The small town of Kinna was situated at the modern village of Karahamzalı, 80km south of Ankara, a little way to the north-west of Lake Tatta (modern Tuz gölü). Kinna is first attested as a polis under Gordian, but may well have possessed civic status from the early second century AD. The chief landmark of this region is the Karaca Dağ mountain range, which dominates the valley of Karahamzalı to the west; the territory of Kinna no doubt extended as far as the shore of Tuz gölü to the south-east.1
The 32 monuments from the region of Kinna published here were recorded by Michael Ballance and Alan Hall in the summer of 1957; four were already known from copies made by William Calder in the course of expeditions in 1908 and 1910 (MAMA XI 245, 249, 250, 252). We begin with nine monuments from Kulu (MAMA XI 222-230), the modern administrative centre of the region, 15km south of Karahamzalı. A single monument from the village of Ömeranlı (MAMA XI 231), on the Konya-Ankara highway, 20km south of Kulu, is grouped here for convenience, although it is unlikely that the territory of Kinna extended this far south. The village of Yalınayak (now Karacadağ) lies 12km west of Kulu, in the southern foothills of the Karaca Dağ range (MAMA XI 232-3).
Yaraşlı (MAMA XI 234-240) and Altılar (MAMA XI 241-244) are neighbouring villages on the west slopes of the Karaca Dağ; Karahamzalı, the site of Kinna, lies immediately opposite Altılar, 7km away on the far side of the Kulu plain. Just to the north of Yaraşlı, below the main peak of the Karaca Dağ, is a large Hittite-era site, known today as Çevre Kale, which continued in occasional use down to the Byzantine period.2 Three inscriptions derive from Karakilise (now Karacaören), north of the Karaca Dağ (MAMA XI 245-247). Karakilise was identified by Calder in 1910 with a phantom ancient site *Orbana, resulting from a misreading of the inscription republished here as MAMA XI 245.3 The final six texts come from the village of Canımana, on the north flank of the Karaca Dağ, which may have been the site of an ancient village community of *Arka (MAMA XI 248-253; for the demos of the *Arkenoi, see MAMA XI 249).
1. RECAM II, pp. xxi-xxii; TIB Galatien 189-90, s.v. Kin(n)a. Gordian: RECAM II 396; Mitchell 1993: I 96. For an evocative photograph of the Karaca Dağ from the south-east, see Mitchell 1993: I 2, Fig.1.
The small town of Kinna was situated at the modern village of Karahamzalı, 80km south of Ankara, a little way to the north-west of Lake Tatta (modern Tuz gölü). Kinna is first attested as a polis under Gordian, but may well have possessed civic status from the early second century AD. The chief landmark of this region is the Karaca Dağ mountain range, which dominates the valley of Karahamzalı to the west; the territory of Kinna no doubt extended as far as the shore of Tuz gölü to the south-east.1
The 32 monuments from the region of Kinna published here were recorded by Michael Ballance and Alan Hall in the summer of 1957; four were already known from copies made by William Calder in the course of expeditions in 1908 and 1910 (MAMA XI 245, 249, 250, 252). We begin with nine monuments from Kulu (MAMA XI 222-230), the modern administrative centre of the region, 15km south of Karahamzalı. A single monument from the village of Ömeranlı (MAMA XI 231), on the Konya-Ankara highway, 20km south of Kulu, is grouped here for convenience, although it is unlikely that the territory of Kinna extended this far south. The village of Yalınayak (now Karacadağ) lies 12km west of Kulu, in the southern foothills of the Karaca Dağ range (MAMA XI 232-3).
Yaraşlı (MAMA XI 234-240) and Altılar (MAMA XI 241-244) are neighbouring villages on the west slopes of the Karaca Dağ; Karahamzalı, the site of Kinna, lies immediately opposite Altılar, 7km away on the far side of the Kulu plain. Just to the north of Yaraşlı, below the main peak of the Karaca Dağ, is a large Hittite-era site, known today as Çevre Kale, which continued in occasional use down to the Byzantine period.2 Three inscriptions derive from Karakilise (now Karacaören), north of the Karaca Dağ (MAMA XI 245-247). Karakilise was identified by Calder in 1910 with a phantom ancient site *Orbana, resulting from a misreading of the inscription republished here as MAMA XI 245.3 The final six texts come from the village of Canımana, on the north flank of the Karaca Dağ, which may have been the site of an ancient village community of *Arka (MAMA XI 248-253; for the demos of the *Arkenoi, see MAMA XI 249).
List of monuments from Kinna
Notes
1. RECAM II, pp. xxi-xxii; TIB Galatien 189-90, s.v. Kin(n)a. Gordian: RECAM II 396; Mitchell 1993: I 96. For an evocative photograph of the Karaca Dağ from the south-east, see Mitchell 1993: I 2, Fig.1.
2. Yaraşlı: Anderson 1899: 115-7 (who copied only a single inscription there, 116 no. 108); TIB Galatien 243, s.v. Yaraşlı; Summers 1992.
3. Calder 1910: 240; TIB Galatien 210-11 s.v. Orbana; Barrington Atlas, Map 63 B2.