The Word of the King: Royal Truthfulness and some Cases of Royal Multilingualism in Ancient Eurasia

Summary The present article examines a selection of royal multilingual inscriptions, mostly from the Near East and Anatolia, as expression of the linguistic competence of the king, as shown in other documents, especially from Mesopotamia, from the Bronze Age onwards. It also argues that the truthfulness of the royal utterance is the other side of the coin of the king’s linguistic competence.