The historical tombstone that was stolen from the ancient city of Zeugma and found in Italy last year has been handed over to the Turkish Embassy in Rome by Italian authorities.
During the ceremony at the Turkish Embassy in Rome, Capt. Emanuele Melelo and his team from the Venice Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of the Italian Carabinieri delivered the tombstone, which features a female figure, to Türkiye's Ambassador to Rome Ömer Gücük and deputy director general of Cultural Assets and Museums at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Yahya Coşkun.
Ambassador Gücük thanked the Italian Carabinieri for their cooperation with Türkiye during the return process and congratulated them on their fight against antiquities smuggling.
He emphasized the importance of protecting historical artifacts wherever they are discovered.
The inscription on the tombstone, which reflects the characteristics of the Antonine period dating back to the mid-second century and features a female figure, includes the expression "Farewell, Satornila, the wife who loved her husband!"
This stele is said to contribute to the extraction of biographies and genealogies of settled individuals and communities in Zeugma from that period.
It was seized by the Italian gendarmerie in March 2022 during a search of a person's home in the Florence province, who is currently under investigation.
As a result of the Italian authorities notifying Turkish authorities of the suspicion that the historical artifact may have come from Türkiye, in September 2022, Zeugma excavation head Kutalmış Görkay and ministry experts conducted identification and verification studies in Venice.
Lost treasures
"We are pursuing all the lost treasures of Anatolia. As the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we have brought back more than 20,000 works in the last 20 years. With this stele that we returned home at the end of April this year, the number of antiquities we returned home reached 2,956. So, we are very close to 3,000 antiquities in the first four months," Gücük said.
"This is actually a person from the ancient city of Zeugma in Gaziantep. Returning home after 1,800 years, the stele unfurls the love of a husband who expressed his loyalty to her. Now, as he emphasized her loyalty to his wife on that tombstone, we also ensure his loyalty to his land," Coşkun added.
Regarding the determination that the stele was a stolen artifact from Zeugma, Coşkun elaborated: "Our colleagues came here before us and conducted an examination in Rome. As a result of the examination, both our colleagues and the Zeugma excavation head confirmed through scientific reports that the artifact could not belong to any other place and could be of Zeugma origin, both in terms of the stone's shape, fine craftsmanship and stylistic features. In the light of scientific reports, our Italian partners also decided to return the artifact to us, acknowledging its Zeugma origin."
Coşkun stated that they did not have clear information on how and when the artifact was taken abroad, and therefore, they relied on scientific research in its return.
"We do not know the exact date. Therefore, we see the role of science in bringing back an artifact whose time and manner of removal we do not know. We were able to prove scientifically that the artifact is of Gaziantep Zeugma origin through its stylistic features, the type of stone and the craftsmanship on it, and we achieved the result with the light of science," he added.