Note 26 — Chapter IV · VAN

So we read in the newly-acquired text of the stele at Topsana (Sidikan), near Rowanduz:—“Urzana, son of Shekikajana, fled to Khaldia; I, Rusas (i.e. Rusas I. of Van) marched as far as the mountains of Assyria” (Dr. Belck in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Berlin, 1899, p. 116). [The translation of this passage appears, however, to have been altered by Messrs. Belck and Lehmann. See Sitzungsberichte der K. K. Preuss. Akad., Berlin, June 1900. It would appear natural that the Khaldians should have called their land after their god, and Dr. Belck (loc. cit.) appears to entertain no doubt upon the point. On the other hand Prof. Sayce informs me that he has never found the name Khaldia in the Vannic inscriptions; and that in Assyrian Khaldia signifies the god Khaldis.] ↑