A New Reading of the Second Sentence in Line 18 of the Tunyukuk Inscription*

Abstract

The second sentence of line 18 (= line 1 on the east side of the first stele) of the Tunyukuk Inscription has been amended as [: eki] süm[üz b]oltï or [biz eki sü b]oltï ‘We had two armies’. Considering the second sentence of line 17, the information from the first and second sentences of line 18 would be that the peoples around us joined us and thus the number of our soldiers, which was 2,000, increased. If that is the case, the second sentence may be hypothetically amended as [: bir] tüm[än b]oltï ‘It (= the number of our soldiers) became 10,000’ or [: eki] tüm[än b]oltï ‘It (= the number of our soldiers) became 20,000’.