The Carian language belongs to the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European family, specifically within the “Luwic” group, making it closely related to Luwian and Lycian. Spoken in southwestern Asia Minor, its written record is preserved in a unique alphabetic script. While many Carian letters look like Greek characters, they often possess entirely different phonetic values.
The total number of identified Carian signs across all known variants is approximately 34, though individual local varieties typically employ between 27 and 31 distinct letters. Significant variations exist among the local alphabets used in Caria proper—such as the unique scripts of Kaunos, Hyllarima, and Mylasa—whereas the alphabet used by Carian mercenaries and settlers in Egypt is notably more homogeneous.
Most of the surviving inscriptions have surprisingly been found in Egypt, left by Carian mercenaries and settlers in places like Memphis, Abydos, Thebes and Abu Simbel, though significant texts also exist in the Carian homeland at sites like Kaunos and Hyllarima. These documents range from simple graffiti and ownership marks to formal funerary steles and official bilingual decrees, dating primarily between the 7th and 3rd centuries BCE.
Carian inscriptions could be written left-to-right (dextroverse, →), right-to-left (sinistroverse, ←) or occasionally both left-to-right and right-to-left alternating at each line (boustrophedon, ⇄ or ⇆). While inscriptions from Caria proper are predominantly written left-to-right, in Egypt right-to-left writing is more popular.
The numbering of the inscriptions listed below is based on Adiego (2007). Newer finds that have not yet been assigned a number are added with a question mark next to the predicted inscription number. Unless stated otherwise, all transcriptions are adapted from eDiana (https://www.ediana.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/). — Tayfun Bilgin (tayfun@bilgin.com)
Inscriptions from Caria
- Tralleis Inscriptions (C.Tr 1–2)
- Alabanda Inscription (C.Al 1)
- Euromos Inscriptions (C.Eu 1–4)
- Kindye Inscription (C.Kn 1)
- Hyllarima Inscription (C.Hy 1)
- Mylasa Inscription (C.My 1)
- Sinuri Inscriptions (C.Si 1–2)
- Kildara Inscription (C.Ki 1)
- Stratonikeia Inscriptions (C.St 1–2)
- Halikarnassos Inscription (C.Ha 1)
- Didyma Inscription (C.Di 1)
- Iasos Inscriptions (C.Ia 1–7 and frags.)
- Keramos Inscriptions (C.Ke 1–3)
- Kaunos Inscriptions (C.Ka 1–11)
- Krya Inscription (C.Kr 1)
- Labraunda Inscription (C.La 1)
- Miletos Inscription (C.Mi 1)
- Hydai Inscription (C.Hd 1)
- Sardis Inscriptions (C.I 1–7)
- Kalymnos Inscription (C.Kal 1)
- Inscriptions of unknown origin in Caria (C.xx 1–5)
Inscriptions from Greece
Inscriptions from Egypt
The individual Carian inscriptions found in Egypt, currently over 200, outnumber those found in Caria proper. However, an overwhelming majority of those are very brief inscriptions of only a few words, consisting of mostly onomastic formulas. This subcorpus in Egypt can be divided into two: (1) inscriptions of funerary nature (almost all from Memphis/Saqqâra and Sais), and (2) graffiti on rocks and buildings (almost all from Abydos, Thebes, Luxor, Silsilis, Abu Simbel, and Buhen). The Carian inscriptions from Egypt are predominantly associated with the Carian mercenaries who were in the employement of the Egyptian pharaohs in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. The graffiti from southern locations like Silsilis, Abu Simbel and Buhen are usually dated to the military campaign of Psamtik (Psammethicus) II against the Kingdom of Kush in 593–592 BCE.
- Sais Inscriptions (E.Sa 1–2)
- Memphis and Saqqara Inscriptions (E.Me 1–67)
- Abydos Inscriptions (E.Ab 1–43)
- Thebes Inscriptions (E.Th 1–55)
- Luxor Inscriptions (E.Lu 1–7)
- Murwàw Inscription (E.Mu 1)
- Silsilis Inscriptions (E.Si 1–11)
- Abu Simbel Inscriptions (E.AS 1–9)
- Buhen Inscriptions (E.Bu 1–6)
- Gebel Sheik Suleiman Inscription (E.SS 1)
- Inscriptions of unknown origin in Egypt (E.xx 1–7)