Ereğli

The rectangular block was dug up in 1991 in the garden of a private house and brought to the Ereğli Museum. It appears to be half of a stele base with an oval-shaped mortise hole that once must have held a stele. Three sides of the stele bear the middle section of a Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription. The preserved section of the text does not incorporate any names and probably concerns offerings for prosperity to the Storm-god. It probably belongs to the Neo-Hittite kingdom of Tabal, and a date in the 8th century BCE has been suggested. The block is about 55 cm in length, 33 cm in width, and 27 cm in height, and is currently in the Ereğli Museum.

EREĞLİ 2 (previously known as İSTANBUL 2) is in the private Haluk Perk collection. On account of a very similar inscription discovered in 2022 in Ereğli, this block is suspected to have originated from the same location. It is inscribed on three sides but unknown whether the destroyed fourth side also had an inscription or not. It is about 37 cm in width, 22 cm in thickness and the preserved section is 42 cm in height. The context appears to be a historical account involwing a violent conflict.


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