ladder, one standing half-way up, the other on the ground at its foot. He identifies them with the “ladder men” (LÚ.MEŠ ^GIŠ KUN₅) mentioned in his texts 1 and 4 as taking part in a religious ritual which may be compared with the religious procession shown on the Alaca Höyük frieze, or with the “clown” (ALAN.ZU₉) who is probably described as mounting a ladder or staircase (^GIŠilaš) in his text 5 (part of another ritual, but fragmentary).