Muwatalli and Mursili Reliefs

The reliefs are near the old Misis-Ceyhan road by Sirkeli village, at a bend of the Ceyhan River southwest of the Yılanlıkale ruins. They are carved on a rock wall facing the river about 5 m above the water level. The excavations were carried out at the mound behind the relief, initially by J. Garstang in 1936 as part of the Neilson Expedition of the University of Liverpool, then in 1992-1996 and 1997 by German (under B. Hrouda) and Austrian (under H. Ehrinhaus) teams. Latest excavations started in 2006 jointly by teams from the University of Tübingen and Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and since 2011 continued by Bern University. Studies revealed that the site was settled from Chalcolithic to Hellenistic periods, including the Hittite periods. The most important find of the site is the rock relief of Hittite King Muwatall II. The relief shows the king with a long robe, holding a ceremonial staff (lituus). The inscription to the right of the relief has been read as "Muwatalli, Great King, the Hero, son of Mursili, Great King, the Hero." This refers to Mursili II's son Muwatalli II, who reigned in the first half of the 13th century BCE, and that makes the monument the oldest securely dated Hittite rock relief of a Hittite king. Muwatalli II is known to have moved the capital of the Hittite state from Hattusa to Tarhuntassa, the location of which is unknown but believed to be somewhere in southern Anatolia. The site of Sirkeli Höyük must have been important as a crossing point on the Ceyhan River, leading to the road to Syria where Muwatalli II clashed with Ramses II of Egypt in the famous battle of Kadesh.

The rock platform above the relief has three round holes carved on the rock surface, which were likely to have been used for libation ceremonies. These pits were part of a larger cultic installation, which also included a building to the west of the rock reliefs.

In 1994, traces of another rock relief were noticed just a few meters to the right of the Muwatalli relief. Traces of the relief are noticeable by the naked eye only at certain hours when the sunlight is favorable. It may have been chiseled out intentionally during antiquity. Results of a detailed 3D scan of this rock surface carried out in 2017 suggested that the remnants of the chiseled-off inscription probably name Mursili (III), son of Muwatalli (II). This supports the initial suspicion of scholars that the relief was subject to a damnatio memoriae during the reign of Hattusili III (or his successors), who usurped the throne from Mursili III.

In the 3D scans, a flattened rock surface thought to belong to a third relief was noticed in the area between the two reliefs. Traces that are almost impossible to notice with the naked eye are so faint that it is not certain whether this relief was ever completed or completely destroyed.


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