The Kelashin Stele () (also Kelishin or Keli-Shin; from Kurdish Language: Blue Stone) found in Kelashin, Iraq, bears an important Urartian-Assyrian bilingual text dating to c. 800 BC, first described by Friedrich Eduard Schulz in 1827. Part of Schulz's notes were lost when he was killed by Kurdish "bandits", and later expeditions were either prevented by weather conditions or Kurdish brigands, so that a copy (latex squeeze) of the inscription could only be made in 1951 by G. Cameron, and again in 1976 by an Italian party under heavy military protection.

The inscription describes the acquisition of the city of Musasir (Ardini) by the Urartian king Ishpuini.

Kelashin Stele

References

Warren C. Benedict, The Urartian-Assyrian Inscription of Kelishin, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 81, No. 4 (1961), pp. 359–385.

Kelashin Stele

9th-century BC steles

1827 archaeological discoveries

Hurro-Urartian languages

Akkadian literature

Ancient Near East steles

Kelashin Stele