This text is in Phoenician. It is actually a repetition of the Phoenician text seen on the slabs. The text is repeated a third time in Luwian hieroglyphs in other slabs and reliefs. This bilingual text was the key to solve Luwian hieroglyphic script (which was used by Hittites in most of their monuments).

The Enc. Britt. has: The importance of Karatepe lies in its inscriptions. At the beginning of the excavations a long Phoenician text was discovered. The gateways were found to contain extensive versions of the same text in both Phoenician script and Hittite hieroglyphs. By comparing the two inscriptions, archaeologists greatly increased their understanding of the Hittite hieroglyphic script and language.

According to the text, the founder and ruler of the city was Asitawandas, king of the Danunians, a vassal of Awarikus of Adana. Asitawandas claimed descent from the “house of Mopsus”; Mopsus is known in Greek legend as an emigrant from Ionia and founder of nearby Cilician Mopsuestia (modern Misis). The Assyrians probably destroyed the city in about 700 BC, when the last remaining principalities in the region were subjugated.