Note 7 — Chapter XIV · DOWN THE MURAD TO MELAZKERT1

I have transcribed my impressions, as written on the spot. But it is possible that the present aspect of the walls as well as the bridge may be due to the Mohammedan rulers of Melazkert. The great tower in the citadel may well be later than the eleventh century. Still there can be little doubt that the work was carried out by Armenians, and in harmony with the original plan.

Unfortunately almost all the inscriptions have disappeared. We observed a slab of calcareous stone inserted in the north wall, and engraved with an Arabic inscription, but it was much obliterated. A slab of the same material, and in the same condition, containing an inscription, probably in the Syriac character, is built into the Kaimakam’s house. We were told that a number of inscriptions had been abstracted by the son-in-law of Raouf Pasha, Vali of Erzerum.

Outside the citadel, lying upon the ground, we examined a well-preserved cuneiform inscription, engraved upon two sides of a block of granitic rock, unlike any stone found here. I was under the impression that it had already been discovered and translated; so we did not take a copy. I now find that we should have done well to copy it. Scheil (Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égypt. et assyr., Paris, 1896, vol. xviii. pp. 75–77) describes and translates an inscription which, he says, was recently discovered at Melazkert by the district engineer, but he does not mention the exact locality. It is an inscription of Menuas, recording a restoration.

Within the citadel, near our encampment, one of those large stones which have been elsewhere described, incised with the elaborate traceries of an Armenian cross, was seen among the debris. It was in excellent preservation, having only recently been dug out in situ. ↑