Explore Ancient Anatolia

Stoic Philosophers of Tarsus & Soli

2016-03-29T00:55:00.000+03:00

When Alexander the Great passed through with his armies in 333 BC and nearly met his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsus rivaled those of Athens and Alexandria. At this time the library of Tarsus held 200,000 books, including a huge collection of scientific works.

The Stoic philosophers conceived of the cosmos as a whole and single entity, a living thing with a soul of its own, a spherical continuum of matter held together by the orderly power of God through the causality of the pneuma that pervades it.

In Stoic cosmology, everything that exists depends on matter, which is passive and inert, and the logos, divine reason, which is active and organizing.

These processes are responsible for the formation, the development, and ultimately, the destruction of the universe in a never-ending cycle.

The human soul is an emanation from the fiery aether which permeates the universe, and sensation is transmission of pneuma-currents from objects, which interact with the substance of the mind, which is the soul's ruling part.

Stoic Philosophers

3rd Century BC

Zeno of Citium (c. 334-262 BC), Founder of the Stoic school in Athens (c. 300 BC).
Persaeus (306-243 BC), Pupil and friend of Zeno.
Aratus of Soli (c. 315-c. 245 BC), Pupil of Zeno and poet.
Athenodorus of Soli (fl. 275 BC), Pupil of Zeno and brother of Aratus.
Aristo of Chios (c. 310-c. 240 BC), Pupil of Zeno, leaned towards Cynicism.
Apollophanes of Antioch (fl. 250 BC), Stoic philosopher, friend of Aristo of Chios.
Dionysius the Renegade (c. 325-c. 250 BC), Pupil of Zeno who became a Cyrenaic.
Sphaerus (c. 285-c. 210 BC), Pupil of Zeno. Moved to Sparta and Alexandria.
Herillus of Carthage (fl. 250 BC), Pupil of Zeno, who held that knowledge was the highest good.
Cleanthes (of Assos) (331-232 BC), Second leader of the Stoic school.
Eratosthenes (of Cyrene) (fl. 225 BC), Pupil of Aristo. Chief librarian at Alexandria.
Hermagoras of Amphipolis (fl. c. 225 BC), Stoic philosopher and follower of Persaeus of Citium.
Chrysippus (of Soli) (c. 280-c. 206 BC), Third leader of the Stoic school. Wrote 705 books.
Dioscorides (Stoic) (fl. 225 BC), Pupil of Chrysippus. Father of Zeno of Tarsus.
Aristocreon (fl. 210 BC), Nephew of Chrysippus.

2nd Century BC

Zeno of Tarsus (fl. 200 BC), Fourth leader of the Stoic school.
Eudromus (fl. uncertain), Stoic who wrote a book called "Elements of Ethics".
Crates of Mallus (fl. 175 BC), Grammarian. Head of the library at Pergamon.
Diogenes of Babylon (c. 230-c. 150 BC), Fifth leader of the Stoic school.
Zenodotus (Stoic) (fl. 150 BC), A pupil of Diogenes of Babylon.
Apollodorus of Seleucia (fl. 150 BC), Pupil of Diogenes of Babylon.
Basilides (Stoic) (fl. c. 150 BC), Denied the existence of incorporeal entities.
Antipater of Tarsus (c. 200-129 BC), Sixth leader of the Stoic school.
Apollodorus of Athens (fl. 150 BC), Historian. Pupil of Diogenes and Antipater of Tarsus.
Archedemus of Tarsus (fl. 140 BC), Founded a Stoic school at Babylon.
Panaetius (of Rhodes) (185-109 BC), Seventh leader of the Stoic school.
Boethus of Sidon (Stoic) (fl. 150 BC), Pupil of Diogenes.
Polemon of Athens (fl. 150 BC), Geographer, follower of Panaetius.
Marcus Vigellius (fl. 125 BC), Stoic who lived with Panaetius.
Heraclides of Tarsus (fl. 125 BC), Pupil of Antipater of Tarsus.
Dardanus (c. 160-c. 90 BC), Leading figure in the Stoic school in Athens.
Mnesarchus (c. 160-c. 90 BC), Leading figure in the Stoic school in Athens.
Publius Rutilius Rufus (158-c. 75 BC), Statesman, orator and historian. Pupil of Panaetius.
Stilo (c. 154-74 BC), Grammarian and scholar.
Dionysius of Cyrene (fl. c. 125 BC), Leading figure in the Stoic school in Athens.
Quintus Lucilius Balbus (fl. c. 125 BC), Stoic philosopher, and a pupil of Panaetius.
Hecato of Rhodes (fl. 100 BC), Pupil of Panaetius, wrote about ethics.
Diotimus the Stoic (fl. 100 BC), Stoic who slandered Epicurus.

1st Century BC

Posidonius (of Apamea) (c. 135-51 BC), Stoic philosopher, astronomer, and geographer.
Crinis (fl. uncertain), Stoic who wrote about logic.
Proclus of Mallus (fl. uncertain), Stoic philosopher and writer.
Diodotus the Stoic (c. 130-59 BC), Stoic teacher of Cicero who lived in Cicero's house.
Geminus of Rhodes (c. 110-c. 40 BC), Astronomer and mathematician.
Athenodoros Cordylion (c. 130-60 BC), Librarian at Pergamon, lived with Cato.
Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher) (fl. 50 BC), Stoic philosopher who wrote a biography of Zeno.
Cato the Younger (95-46 BC), Statesman who opposed Julius Caesar.
Antipater of Tyre (c. 100-45 BC), Friend of Cato. Wrote about practical ethics.
Apollonides (fl. 46 BC), Stoic philosopher whom Cato consulted before committing suicide.
Jason of Nysa (fl. 50 BC), Grandson of Posidonius.
Athenodoros Cananites (c. 74 BC-7 AD), Pupil of Posidonius. Teacher of Augustus.
Stertinius (Stoic) (fl. 50 BC), Philosopher satirised by the poet Horace.
Quintus Sextius (fl. 40 BC), Set up a school teaching Stoicism mixed with Pythagoreanism.
Arius Didymus (of Alexandria) (fl. 10 BC), Collected excerpts from earlier Stoic writers.

1st Century AD

Theon of Alexandria (fl. 10 AD), Stoic philosopher.
Attalus (Stoic) (fl. 25 AD), Stoic philosopher frequently visited by Seneca.
Papirius Fabianus (fl. 30 AD), Teacher of Seneca. Rhetorician and philosopher.
Julius Canus (fl. 30 AD), Stoic philosopher condemned to death by Caligula.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC-65 AD), Statesman, philosopher, and playwright.
Thrasea Paetus (c. 10 AD-66 AD), Roman senator and Stoic.
Lucius Annaeus Cornutus (c. 20-c. 70 AD), Stoic teacher who wrote a Compendium of Greek Theology.
Chaeremon of Alexandria (fl. 50 AD), Stoic philosopher and grammarian. Librarian at Alexandria.
Paconius Agrippinus (fl. 60 AD), Stoic philosopher spoken of with praise by Epictetus.
Heliodorus (Stoic) (fl. 60 AD), Stoic philosopher. Informer in the reign of Nero.
Publius Egnatius Celer (fl. 60 AD), Stoic philosopher. Informer in the reign of Nero.
Helvidius Priscus (fl. 65 AD), Stoic philosopher and statesman.
Arulenus Rusticus (c. 30-93 AD), Statesman. Friend and pupil of Thrasea Paetus.
Musonius Rufus (c. 25-c. 90 AD), Stoic teacher and writer.
Euphrates the Stoic (c. 35-118 AD), Philosopher, orator and pupil of Musonius Rufus.
Dio Chrysostom (c. 40-c. 115 AD), Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian. 80 orations extant.

2nd Century AD

Cleomedes (fl. uncertain), Astronomer who lived later than Posidonius.
Epictetus (of Hierapolis) (c. 55-c. 135 AD), Philosopher, pupil of Musonius Rufus.
Hierocles (Stoic) (fl. 150 AD), Philosopher, wrote "Elements of Ethics".
Flavius Arrianus (c. 90-175 AD), Historian and pupil of Epictetus.
Basilides of Scythopolis (fl. 150 AD), Teacher of Marcus Aurelius.
Apollonius of Chalcedon (fl. 150 AD), Stoic teacher of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
Claudius Maximus (fl. 150 AD), Stoic philosopher and friend of Marcus Aurelius.
Cinna Catulus (fl. 150 AD), Stoic teacher of Marcus Aurelius.
Sextus of Chaeronea (fl. 160 AD), Stoic philosopher and teacher of Marcus Aurelius.
Junius Rusticus (c. 100-c. 170 AD), Philosopher and Consul. Adviser of Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor from 161-180 AD.

3rd Century AD

Medius (fl. 250 AD), Debated the Stoic theory of eight parts of the soul with Longinus

Expedition in Ancient Anatolia

2015-08-06T02:08:00.000+03:00

Early Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey dated to 11000 years ago: Göbekli Tepe, Urfa

New settlement discovered in Konya, Turkey, dating back 11,000 years

Etruscans: Anatolian Italians? A recent DNA-based survey suggests the roots of Etruscans, a pre-Roman civilization in Italy, lie in Anatolia.

An Expedition into the Origins of Civilization: Çatalhöyük first discovered in 1958, brought to worldwide attention by James Mellaart's excavations between 1961 and 1965, which revealed this section of Anatolia as a centre of advanced culture in the Neolithic period. The complex settlement was described by Mellaart as the earliest city in the world. It was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, dating from around 7500 BCE for the lowest layers. It is perhaps the largest and most sophisticated Neolithic site yet uncovered. To give a timescale, remember that Stonehenge, a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles north of Salisbury, was erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC although the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Lycia (Lycian: Trmmisa) is a region in the modern day Antalya Province on the southern coast of Turkey. The region of Lycia has been inhabited by human groups since prehistoric times. The Lycian Way, waymarked long-distance footpath, follows part of the coast of the region. Ancient Egyptian records describe the Lycians as allies of the Hittites. According to Herodotus, Lycia was named after Lycus, the son of Pandion II, king of Athens. Lycia was frequently mentioned by Homer as an ally of Troy. In Homer's Iliad, the Lycian contingent was said to have been lead by two esteemed warriors: Sarpedon (son of Zeus and Laodamia) and Glaucus (son of Hippolochus).

Cappadocia: In the time of Herodotus the Cappadocians occupied the whole region from Mount Taurus to the Euxine (Black Sea). Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age, and was the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa. Cappadocia contains several underground cities, largely used by early Christians as hiding places. The Cappadocian Fathers of the fourth century were integral to much of early Christian philosophy.

The Chora Church (Turkish Kariye Müzesi, Kariye Camii, or Kariye Kilisesi — the Chora Museum, Mosque or Church) is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of a Byzantine church. The church is situated in the western, Edirnekapı district of Istanbul. In the 16th century, the church was converted into a mosque by the Ottoman rulers, and it became a secularised museum in 1948. The interior of the building is covered with fine mosaics and frescoes.

Paul of Tarsus, also known as Saul, Paulus, and Saint Paul the Apostle (AD 3–14 — 62–69), is widely considered to be central to the early development and spread of Christianity, particularly westward from Jerusalem. Many Christians view him as an important interpreter of the teachings of Jesus.

Hattusa (also known as Hattusas, Hattusha or Khattushash) was the capital of the Hittite Empire. Before 2000 BC a settlement of the apparently indigenous Hatti people was established on sites that had been occupied even earlier. The earliest traces of settlement on the site is from the Sixth Millennium BC.

The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in Asia Minor in the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC. Very few traces from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods - when man was still a wandering hunter and gatherer - have been discovered in northern Anatolia. Even from the Neolithic period, when man had begun to settle down to a livelihood of raising his own crops and animals, there is not much more evidence of his populating this region.

Hittites in the Bible: The Hittites (also Hethites) and Children of Heth, translating Hebrew חתי and בני-חת are the second of the eleven Canaanite nations in the Hebrew Bible. They are purportedly descended from one Heth (חֵת), a son of Canaan, son of Ham, and they are mentioned in Genesis as having sold land to Abraham. Identification hypotheses and lst of Biblical references.

History of the Hittites: Around 2000 BC, the region centered in Hattusa, that would later become the core of the Hittite kingdom, was inhabited by people with a distinct culture who spoke a non-Indo-European language, "Hattic". In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Empire was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, north-western Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly from cuneiform texts found in the area of their empire, and from tablets of diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle East.

Hittites: During sporadic excavations at Boğazköy (Hattusa) that began in 1905, the archaeologist Hugo Winckler found a royal archive with 10,000 tablets, inscribed in cuneiform Akkadian and the same unknown language as the Egyptian letters from Kheta. Biblical Hittites, Children of Heth are said to be a great power who dwell "in the mountains" and "towards the north" of Canaan.

The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), by the armies of the Achaeans, after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, of which the two most famous are the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer.

Troy (Τροία, Ίλιον) is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Trojan War cycle, especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer.Today it is the name of an archaeological site, the traditional location of Homeric Troy, Turkish Truva, in Hisarlık in Anatolia, close to the seacoast in what is now Çanakkale province in northwest Turkey, southwest of the Dardanelles under Mount Ida. A new city of Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople, and declined gradually during Byzantine times.

Ancient Hittite dam inaugurated after 32 centuries: A Hittite-era dam located in the central Anatolian province of Çorum and believed to be one of the oldest in the world to have survived to date has been restored and is once again serving as a source of irrigation for local residents. The dam, located at the Alacahöyük archaeological site, was built by the Hittites in 1240 B.C. The dam was ordered by Hittite King Tudhaliya IV in the name of goddess Hepat, according to ancient Hittite tablets. After a drought Anatolia suffered in 1200 B.C., Tudhaliya IV imported wheat from Egypt so that his subjects would not suffer a famine. Following this, the king ordered numerous dams to be built in central Anatolia, in 1240 B.C. The construction technique used in building the dam was similar to those of today but that the stone blocks forming the dam were joined with clay instead of cement. The Hittites used the dam to provide both irrigation and tap water. Tap water was collected in a separate pool, and after filtering, the water was carried to the city center two kilometers away. Canals built based on the water's flow astonished us.

St. Peter of Antioch

2015-05-12T14:08:00.001+03:00

The Church of Saint Peter near Antakya (Antioch), Turkey, is composed of a cave carved into the mountainside on Mount Starius. This cave, which some believe was used by the very first Christians, is one of Christianity's oldest churches. +

Saint Peter, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Church. The Roman Catholic Church considers him to be the first Pope, ordained by Jesus in the "Rock of My Church" dialogue in Matthew 16:18. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a major saint and associate him with founding the Church of Antioch and later the Church in Rome, but differ about the authority of his various successors in present-day Christianity.

According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, since he saw himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus. +

People of Ya-Sin is the phrase used by Muslims to refer to an ancient community who are mentioned in the Quran as the People of the City or the Companions of the City. +

The Church of Antioch is one of the five major churches that composed the Christian Church before the East-West Schism. +

Assos of Ancient Philosophers

2015-01-23T06:53:00.003+02:00

Assos is an Aegean-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins continue to be excavated, today known as Behramkale or for short Behram, is a small historically rich town in the Ayvacık district of the Çanakkale Province, Turkey.

The city was founded from 1000 to 900 BC by Aeolian colonists from Lesbos, who specifically are said to have come from Methymna. The settlers built a Doric Temple to Athena on top of the crag in 530 BC. Hermias of Atarneus, a student of Plato, ruled Assos, the Troad and Lesbos for a period of time, under which the city experienced its greatest prosperity. (Hermias was actually the slave of the ruler of Atarneus.) Under his rule, he encouraged philosophers to come to the city.

After leaving the Platonic Academy in Athens, Aristotle accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Assos, where he was welcomed by King Hermias, and opened an Academy in the city (c. 347 BC). In the Academy of Assos, Aristotle became a chief to a group of philosophers. There, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. There is a modern statue of Aristotle at the town entrance. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as "The First Teacher". The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek word which literally means "love of wisdom".

In metaphysics, Aristotelianism profoundly influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as "The First Teacher".

Cleanthes of Assos (c. 330-230 BC), was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the successor to Zeno as the second head, scholarch of the Stoic school in Athens. He came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. After the death of Zeno, c. 262 BC, he became the head of the school, a post he held for the next 32 years. Cleanthes successfully preserved and developed Zeno's doctrines. He originated new ideas in Stoic physics, and developed Stoicism in accordance with the principles of materialism and pantheism. Cleanthes revolutionized Stoic physics by the theory of tension (tonos) which distinguished Stoic materialism from all conception of matter as dead and inert. He developed Stoic pantheism, and applied his materialistic views to logic and ethics. Thus he argued that the soul was a material substance. He regarded the Sun as being divine; because the Sun sustains all living things, it resembled the divine fire which (in Stoic physics) animated all living beings, hence it too must be part of the vivifying fire or aether of the universe. His pupil was Chrysippus of Soli who became one of the most important Stoic thinkers.

It is possible to see much of the surrounding area on a clear day from the ancient Temple of Athena, built on top of a trachyte crag, nearby Lesbos in the south, Pergamum in the southeast, and Mount Ida of Phrygia in the east. To the north, the Tuzla River flows.

Assos had a harbour, which was the only good harbour on the 80 kilometres (50 mi) of the north coast of the Adramyttian Gulf. This made Assos a key shipping station through the Troad.

St. Paul also visited the city during his third missionary journey through Asia Minor, which was between 53-57 AD, on his way to Lesbos. From this period onwards, Assos shrunk to a small village, as it has remained ever since.

Down the steep seaward side of the hill at the water's edge is the hamlet called İskele (meaning "Pier" or "Wharf"), with old stone houses now serving as inns, pensions and restaurants. There is a small pebbly beach. There are boat tours and tours of the hamlet itself. The narrow road to the hamlet is steep with sheer drops.

Read more on stoic philosophy and cosmology: Pneuma Cosmos: Logos, life & lego bricks of cosmos

Göbeklitepe, the Origins of Civilization

2014-07-22T11:03:00.000+03:00

"We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization".

National Geographic, June 2011

13000 Years Ago!

Göbekli Tepe is the oldest human-made place of worship yet discovered. Until excavations began, a complex on this scale was not thought possible for a community so ancient. The massive sequence of stratification layers suggests several millennia of activity, perhaps reaching back to the Mesolithic. The oldest occupation layer (stratum III) contains monolithic pillars linked by coarsely built walls to form circular or oval structures. So far, four such buildings, with diameters between 10–30 metres (33–98 ft) have been uncovered. Geophysical surveys indicate the existence of 16 additional structures.

Stratum II, dated to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (7500–6000 BC), has revealed several adjacent rectangular rooms with floors of polished lime, reminiscent of Roman terrazzo floors. The most recent layer consists of sediment deposited as the result of agricultural activity.

The monoliths are decorated with carved reliefs of animals and of abstract pictograms. The pictograms may represent commonly understood sacred symbols, as known from Neolithic cave paintings elsewhere. The carefully carved figurative reliefs depict lions, bulls, boars, foxes, gazelles, asses, snakes and other reptiles, insects, arachnids, and birds, particularly vultures and water fowl. At the time the shrine was constructed the surrounding country was much lusher and capable of sustaining this variety of wildlife, before millennia of settlement and cultivation resulted in the near–Dust Bowl conditions prevailing today.

Vultures also feature in the iconography of the Neolithic sites of Çatalhöyük and Jericho; it is believed that in the early Neolithic culture of Anatolia and the Near East the deceased were deliberately exposed in order to be excarnated by vultures and other birds of prey. (The head of the deceased was sometimes removed and preserved—possibly a sign of ancestor worship.) This, then, would represent an early form of sky burial, as practiced today by Tibetan Buddhists and Zoroastrians in India.

Few humanoid forms have surfaced at Göbekli Tepe, but include a relief of a naked woman, posed frontally in a crouched position, that Schmidt likens to the Venus accueillante figures found in Neolithic north Africa; and of at least one decapitated corpse surrounded by vultures. Some of the pillars, namely the T-shaped ones, have carved arms, which may indicate that they represent stylized humans (or anthropomorphic gods). Another example is decorated with human hands in what could be interpreted as a prayer gesture, with a simple stole or surplice engraved above; this may be intended to represent a temple priest.

Architecture

The houses or temples are round megalithic buildings. The walls are made of unworked dry stone and include numerous T-shaped monolithic pillars of limestone that are up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) high. Another, bigger pair of pillars is placed in the centre of the structures. There is evidence that the structures were roofed; the central pair of pillars may have supported the roof. The floors are made of terrazzo (burnt lime), and there is a low bench running along the whole of the exterior wall.

Economy

While the site formally belongs to the earliest Neolithic (PPN A), up to now no traces of domesticated plants or animals have been found. The inhabitants were hunters and gatherers who nevertheless lived in villages for at least part of the year. Schmidt speculates that the site played a key function in the transition to agriculture; he assumes that the necessary social organization needed for the creation of these structures went hand-in-hand with the organized exploitation of wild crops. For sustenance, wild cereals may have been used more intensively than before; perhaps they were even deliberately cultivated. Recent DNA analysis of modern domesticated wheat compared with wild wheat has shown that its DNA is closest in structure to wild wheat found on Mount Karaca Dağ 20 miles (32 km) away from the site, leading one to believe that this is where modern wheat was first domesticated.

Schmidt considers Göbekli Tepe a central location for a cult of the dead. He suggests that the carved animals are there to protect the dead. Though no tombs or graves have been found so far, Schmidt believes they remain to be discovered beneath the sacred circles' floors. Schmidt also interprets it in connection with the initial stages of an incipient Neolithic. It is one of several neolithic sites in the vicinity of Mount Karaca Dağ, an area where geneticists suspect the origins of at least some of our cultivated grains (see Einkorn). Such scholars suggest that the Neolithic revolution, i.e., the beginnings of grain cultivation, took place here. Schmidt and others believe that mobile groups in the area were forced to cooperate with each other to protect early concentrations of wild cereals from wild animals (herds of gazelles and wild donkeys). This would have led to an early social organization of various groups in the area of Göbekli Tepe. Thus, according to Schmidt, the Neolithic did not begin on a small scale in the form of individual instances of garden cultivation, but started immediately as a large-scale social organisation ("a full-scale revolution").

Chronological context

All statements about the site must be considered preliminary, as only about 5% of the site's total area has been excavated as yet; floor levels have been reached in only the second complex (complex B), which also contained a terrazzo-like floor. Schmidt believes that the dig could well continue for another fifty years, "and barely scratch the surface." So far excavations have revealed very little evidence for residential use. Through the radiocarbon method, the end of stratum III can be fixed at c. 9000 BC (see above); its beginnings are estimated to 11,000 BC or earlier. Stratum II dates to about 8000 BC.

Thus, the structures not only predate pottery, metallurgy, and the invention of writing or the wheel; they were built before the so-called Neolithic Revolution, i.e., the beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry around 9000 BC. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organisation of an order of complexity not hitherto associated with pre-Neolithic societies. The archaeologists estimate that up to 500 persons were required to extract the 10–20-metric-ton (9.8–20 LT; 11–22 ST) pillars (in fact, some weigh up to 50 metric tons (49 LT; 55 ST)) from local quarries and move them 100–500 metres (330–1,600 ft) to the site. It is generally believed that an elite class of religious leaders supervised the work and later controlled whatever ceremonies took place here. If so, this would be the oldest known evidence for a priestly caste—much earlier than such social distinctions developed elsewhere in the Near East.

Around the beginning of the 8th millennium BC "Potbelly Hill" lost its importance. The advent of agriculture and animal husbandry brought new realities to human life in the area, and the "stone-age zoo" (as Schmidt calls it) depicted on the pillars apparently lost whatever significance it had had for the region's older, foraging, communities. But the complex was not simply abandoned and forgotten, to be gradually destroyed by the elements. Instead, it was deliberately buried under 300 to 500 cubic metres (390 to 650 cu yd) of soil. Why this was done is unknown, but it preserved the monuments for posterity.

Interpretation and Importance

Göbekli Tepe is regarded as an archaeological discovery of the greatest importance since it profoundly changes our understanding of a crucial stage in the development of human societies. It seems that the erection of monumental complexes was within the capacities of hunter-gatherers and not only of sedentary farming communities as had been previously assumed. In other words, as excavator Klaus Schmidt puts it: "First came the temple, then the city." This revolutionary hypothesis will have to be supported or modified by future research.

Not only its large dimensions, but the side-by-side existence of multiple pillar shrines makes the location unique. There are no comparable monumental complexes from its time. Nevalı Çori, a well-known Neolithic settlement also excavated by the German Archaeological Institute, and submerged by the Atatürk Dam since 1992, is 500 years later, its T-shaped pillars are considerably smaller, and its shrine was located inside a village; the roughly contemporary architecture at Jericho is devoid of artistic merit or large-scale sculpture; and Çatalhöyük, perhaps the most famous of all Anatolian Neolithic villages, is 2,000 years younger.

Schmidt has engaged in some speculation regarding the belief systems of the groups that created Göbekli Tepe, based on comparisons with other shrines and settlements. He assumes shamanic practices and suggests that the T-shaped pillars may represent mythical creatures, perhaps ancestors, whereas he sees a fully articulated belief in gods only developing later in Mesopotamia, associated with extensive temples and palaces. This corresponds well with an ancient Sumerian belief that agriculture, animal husbandry and weaving had been brought to mankind from the sacred mountain Du-Ku, which was inhabited by Annuna—deities, very ancient gods without individual names. Klaus Schmidt identifies this story as an oriental primeval myth that preserves a partial memory of the Neolithic. It is also apparent that the animal and other images give no indication of organized violence, i.e., there are no depictions of hunting raids or wounded animals, and the pillar carvings ignore game on which the society mainly subsisted, like deer, in favor of formidable creatures such as lions, snakes, spiders and scorpions.

Questions & Answers

At present, Göbekli Tepe raises more questions for archaeology and prehistory than it answers. We do not know how a force large enough to construct, augment, and maintain such a substantial complex was mobilized and paid or fed in the conditions of pre-Neolithic society. We cannot "read" the pictograms, and do not know for certain what meaning the animal reliefs had for visitors to the site; the variety of fauna depicted, from lions and boars to birds and insects, makes any single explanation problematic. As there seems to be little or no evidence of habitation, and the animals depicted on the stones are mainly predators, the stones may have been intended to stave off evils through some form of magic representation; it is also possible that they served as totems. It is not known why more and more walls were added to the interiors while the sanctuary was in use, with the result that some of the engraved pillars were obscured from view. Burial may or may not have occurred at the site. The reason the complex was eventually buried remains unexplained. Until more evidence is gathered, it is difficult to deduce anything certain about the originating culture.

More on National Geographic Magazine, June 2011:
Göbekli Tepe, The Birth of Religion, Charles C. Mann, Vincent J. Musi
Building Göbekli Tepe, Illustration by Fernando Baptista
Text source: Wikipedia
Photographs: ancient-anatolia.blogspot.com

Saint Nicholas of Myra

2013-12-26T09:39:00.001+02:00

Saint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey, lived between 270 - 6 December 346. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.

The earliest church of St. Nicholas at Myra was built in the 6th century. The present-day church was constructed mainly from the 8th century onward; a monastery was added in the second half of the 11th century.

In 1863, Tsar Alexander II of Russia purchased the building and began restoration, but the work was never finished. In 1963 the eastern and southern sides of the church were excavated. In 1968 the former tomb of St. Nicholas was roofed over.

The floor of the church is made of opus sectile, a mosaic of coloured marble, and there are some remains of frescoes on the walls. An ancient Greek marble sarcophagus had been reused to bury the Saint.

Zeugma, la cité antique engloutie du sud de la Turquie

2013-11-06T15:55:00.001+02:00

Zeugma fut fondée sur les rives de l'Euphrate par un général d'Alexandre le Grand environ 300 ans avant Jésus Christ. Elle comprenait environ 80 000 habitants et se trouvait sur la Route de la soie. Elle fut habitée durant plus de 1400 ans. Zeugma possédait de nombreux temples, théâtres, nécropoles et grandes demeures patriciennes romaines qui comprenaient de magnifiques mosaïques et peintures murales. La mise en service du nouveau barrage de Birecik en 2000 entraina l'engloutissement ainsi que la destruction quasi totale de Zeugma.

Zeugma was founded on the banks of the Euphrates on the Silk Road by a general of Alexander the Great about 300 years before Christ. It was inhabited for over 1400 years, with many temples, theaters, cemeteries and large Roman patrician houses which included wonderful mosaics and wall paintings. The commissioning of the new Birecik Dam in 2000 resulted in the sinking and the almost total destruction of Zeugma.

Hattians - First Civilizations in Anatolia

2013-10-17T06:15:00.000+03:00

The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in Asia Minor in the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC. They spoke a non-Indo-European language of uncertain affiliation called Hattic (now believed by some to be related to the Northwest Caucasian language group). They eventually merged with or were replaced by the Hittites, who spoke the Indo-European Hittite language.

Hattusha, or Boğazköy, lies in northern Central Anatolia, just at the north edge of the ancient region of Cappadocia. Within a dry continental climatic zone, we see scant steppe-vegetation; over some large areas there is scarcely a tree in sight. The winters are long and cold; the summers relatively short, but hot. This was not always the case, however; in earlier times the climate was more moist, with lesser extremes in temperature. Bordering the central steppe of Cappadocia (to the south of Yozgat) were more temperate regions-most particularly to the north-with dense vegetation and forests. The denser plant cover prevented erosion and raised the level of the ground water, which again benefited the vegetation. Conditions were more suitable for agriculture and husbandry than today, and the woods sheltered a large variety of wild game.

Very few traces from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods-when man was still a wandering hunter and gatherer-have been discovered in northern Anatolia. Even from the Neolithic period, when man had begun to settle down to a livelihood of raising his own crops and animals, there is not much more evidence of his populating this region. The early farming societies apparently did not find the wooded, mountainous landscape to their liking. The open meadows and milder climates to the south must have been more attractive, for that is where the first developed farming communities sprang up; of these, Çatalhöyük (Çatal Hüyük) near Cumra in the Konya Plain is perhaps the best known.

The ruins excavated demonstrate that the city of Hattush was burned down in a great conflagration around 1700 BC. Responsible was King Anitta from Kussar, who also put a curse on the site. But already by the second half of the 17th century BC the temptation to settle here again had obviously become overwhelming, for a Hittite king had indeed chosen the site as his residence and capital. The Hattian Hattush was now the Hittite Hattusha, and the king took the name of Hattushili, or "one from Hattusha." This is the beginning of the story of the Hittite capital and the Hittite Royals - until now, 27 kings are known by their names.

Before the Hittites: The autochthonous Anatolians
(6th -3rd millennia BC)
The first "settling in" around Boğazköy took place in the 6th millennium BC during the Chalcolithic period, when small widely scattered hamlets appeared most particularly on mountain slopes and rocky outcroppings. Such a small settlement on the heights of the Büyükkaya ridge represents the earliest known inhabitancy within the Hattusha city limits. A contemporary settlement has also been found near Yarıkkaya, some two kilometers NE of Hattusha.

In the following millennia settlement in this wooded landscape of northern Anatolia increased very slowly. It was first in the 3rd millennium BC-during the Early Bronze Age-that coherent zones of habitation, settlements that actively traded with one another, developed and founded the basis for advancement in society. Small settlements grew into political and religious centers, wielding their influence over larger and larger dominions. The discovery and development of the mineral sources in northern Anatolia is believed to have been one of the stimulating factors. One thriving center was located at Alaca Höyük, only 25 km from Hattusha/Boğazköy. The astoundingly rich chamber tombs (known as the Royal Graves) discovered at Alaca Höyük yielded elegantly fashioned weapons, jewelry, and sculpture, as well as implements and vessels of gold, silver, electron, bronze-and even iron-from a period as early as 2400-2200 BC. The inhabitants of the site were Hatti, the natives of north and Central Anatolia and the predecessors of the Hittites in this region.

Soon there was a Hattian settlement at Boğazköy as well, and this habitation, founded towards the end of the Early Bronze Age, marked the beginning of continuous occupation at the site. Remnants of the Hattian settlement have been located under the fill of the Hittite Lower City. During this period there was also occupation on the high ridges of Büyükkaya and Büyükkale, with evidence even of fortification walls.

Assyrian Trade Colonies Period defines the period in Anatolia in the beginning of the second millenium B.C. Spans a period of approximately 200 years and marks the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Anatolia.

Assyrian merchants who came to Anatolia for trading brought the cuneiform script that they learned from Sumerians and thus written history began in Anatolia.

Terra cotta and stone vessels, seals and stamps, figurines, lead god and goddess figurines and moulds, cosmetic boxes, golden objects and ornaments, bronze tools and weapons found at Kültepe, Acemhöyük, Alişar, and Boğazköy excavations are seen in Ankara Museum of Archaeology.

Kültepe tablets, which are the earliest written Anatolian documents, zoomorphic ritual vessels called rhytons, bronze dagger with cuneiform script belongs to Anitta, King of Kanesh, ivory box discovered at Acemhöyük are artefacts especially worth to see. More...

Hattush and the Assyrian Trade Colonies (ca. 2000-1700 v. Chr.)

During the Middle Bronze Age the Hattian occupation grew into a city of such significance that a Karum was established here in the 19th and 18th centuries BC - a trading post of Assyrian merchants who had come from Assur (in the middle Tigris valley, now a part of northern Iraq) to procure natural resources such as copper, silver, gold and precious stones. Long caravans of donkeys transported these materials to Mesopotamia, where they loaded Mesopotamian goods for exchange-including tin, garments and fabric-and set out on the return journey. Along their route the Assyrian merchants also dealt in local Anatolian products; the whole of eastern Anatolia was enmeshed in the net of their routes, knotted together by their trade colonies. In Central Anatolia they established such colonies at several centers of Hattian rule. The Assyrian traders and their families lived in separate residential quarters; they enjoyed the protection of their Hattian lords and paid taxes in return. The center of their network was located in Kanesh/Nesha (at the site of Kültepe near Kayseri).

It was these Assyrian traders who first introduced writing to Anatolia, for business could hardly be transacted without documentation. Purchases and sales, orders, credits, and exchanges were all recorded in Akkadian cuneiform writing on clay tablets. On these tablets the name of the city was written as well; Boğazköy was still-or already, we had better say-Hattush.

During this era, known as the Karum period, fortifications were laid out on Büyükkale. It would seem that the rulers of Hattush resided there; the rest of the Hattian settlement stretched from the slope below Büyükkale to the area where the Great Temple of the Hittites was later erected. The Karum of the Assyrian traders lay just to the north. Both the settlement and the Karum must also have been fortified against enemy attacks.

Hattians vs. Hittites

During these first centuries of the 2nd millennium BC there appears to have been frequent strife in Central Anatolia between the local Hattian rulers and the immigrant Hittite groups who were anxious to consolidate their power. The ruins excavated demonstrate that the city of Hattush was burned down in a great conflagration around 1700 BC. The destruction of the city was even inscribed in cuneiform; a King Anitta of Kushar reports that he has defeated King Piyushti of Hattush and destroyed his city. "At night I took the city by force; I have sown weeds in its place. Should any king after me attempt to resettle Hattush," he wrote, "may the Weathergod of Heaven strike him down." Anitta chose the city of Kanesh/Nesha, some 160 km to the southeast and already quite influential as the center of the Assyrian trade colonies, as his capital.

We do not know how long Anitta's curse on the city of Hattush was respected, but the advantages of the site and the many springs there were certainly enough to have attracted settlers relatively soon. By the second half of the 17th century BC the temptation had obviously become overwhelming, for a Hittite king had indeed chosen the site as his residence and capital. The Hattian Hattush was now the Hittite Hattusha.

The Hattians may have been connected, in language and proximity, to the Khaldi/Kardu. The Khaldi were a Bronze Age people inhabiting the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea (now part of Turkey). They were related in proximity and probably also in language to the Hattians, an ancient people of Asia Minor, whose Hattic language is now believed to have been related to the Circassian language group. Another ancient ethnic group possibly associated with the Khaldi are the Kardu.

The Khaldi, and neighboring tribes Khalib/Chalybes, Mossynoikoi, and Tubal/Tabal/Tibarenoi, are counted among the first ironsmith nations by classical authors.

The main sources for the history of the Khaldi are certain well-known works by Homer, Strabo, and Xenophon.

As late as in Roman times, the Chaldaei (i.e. Khaldi, homonymous but unrelated to the Semitic Chaldeans) are mentioned as a tribe immediately neighboring the Chalybes in Pontic Cappadocia, or the Pontus Cappadocicus section of the Roman province of Pontus.

Exploring lost civilizations of 5000 years at mound Acemhöyük: Assyrian Trade Colonies and city states of Anatolia in late Hatti times.
Hattic mythology.
Search for the lost city Purushanda, draft worksheet.
More @ Ankara Archaeology Museum

From a Myth to un-Buried Cities

2013-10-15T12:12:00.000+03:00

In Greek mythology, Midas is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold: the Midas touch. In alchemy, the transmutation of an object into gold is known as chrysopoeia.

Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and who by some accounts was the goddess-mother of Midas himself. Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion In Mygdonia Midas was known for his garden of roses: Herodotus remarks on the settlement of the ancient kings of Macedon on the slopes of Mount Bermion "the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenos was taken captive." According to Iliad (v.860), he had one son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men; but in some variations of the myth he had a daughter, Zoë or "life" instead.

The Great Tumulus at Mid Anatolia

In 1957 archaeologists connected with the University of Pennsylvania opened a chamber tomb at the heart of the Great Tumulus (height : 53 m, diameter : about 300 m) on the site of ancient Gordion (modern Yassihöyük, Turkey), where there are located more than 100 tumuli of different sizes and of different periods. They discovered an early eighth century royal burial, complete with remains of the funeral feast and "the best collection of Iron Age drinking vessels ever uncovered". This inner chamber was rather large : 5.15 by 6.20 m. The height of the ceiling was 3.25 m. On a wooden bedstead in the corner of the chamber lay a skeleton of a man of 1.59 m height and about 60 years old. In the room there were decorated tables and panels, and many vessels with grave offerings. Though no identifying texts were associated with the site, it is popularly dubbed the "Tomb of Midas" (Penn). But later investigations showed that this funerary monument couldn't have been constructed after the Cimmerian invasion in the early seventh century BCE. Therefore it is now believed to be the monument for an earlier king than Midas.

A "tomb of Midas" identified in the nineteenth century at Midas Sehri on the basis of the word "Mida", identified in incompletely translated Phrygian inscriptions, is not today interpreted as a tomb, but instead a site sacred to Cybele.

Myth

Once, as Ovid relates in Metamorphoses X Dionysus found his old schoolmaster and foster father, the satyr Silenus, missing. The old satyr had been drinking wine, and had wandered away drunk, and was found by some Phrygian peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden). Midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus entertained Midas and his friends with stories and songs. On the eleventh day he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in Lydia. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever reward he wanted. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone and both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table. "So Midas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold: but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold cursed his prayer" (Claudian, In Rufinem). In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he found that when he touched his daughter, she turned into a statue as well.

Now he hated the gift he had coveted. He prayed to Dionysus, begging to be delivered from starvation. Dionysus heard and consented; he told Midas to wash in the river Pactolus. He did so, and when he touched the waters, the power passed into the river, and the river sands became changed into gold. This explained why the river Pactolus was so rich in gold and the wealth of the dynasty claiming Midas as forefather, no doubt the impetus for this etiological myth. (Graves). Gold was perhaps not the only metallic source of Midas' riches: "King Midas, a Phrygian, son of Cybele, first discovered black and white lead."

Midas, now hating wealth and splendor, moved to the country and became a worshipper of Pan, the god of the fields and satyr. Roman mythographers asserted that his tutor in music was Orpheus. Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill (also see Marsyas). Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen as umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and caused them to become the ears of a donkey. The myth is illustrated by two paintings "Apollo and Marsyas" by Palma il Giovane (1544-1628), one depicting the scene before, and one after the punishment.

Midas was mortified at this mishap. He attempted to hide his misfortune with an ample turban or headdress. But his hairdresser of course knew the secret. He was told not to mention it. He could not keep the secret; so he went out into the meadow, dug a hole in the ground, whispered the story into it, and covered the hole up. A thick bed of reeds sprang up in the meadow, and began whispering the story and saying "King Midas has a donkey's ears."

Sarah Morris demonstrated (Morris 2004) that donkeys' ears were a Bronze Age royal attribute, borne by King Tarkasnawa (Greek Tarkondemos) of Mira, on a seal inscribed in both Hittite cuneiform and Luwian hieroglyphs: in this connection the myth would appear to justify for Greeks the exotic attribute.

Gordias

Gordias (or Gordius) was a royal name in the mythic prehistory of Phrygia. In the mythological age, kings of Phrygia were alternately named Gordias and Midas.

In the founding myth of Gordium, the first Gordias was a Phrygian farmer. When an eagle landed on the pole of his ox-cart, he interpreted it as a sign that he would one day become a king. The eagle did not stir as he drove the cart to the oracle of Sabazios at the old, more easterly cult center, Telmissus, in the part of Phrygia that later became part of Galatia. At the gates of the city he encountered a seeress, who counselled him to offer sacrifices to Zeus/Sabazios:

"'Let me come with you, peasant,' she said, 'to make sure that you select the right victims.' "By all means,' replied Gordius. 'You appear to be a wise and considerate young woman. Are you prepared to marry me?' 'As soon as the sacrifices have been offered,' she answered."

Meanwhile, the Phrygians, suddenly finding themselves without a king, consulted the oracle and were told to acclaim as king the first man to ride up to the temple in a cart. It was the farmer Gordias who appeared, riding in his ox-cart with his patroness.

Gordias founded the city of Gordium, which became the Phrygian capital. His ox-cart was preserved in the acropolis. In this manner the founding myth justified the succession of Gordium to Telmissus as cult center of Phrygia. Its yoke was secured with an intricate knot called the Gordian Knot. The legend of Gordium, widely disseminated by the publicists of Alexander the Great said that he who could unravel it would be master of 'Asia' which was equated at the time with Anatolia. Instead, Alexander sliced the knot in half with his sword, in 333 BCE.

With Cybele, or under her patronage as Great Mother, goddess of Phrygia, Gordias adopted Midas, who was recast as his son in later mythology.

A later Gordias was a Phrygian king, the father with Eurynome of Adrastus. Adrastus accidentally killed his own brother and had to flee to Lycia. Wikipedia

Gordium

Gordium (Greek: Gordion, Turkish Gordiyon) was the capital of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassihüyük, about 70-80 km southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the immediate vicinity of Polatlı district.

Gordium is situated on the place where the ancient Royal road between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia crosses the river Sangarius (Sakarya River), which flows from central Anatolia to the Black Sea. Remains of the road are still visible.

The city became the capital of the Phrygians, a Thracian tribe that had invaded and settled in Asia Minor. They created a large kingdom in the 8th century BCE, that occupied the greater part of Asia Minor west of the river Halys. The kings of Phrygia built large tombs near Gordium. These wooden chambers were covered by artificial hills called tumuli. There are about 80 of them. In the eighth century, the citadel was fortified and in the next century, the town became very large indeed. A palace was built in the citadel. To the south of it was a lower city, and a large suburb was to be found on the other bank of the Sangarius.

The most famous king of Phrygia was the quasi-legendary Midas. Contemporary Assyrian sources dating at least 717 to 709 BC call him Mit-ta-a. During his reign, according to Strabo, a nomadic tribe called Cimmerians invaded Asia Minor, and in 710/709, Midas was forced to ask for help from the Assyrian king Sargon II. However, this did not prevent the Cimmerian invasion. In 696/695, Midas committed suicide after a lost battle. There are traces of destruction at Gordium. Archaeology and radiocarbon were claimed to indicate that the traces are older than the attack by the Cimmerians, and so attest to an otherwise unrecorded early Iron Age destruction in the early 9th century. The archaeological interpretation has been argued against, however, and the radiocarbon analysis seems to be erroneous.

The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, was excavated in 1957. Its diameter is a little short of 300 meters and it is 43 meters high. In the wooden chamber, which measured 5 × 6 meters, a man's corpse was found, and even the contents of his last dinner could be reconstructed. The tumulus also contained one of the oldest alphabetic inscriptions outside Phoenicia (c.740 BCE). On chronological grounds, the possibility that the dead man was indeed king Midas can be excluded. He may have been the famous king's father or grandfather.

After half a century of confusion, western Asia Minor was reunited by the Lydians, whose first great king was Gyges (c.680-c.644). One of his successors, Alyattes (c.600-560), built a massive fortress on a hill near the citadel.

When Lydia was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great and its last king Croesus killed (547), a Persian garrison took possession of this fortress. Gordium was now included in the satrapy of Greater Phrygia. The garrison stayed there until the last months of 334, when the Macedonian commander Parmenion captured the city. During the winter, his king Alexander the Great joined him, traditionally cutting the Gordian Knot in the palace.

After the troubles following the death of Alexander, Gordium was first ruled by the Seleucid kings of Asia, then by the Galatian Celts (the remains of their human sacrifices have been found), then by the Attalid rulers of Pergamum, and eventually by the Romans. It remained one of the most important commercial centers in the region, but the size of the city itself diminished. The old center -citadel and lower town- was abandoned after the Roman conquest in 189 BCE; only the western suburbs remained occupied in the Roman era. Wikipedia

Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia (Greek: Φρυγία) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern day Turkey. The Phrygians (Phruges or Phryges) initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus under the name of Bryges(/Briges), changing it to "Phruges" after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont.

During the floruit of the city-state of Troy a part of the Bryges emigrated to Anatolia as Trojan allies or under the protection of Troy. The Trojan language did not survive; consequently, its exact relationship to the Phrygian language and the affinity of Phrygian society to that of Troy remain open questions. Similarly the date of migration and the relationship of the Phrygians to the Hittite empire are unknown. A conventional date of c. 1200 BC often is used, at the very end of the empire. It is certain that Phrygia was constituted on Hittite land, and yet not at the very center of Hittite power in the big bend of the Halys river, where Ankara now is.

Subsequently the state of Phrygia arose in the 8th century BC with capital at Gordium. During this period the Phrygians extended eastward and encroached upon the kingdom of Urartu, the descendants of the Hurrians, a former rival of the Hittites.

Meanwhile the Phrygian kingdom was overwhelmed by Iranian Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC, then briefly conquered by its neighbor Lydia, before it passed successively into the Persian Empire of Cyrus, the empire of Alexander and his successors, was taken by the Attalids of Pergamon, and eventually became part of the Roman Empire. The Phrygian language survived until about the 6th century AD, when it finally gave way to Greek.

Phrygians are mentioned by Homer as dwelling in two regions of Anatolia:

In Ascania, the region around Lake Ascania in Bithynia of northwest Anatolia. The Trojan allies mentioned in the Catalog of Trojans are from there.
In the "swift-horsed" country of Phrygia, a land of "many fortresses", on the banks of the Sangarius (now Sakarya River), the third longest river in modern Turkey, which flows north and west to empty into the Black Sea. There Otreus is king. Priam once was there on the occasion of the war of the Phrygians against the Amazons and reports seeing many horses and that the leaders of the Phrygians were Otreus and Mygdon. Priam's wife's brother, Asios, was the son of Dymas, a Phrygian.

Later, Phrygia was conceived as lying west of the Halys River (now Kızıl River) and east of Mysia and Lydia.

Culture

It was the 'Great Mother', Cybele, as the Greeks and Romans knew her, who was originally worshiped in the mountains of Phrygia, where she was known as 'Mountain Mother'. In her typical Phrygian form, she wears a long belted dress, a polos (a high cylindrical headdress), and a veil covering the whole body. The later version of Cybele was established by a pupil of Phidias, the sculptor Agoracritus, and became the image most widely adopted by Cybele's expanding following, both in the Aegean world and at Rome. It shows her humanized though still enthroned, her hand resting on an attendant lion and the other holding the tympanon a circular frame drum, similar to a tambourine.

The Phrygians also venerated Sabazios, the sky and father–god depicted on horseback. Although the Greeks associated Sabazios with Zeus, representations of him, even at Roman times, show him as a horseman god. His conflicts with the indigenous Mother Goddess, whose creature was the Lunar Bull, may be surmised in the way that Sabazios' horse places a hoof on the head of a bull, in a Roman relief at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Phrygia developed an advanced Bronze Age culture. The earliest traditions of Greek music of Greece, derived from Phrygia and transmitted through the Greek colonies in Anatolia, included the Phrygian mode, which was considered to be the warlike mode in ancient Greek music. Phrygian Midas, the king of the "golden touch", was tutored in music by Orpheus himself, according to the myth. Another musical invention that came from Phrygia was the aulos, a reed instrument with two pipes. Marsyas, the satyr who first formed the instrument using the hollowed antler of a stag, was a Phrygian follower of Cybele. He unwisely competed in music with Olympian Apollo, and inevitably lost. Whereupon Apollo flayed Marsyas alive and provocatively hung his skin on Cybele's own sacred tree, a pine.

Phrygia retained a separate cultural identity. Classical Greek iconography identifies the Trojan Paris as non-Greek by his Phrygian cap, which was worn by Mithras and survived into modern imagery as the "Liberty cap" of the American and French revolutionaries. The Phrygians spoke an Indo-European language. (See Phrygian language.) Although the Phrygians adopted the alphabet originated by the Phoenicians, and several dozen inscriptions in the Phrygian language have been found, they remain untranslated, and so much of what is thought to be known of Phrygia is second-hand information from Greek sources.

Mythic past

Mythic kings of Phrygia were alternately named Gordias and Midas. Some sources place Tantalus as a king in Phrygia. Tantalus is endlessly punished in Tartarus because he killed his son Pelops and sacrificially offered him to the Olympians, a reference to the suppression of human sacrifice. In the mythic age before the Trojan war, during a time of interregnum, Gordius (or 'Gordias'), a Phrygian farmer, became king, fulfilling an oracular prophecy. The kingless Phrygians had turned for guidance to the oracle of Sabazios ("Zeus" to the Greeks) at Telmissus, in the part of Phrygia that later became part of Galatia. They had been instructed by the oracle to acclaim as their king the first man who rode up to the god's temple in a cart. That man was Gordias (Gordios, Gordius), a farmer, who dedicated the ox-cart in question, tied to its shaft with the "Gordian Knot." Gordias refounded a capital at Gordium in west central Anatolia, situated on the old trackway through the heart of Anatolia that became Darius' Persian "Royal Road" from Pessinus to Ancyra, and not far from the River Sangarius.

Myths surrounding the first king Midas connect him with Silenus and other satyrs and with Dionysus, who granted him the famous "golden touch." In another episode he judged a musical contest between Apollo, playing the lyre, and Pan, playing the rustic pan pipes. Midas judged in favor of Pan, and Apollo awarded him the ears of an ass.

The mythic Midas of Thrace, accompanied by a band of his people, travelled to Asia Minor to wash away the taint of his unwelcome "golden touch" in the river Pactolus. Leaving the gold in the river's sands, Midas found himself in Phrygia, where he was adopted by the childless king Gordias and taken under the protection of Cybele. Acting as the visible representative of Cybele, and under her authority, it would seem, a Phrygian king could designate his successor.

According to the Iliad, the Phrygians were Trojan allies during the Trojan War. The Phrygia of Homer's Iliad appears to be located in the area that embraced the Ascanian lake and the northern flow of the Sangarius river, and so was much more limited in extent than classical Phrygia. Homer's Iliad also includes a reminiscence by the Trojan king Priam, who had in his youth come to aid the Phrygians against the Amazons (Iliad 3.189). During this episode (a generation before the Trojan War), the Phrygians were said to be led by Otreus and Mygdon. Both appear to be little more than eponyms: there was a place named Otrea on the Ascanian lake, in the vicinity of the later Nicaea; and the Mygdones were a people of Asia Minor, who resided near Lake Dascylitis (there was also a Mygdonia in Macedonia). During the Trojan War, the Phrygians sent forces to aid Troy, led by Ascanius and Phorcys, the sons of Aretaon. Asius, son of Dymas and brother of Hecabe, is another Phrygian noble who fought before Troy. Quintus Smyrnaeus mentions another Phrygian prince, named Coroebus, son of Mygdon, who fought and died at Troy; he had sued for the hand of the Trojan princess Cassandra in marriage. King Priam's wife Hecabe is usually said to be of Phrygian birth, as a daughter of King Dymas.

The Phrygian Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Phrygia.

According to Herodotus (Histories 2.9), the Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus II had two children raised in isolation in order to find the original language. The children were reported to have uttered bekos which is Phrygian for "bread", so Psammetichus admitted that the Phrygians were a nation older than the Egyptians.

Josephus claimed the Phrygians were founded by the biblical figure Togarmah grandson of Japheth and son of Gomer: "and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians".

History

Migration

After the collapse of the Hittite Empire at the beginning of the 12th century BC, the political vacuum in central/western Anatolia was filled by a wave of Indo-European migrants and "Sea Peoples", including the Phrygians, who established their kingdom, with a capital eventually at Gordium. It is still not known whether the Phrygians were actively involved in the collapse of the Hittite capital Hattusa, or whether they simply moved into the vacuum that followed the collapse of Hittite hegemony. The so called Handmade Knobbed Ware was found by archaeologists at sites from this period in Western Anatolia. According to Greek mythographers, the first Phrygian Midas had been king of the Moschi (Mushki), also known as Bryges (Brigi) in the western part of archaic Thrace.

8th to 7th centuries

Assyrian sources from the 8th century BC speak of a king Mita of the Mushki, identified with king Midas of Phrygia. An Assyrian inscription records Mita as an ally of Sargon of Assyria in 709 BC. A distinctive Phrygian pottery called Polished Ware appears in the 8th century BC. The Phrygians founded a powerful kingdom which lasted until the Lydian ascendancy (7th century BC). Under kings alternately named Gordias and Midas, the independent Phrygian kingdom of the 8th and 7th centuries BC maintained close trade contacts with her neighbours in the east and the Greeks in the west. Phrygia seems to have been able to co-exist with whichever was the dominant power in eastern Anatolia at the time.

The invasion of Anatolia in the late 8th century BC to early 7th century BC by the Cimmerians was to prove fatal to independent Phrygia. Cimmerian pressure and attacks culminated in the suicide of its last king, Midas, according to legend. Gordium fell to the Cimmerians in 696 BC and was sacked and burnt, as reported much later by Herodotus.

A series of digs have opened Gordium as one of Turkey's most revealing archeological sites. Excavations confirm a violent destruction of Gordion around 675 BC. A tomb of the Midas period, popularly identified as the "Tomb of Midas" revealed a wooden structure deeply buried under a vast tumulus, containing grave goods, coffin, furniture, food offerings, (Archaeological Museum, Ankara). The Gordium site contains a considerable later building program, perhaps by Alyattes, the Lydian king, in the 6th century BC.

Minor Phrygian kingdoms continued to exist after the end of the Phrygian empire, and the Phrygian art and culture continued to flourish. Cimmerian people stayed in Anatolia but do not appear to have created a kingdom of their own. The Lydians repulsed the Cimmerians in the 620s, and Phrygia was subsumed into a short-lived Lydian empire. The eastern part of the former Phrygian empire fell into the hands of the Medes in 585 BC.

Mystery of Gold, Midas Touch, Stardust

2013-10-14T21:54:00.000+03:00

Gold has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and arts since the beginning of recorded history. It has been a symbol of wealth and a store. Gold standards have provided a basis for monetary policies. Gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova, a stellar explosion.

A total of 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history, as of 2009. [World Gold Council] This is roughly equivalent to 5.3 billion troy ounces or, in terms of volume, about 8,500 m³, or a cube 20.4 m on a side. The world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry.

Gold has been known and used by artisans since the Chalcolithic. The legend of the golden fleece and Argonauts may refer to the use of fleeces to trap gold dust from placer deposits in the ancient world. The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia around 610 BC.

King Croesus, ruler of Lydia (560–546 BC), began issuing the first true gold coins, in about 643 to 630 with a standardised purity, for general circulation. They were quite crude, and were made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow mixture of gold and silver. The composition of these first coins was similar to alluvial deposits found in the silt of the Pactolus river, which ran through the Lydian capital, Sardis. King Croesus' gold coins follow the first silver coins that had been minted by King Pheidon of Argos around 700 BC. Shortly afterwards, in 546 BC, Croeseus was captured by the Persians, who adopted gold as the main metal for their coins.

Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. It has also been produced artificially. The ancient Greeks called it 'gold' or 'white gold', as opposed to 'refined gold'. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. The gold content of naturally occurring electrum in modern Western Anatolia ranges from 70% to 90%, in contrast to the 45–55% of electrum used in ancient Lydian coinage of the same geographical area. This suggests that one reason for the invention of coinage in that area was to increase the profits from seignorage by issuing currency with a lower gold content than the commonly circulating metal.

Gold coins then had a very long period as a primary form of money, only falling into disuse in the early 20th century. Most of the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933, as countries switched from the gold standard due to hoarding during the worldwide economic crisis of the Great Depression.

Hattic mythology

2013-10-07T16:37:00.000+03:00

The Hattian mythology deals with the myths and stories of the Hatti gods, as they were handed down by the Hittites. They can be captured quite well by the source position, in contrast to Hattian cults, rituals and religious beliefs that can not be separated satisfactorily from Hittite and other elements.

All sources Hattian religion and mythology are from the archives of the Hittites. The Hatti himself left no written records own. However, the working out genuinely Hattian cultural elements is difficult, because the Hittite culture absorbed foreign elements, and constantly reshaped. For originally Hattian apply in the research criteria such as texts with Hattian passages - which are still poorly understood - then contain celebrations and rites of the Hattian names and terms, and events associated with the old Hattian places of worship Arinna, Ziplanda, Nerik and Laḫzan. Thus, bears while a hard Purullija Hattian name, but can hardly be elicited, which it still genuinely Hattian and what was added later. Partly this is also for the associated Illuyankas myth.

Deities

The Hattian deities (hatt. shape) are often honored with the title "king" (hatt. katte) and "Queen" (hatt. kattaḫ), which allows to determine the sex of a deity.

A ritual called Hattian Hittite deities and their worship places, "the gods are one districts. The sun goddess sat in Arinna, Ḫalmašuit Ḫarpiša sat in, sat down in Ḫatepinu Maliluḫa, the protective deity Karaḫna sat in, sat down in the schhreckliche Telipinu Tawinija. But no room was left for Ḫannaḫanna, it was the place for humanity "..

Estan kattaḫ ("Sun",. Ištanu Hitt) is sun goddess and mother of the gods, which is especially close with her daughter Mezulla. Her nickname was Wurunšemu ("the mother country?"). The eagle is her messenger. The goddess was taken over by the Hittites as early sun goddess of Arinna and was then the supreme deity of the empire. The Hatti obviously knew no male sun god, in contrast to the Luwian Tiwats (ie. * deuat "deity").

Mezulla is the daughter of the sun goddess and the weather god. Another name was Tappinu ("daughter"). Hittite sources mention also Zintuḫi (hatt. Zintu "grandson") as the granddaughter of the sun goddess.

Kašku (Kasba or "light") was the moon god. Of it is a myth, "The moon fell from the sky" over delivers. He was identified with the Hittite moon god Arma.

Taru katte (also Saru; Hitt Tarḫunna.) Is the weather god and father of the gods. He rules over rain, thunder and lightning and storm, its attributes are mace, lightning and the bull. He also has a close relationship with sources and is summoned in a ritual from its source. His vizier's Mittunun. Although the myths call the father of the Weather God, but the name is not recorded. His children are Mezulla, and Telipinu Waššizil. Taru merged with the Indo-European Tarḫunna the Hittites, the name similarity is probably coincidental. The name is tentatively Hattian sem with the word Mediterranean. ṯawr and gr ταῦρος (tauros), Latin taurus "bull" associated. Also a connection with the Anatolian Taurus Mountains is considered.

Waššizil katte was the name of the weather god of Ziplanda, who also was "lion" called. He is the son of Wurunšemu and Taru.

Šulinkatte katte ("King of Suli") is a sword of God, which was equated with the Mesopotamian god Nergal sword (NÈRI.GAL / U. GUR). He is considered the father of the Weather God of Nerak.
The weather god of Nerak (heth. weather god of Nerikka) played in the Hittite cult an extraordinary role. His weapon is the spear and his animal of the lion. When his wife called and Zaḫapuna Tešimi as his mistress. Is similar to the loved the weather god of Laḫzan Tašimi. A third source is the wife of the weather Taḫatenuit God, Mother of the sources mentioned and Tašimmet his mistress.
Wurunkatte ("king of the land") is a god of war. He is identified with the god of war mesopotamsichen Zababa (ZA.BA4.BA4).

Talipinu katte ("Strong Son",. Telipinu Hitt) was the god of fertility and son of Estan and Taru, which is why it can be described as a weather god who brings rain and thunder. His symbol is the oak. In the cult of the Hittites and Luwians which he equated with Warwalijaš, he played an important role.

Ḫatepinu ("daughter of the sea"?) Is the only mentioned in Hittite texts, daughter of the sea and the woman Talipinu.

Inar (heth. Inara) fights with the help of man Ḫupašija Illuyankas the snake demon. She is survived only in Hittite texts. In hethtitischer time Inara tutelary deity of Hattusa (hatt. Hattus) was.
Tašimi is the mistress of the weather god.

Kataḫziwuri is ("Queen of the land"), a goddess who performs cleansing rituals and incantations. Your servant is Ḫapantali. The Hittites and Luwians they sat with their goddess Kamrušepa same.
Lelwani is the god of the underworld. He was taken over by the Hittites, but later considered because of the equation with the Mesopotamian goddess as EREŠ.KI.GAL.

Eštuštaja & papaya was fate deities that sit on the shores of the Black Sea and the spin of years of life (Hittite) King. They are likely the Hittite Gulsen ("women writers" of Destiny) and mother goddesses and the Hurrian goddesses Ḫudena & Ḫudellurra be equated.

Ḫannaḫanna (to Hitt. Hanna "grandmother", Turkish "anneanne") while wearing a Hittite name, but they appear mostly in Hattian myths as a wise mother goddess, whose advice the weather enholt God in times of need. Her messenger is the bee.

Ḫanwašuit kattaḫ (hatt to "sit" Niwas,.. Ḫalmašuit het) is the goddess throne.

Myths

Hattian myths are partly preserved in Hattian-Hittite bilingual, but in part only in Hittite language. From Telipinu myth there is also a Palaic version. Many myths just the beginning has been preserved.

Telipinu disappears

The myth of Telipinus (hatt. Talipinu) disappearance is reported in several versions that differ slightly. However, no Hattian text will refer to it.

The Angry Telipinu retires, and thus fire altars are paralyzed and plants, humans and animals are infertile. As the sun goddess invites the gods to a feast, they are neither sick nor drunk, and the weather god noticed his son's absence. All the gods to make the search and the sun goddess sends the eagle, but in vain. Ḫannaḫanna now sends out the bee, which eventually finds the Telipinu in a forest clearing at Liḫzina (hatt. Laḫzan) and stabs him. He wakes up, but is still angry. Appeasement rituals of the goddess Kamrušepa (hatt. Kataḫziwuri) appease Telipinu and the country is fertile again.

Telipinu and the daughter of the sea

Among the myths of vanished gods, is the disappearance of the sun goddess. The unnamed daughter of the sea is Ḫatepinu.

The sun goddess and get into the Great Sea dispute and the sea begins and she holds her prisoner in his chambers. Darkness covering the country. The Weather God sent his son Telipinu. The sea god's afraid of the mighty Telipinu and gives the sun goddess and free to have his daughter. Both women Telipinu brings to his father. Now demanded by the sea god dowry for his daughter who has taken the weather gods as a daughter to him. This confers with Ḫannaḫanna and it is negotiating a bride price. Telipinu now requires a groom gift from the god of the sea.

The demoness Ḫaḫḫima

A found in Yozgat fragmentary panel includes a similar myth. The ocean's daughter calls out from heaven by her father, whereupon he cursed the sun goddess. Then he speaks with his daughter, the sun goddess, the weather god and his sister. After a gap appears in the text Ḫaḫḫima the demon that paralyzes the earth and the water dries up. Moreover, even disappears, the sun goddess. Zababa (hatt. Wurunkatte), LAMA (hatt. Inar?) Telipinu and embark on a search, but are bound by Ḫaḫḫima. Finally, the brothers of Ḫaššamili be summoned.

The moon fell from the sky

This myth has been handed down in a Hattian-Hittite bilingual, but only fragmentary.
The moon god Kašku falls from the sky based on the KI.LAM (market?) Of Laḫzan. The weather god Taru sees him and chases him after rain and wind, so that Kašku afraid. Ḫapantili summons Kataḫziwuri, whose servant he is to perform purification rites.

The sun is building a house

Also fragmented as these gods Bilingue history is preserved.
The sun goddess Estan Laḫzan builds up in a house. Then call Saru (Taru) and induce the goddess Lelwani Kataḫziwuri, which dominates the house construction. Also a strong smith is summoned to embark with a copper hammer iron stakes into the loosened earth.

Illuyankas

Illuyankas the myth is indeed preserved only in hethischer language, but because the names of the characters are mainly Hattian, it is considered Hattian myth. It is preserved in two versions. Like the original myth is Hattian can not be determined. This myth shows strong resemblance to the ancient myth of Typhon.

In the older version Illuyankas Kiškilušša defeated at the weather gods. Inar takes as agents of the people Ḫupašija Ziggaratta and prepares a feast for Illuyankas. This and his kids get drunk and Ḫupašija she captivates. The so bound to be slain by the god of weather. As a reward for Ḫupašija built Inar Tarukka in a house where both lived as lovers, but on condition that he should never look out the window. As he so does, he sees his wife and children and longs for home and is killed by the angry Inar.

In the more recent version of the weather gods robbed Illuyankas heart and eyes. The victim testifies to the daughter of a "poor" a son who marries Illujankas daughter. As the groom gift he desires the heart and eyes of the storm god, he returns it. The weather gods can now move to the sea and kills Illuyankas and his family.

More about Hattians - First Civilizations in Anatolia.

Mystery of the Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age

2013-10-03T20:30:00.000+03:00

The Sea Peoples are thought to have been a confederacy of seafaring raiders who could have possibly originated from either western Anatolia or southern Europe, specifically a region of the Aegean Sea, who sailed around the eastern Mediterranean. They invaded and destroyed Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age. However, the actual identity of the Sea Peoples has remained enigmatic and modern scholars have only the scattered records of ancient civilizations and archaeological analysis to inform them.

The Sea Peoples are documented during the late 19th dynasty and especially during year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty when they tried to enter or control the Egyptian territory. The Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples') of the sea" in his Great Karnak Inscription. Most scholars believe that they invaded Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant.

Among the Sea Peoples identified in Egyptian records are the Ekwesh, possibly a group of Bronze Age Greeks (Achaeans); the Teresh; the Tyrrhenians, possibly ancestors of the Etruscans; Lukka, an Anatolian people of the Aegean who may have given their name to the region of Lycia and the Lycian language; the Sherden, possibly Sardinians or people of Sardis; the Shekelesh, identified possibly with the Italic tribe called Siculi; the Peleset, whose name is generally believed to refer to the Philistines, who might have come from Crete with the Tekrur (possibly Greek Teucrians) and whose tribe were the only major member of the Sea Peoples known to have settled permanently in the Levant.

The bronze age collapse
Two Suppiluliumas: End of Hittites
Photo: Hittite Boat figure at Karatepe Open Air Museum, Osmaniye, near Adana, Turkey.

The Bronze Age Collapse

2013-10-03T09:40:00.000+03:00

The Bronze Age collapse was a transition in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age that historians believe was violent, sudden and culturally disruptive. The palace economy of the Aegean Region and Anatolia which characterised the Late Bronze Age was replaced, after a hiatus, by the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages.

Between 1206 and 1150 BCE, the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the New Kingdom of Egypt in Syria and Canaan interrupted trade routes and severely reduced literacy. In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Pylos and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter: examples include Hattusa, Mycenae, and Ugarit.

The gradual end of the Dark Age that ensued saw the eventual rise of settled Syro-Hittite states in Cilicia and Syria, Aramaean kingdoms of the mid-10th century BCE in the Levant, and the eventual rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Prior to the Bronze Age collapse, Anatolia (Asia Minor) was dominated by a number of Indo-European peoples: Luwians, Hittites, Mitanni, and Mycenaean Greeks, together with the Semitic Assyrians. From the 17th Century BCE, the Mitanni formed a ruling class over the Hurrians, an ancient indigenous Caucasian people who spoke a Hurro-Urartian language isolate. Similarly, the Hittites absorbed the Hattians, a people speaking a language which may have been of the North Caucasian group.

Every Anatolian site that was important during the preceding Late Bronze Age shows a destruction layer, and it appears that here civilization did not recover to the level of the Indo-European Hittites for another thousand years. Hattusas, the Hittite capital, was burned - probably by Kaskians, possibly aided by the Phrygians - abandoned, and never reoccupied. Karaoğlan was burned and the corpses left unburied. The Hittite Empire was destroyed by the Indo-European speaking Phrygians and by the Semitic speaking Assyrians. The Trojan city of Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times.

The Phrygians had arrived probably over the Bosphorus in the 13th Century BCE, and laid waste to the Hittite Empire (already weakened by defeat at the hands of Kaska), before being checked by the Assyrians. Other groups of Indo-European warriors followed into the region, most prominently the Armenians, Cimmerians, and Scythians. The Semitic Arameans, Kartvelian speaking Colchians, and Hurro-Urartuans also made an appearance in parts of the region.

Bellum omnium contra omnes

Robert Drews describes the collapse as "the worst disaster in ancient history, even more calamitous than the collapse of the Western Roman Empire". A number of people have spoken of the cultural memories of the disaster as stories of a "lost golden age". Hesiod for example spoke of Ages of Gold, Silver and Bronze, separated from the modern harsh cruel world of the Age of Iron by the Age of Heroes.

In the specific context of the Middle East, a variety of factors — including population growth, soil degradation, drought, cast bronze weapon and iron production technologies — could have combined to push the relative price of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In complex societies that were increasingly fragile and less resilient, this combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.

The growing complexity and specialization of the Late Bronze Age political, economic, and social organization was a weakness that could explain such a widespread collapse, able to render the Bronze Age civilizations incapable of recovery. The critical flaws of the Late Bronze Age were its centralization, specialization, complexity and top-heavy political structure. These flaws then revealed themselves through socio-political factors (revolt of peasantry and defection of mercenaries), fragility of all kingdoms (Mycenaean, Hittite, Ugaritic and Egyptian), demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors that could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include piratical disturbances of maritime trade by the Sea Peoples, drought, crop failures, famine, Dorian migration or invasion.

A more speculative theory is Jaynes' bicameralism which claims that the complexity of society at this time called for a large-scale shift in human cognition, from instinctive and religious behaviour to logical reasoning. This is still a fringe theory, but has recently attracted the attention of several scholars and conferences.

Photo: Official museum replicas of statue of Suppiluliuma, eyes wide open, found lately at Tel Tayyinat mound in Hatay, Turkey.

Exploring lost civilizations of 5000 years.
Sea peoples of bronze age.

Ancient City of Brigand King - Juliopolis

2013-10-02T11:44:00.000+03:00

Juliopolis was a titular see in the province of Bithynia Secunda, suffragan of Nicaea. The city was founded under the Emperor Augustus by a robber chieftain named Cleon, who was a native of the region; previously it had been called Gordoucome. Its ruins are about six miles SSE of Çayırhan, and about three miles north of the Sangarius River (Sakarya) near Ankara.

According to ancient authors (Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, etc.), the Bithynians were an immigrant Thracian tribe. The existence of a tribe called Thyni in Thrace is well established, and the two cognate tribes of the Thyni and Bithyni appear to have settled simultaneously in the adjoining parts of Asia, where they expelled or subdued the Mysians, Caucones and other minor tribes, the Mariandyni maintaining themselves in the northeast. Herodotus mentions that the tribe Thyni and Bithyni as existing side by side; but ultimately the latter must have become the more important, as they gave their name to the country. They were incorporated by king Croesus within the Lydian monarchy, with which they fell under the dominion of Persia (546 BC), and were included in the satrapy of Phrygia, which comprised all the countries up to the Dardanelles and Bosporus.

Juliopolis is thought to be under the dam lake of Hasan Polatkan. Necropolis on the surrounding hills are being excavated by an archaeological team of Museum of Anatolian Civilizations at Ankara.

Cleon of Gordiucome, or Cleon the Mysian, was a 1st century BC brigand-king in Asia Minor.

Cleon made a reputation for himself with robbery and marauding warfare in and around Olmypus, long occupying the fortress called by ancient geographers Callydium (Strabo) or Calydnium (Eustathius). He at first courted the favor of Mark Antony, and was awarded a good deal of land in exchange. In 40 BC Cleon's forces harried an invading body of Parthians led by Labienus.

Around the time of the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Cleon switched sides to that of Augustus. In exchange for services rendered in the wars against Mark Antony, Augustus appointed Cleon the priest of the goddess Bellona in the temple-state of Comana and sovereign, therefore, of the surrounding country. Cleon added what he had been given by Augustus to what he had received from Mark Antony and styled himself a dynast. Under Augustus he also founded the city of Juliopolis out of the town of his birth, Gordiucome (Gordoucome). Strabo mentions that Cleon was a priest of Jupiter Abrettenus, and ruler of Morene, a region of Mysia noticed by no other writer.

Cleon's rule was unsuccessful and exceedingly brief; he died only one month after his appointment. In contemporary accounts, it was written that Cleon died because he ignored a taboo against eating pork in the temple precinct of Bellona.

It is sometimes recorded that Cleon succeeded Lycomedes as ruler of Comana after the very brief reign of Medeius. Strabo suggests that Medeius and Cleon are different names for the same person, the former being the Greek name, the latter the native one. Cleon was in any case succeeded by Dyteutus.

Hittite Tree of Life at Karatepe

2013-09-30T23:08:00.000+03:00

Sacred Tree of Life at late Hittite fortress and open air museum in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey.

The concept of a tree of life has been used in science, religion, philosophy, and mythology. A tree of life is a common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies. It alludes to the interconnection of all life on our planet and serves as a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense. The term tree of life may also be used as a synonym for sacred tree.

The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.

The tree of life is a metaphor used to describe the relationships between organisms, both living and extinct. It was employed by Charles Darwin to express the concept of the branching divergence of varieties and then species in a process of common descent from ancestors. Ernst Haeckel coined the term phylogeny for the evolutionary relationships of species through time, and went further than Darwin in proposing phylogenic histories of life. The modern development of this idea is called the phylogenetic tree.

In the 2009 film Avatar, the Na'vi live in Hometree, the spiritual and physical home of the tribe; over 300 meters tall, Hometree is connected with all the other plant life of Pandora through a neural-like network. They revere the Tree of Souls, which is also connected with all other living things...

Two Suppiluliumas

2013-09-24T01:16:00.000+03:00

Suppiluliuma I was king of the Hittites, ca. 1344–1322 BC. He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates.

Suppiluliuma then took advantage of the tumultuous reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and seized control of Egyptian territory in Syria, inciting many Egyptian vassals to revolt.

The Deeds of Suppiluliuma, compiled after his death by his son Mursili, is an important primary source for the king's reign. One of Suppiluliuma's letters, addressed to Akhenaten, was preserved in the Amarna letters (EA 41) archive at Akhetaten. It expresses his hope that the good relations which existed between Egypt and Hatti under Akhenaten's father Amenhotep III would continue into Akhenaten's new reign.

His success encouraged the widow of the Egyptian king Nibhururiya to write to him, asking him to send one of his sons to be her husband and rule Egypt, since she had no heir and was on the verge of being forced to marry "a servant", usually thought to be the Egyptian general Horemheb or her late husband's vizier Ay. Suppiluliuma dispatched an ambassador to Egypt to investigate; he reported that the situation was accurately described, and the king decided to take advantage of this windfall; unfortunately, Prince Zannanza died on the way, and the marriage alliance never was consummated. Angry letters were exchanged between Suppiluliuma and the Pharaoh Ay, who had assumed the Egyptian throne, over the circumstances of Zannanza's death.

Suppililiuma was furious at this turn of events and unleashed his armies against Egypt's vassal states in Canaan and Northern Syria, capturing much territory.

Suppiluliuma II, the son of Tudhaliya IV, was the last known king of the New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire, ruling ca. 1207–1178 BC, contemporary with Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria.

The Hittite kingdom was ultimately destroyed by the invading Sea Peoples and Kaskians in the late 1170s BCE. Based on records in Ugarit, the threat originated in the west, and the Hittite king asked for assistance from Ugarit.

After Suppiluliuma's kingdom collapsed, the Kaskian tribes were probably in control of Hatti. Hattusa itself was destroyed by fire.

Photos: 1) Official museum replicas of statue of Suppiluliuma found at mound of Tel Tayyinat, Hatay, Turkey, in 2012. 2) Hittite boat figure at Karatepe, Adana.

The bronze age collapse
Sea peoples of bronze age

Search for the lost city Purushanda - draft worksheet

2013-09-03T21:31:00.000+03:00

Purushanda (also variously Purushkanda, Purushhattum or Burushattum) was an ancient city-state in central Anatolia, lying south of the Kızılırmak River in what is now modern Turkey. Its site has yet to be discovered. It may have been situated south-east of Lake Tuz, possibly on the mound of Acemhöyük approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-west of the city of Aksaray. Another possible location is the mound of Karahöyük near Konya.

The city is prominently mentioned in the Cappadocian Texts, a collection of Hittite writings unearthed at Kanesh. They depict it as a major seat of power in the region, describing its ruler as "great prince" (rubā'um rabi'um) whereas other rulers are merely "kings". A separate text known as the "King of the Battle" (šar tamhāri), dating to the 14th century BC, recounts a heavily embellished account of the Akkadian king Sargon carrying out an expedition against Purushanda's ruler Nur-Dagan (or Nur-Daggal). The story is ahistorical, as it portrays the 23rd-century Sargon in an anachronistic 19th-century BC setting. It appears to be a work of fiction, though it may have some basis in historical fact.

In the story, Sargon yearns for battle but is advised against it by his generals. Nonetheless, when a message arrives from a group of Akkadian merchants in Purushanda pleading for help from Sargon against the oppressive Nur-Dagan, the king mobilises his army and marches off through difficult terrain. Nur-Dagan is hopeful that flooding and the terrain will thwart Sargon, but the Akkadian launches a lightning attack which captures Purushanda. Nur-Dagan is taken prisoner and grovels before Sargon, declaring him to be a peerless mighty king and perhaps swearing allegiance as a vassal. After three years the Akkadians leave, taking with them the fruits of the land as spoils of war.

Purushanda features again in the stories of the campaigns of the 17th century BC Hittite ruler Anitta. The Purushandan kingdom appears to have been a significant rival of Kanesh, the kingdom ruled by Anitta. The Hittite king launched a war against Purushanda but according to the Anitta Text, a Hittite account of later date, the Purushandan king surrendered to the Hittite army:

"When I ... went into battle, the Man of Purushanda brought gifts to me; he brought to me a throne of iron and a sceptre of iron as a gift. But when I returned to Nesa [Kanesh] I took the Man of Purushanda with me. As soon as he enters the chamber, that man will sit before me on the right.

The text indicates that the right to rule over Purushanda's territory – symbolised by the regalia of office, the throne and sceptre – was surrendered to Anitta. Its king was reduced to the status of a privileged vassal, entitled to join Anitta at the court in Kanesh in recognition of his voluntary surrender and his high-born status. The kingdom itself probably ceased to exist at this point and was absorbed into Hittite-ruled territory." wikipedia

The main product of Purušḫanda was silver, which was usually exchanged for copper, tin and textiles. There was also a smuggling of textiles between Kaniš and Purušḫanda . In Purušḫanda decimal system, while in the Assyrian Kaniš sexagesimal system was used. There is also evidence that it had its own units. wikipedia

Location of Acemhoyuk

Acemhöyük, Ancient Anatolian City, is located within the territory of the Yeşilova District, 18 km northwest of the Aksaray Province. It is easily accessible through the Aksaray-Yesilova motorway.

Geography and Environment of Acemhoyuk

Acemhöyük looks like a flat hill from a far distance. It is reported to measure ca. 800 x 700 m in dimensions according to the distribution of the pottery. The size of the EBA settlement couldn't be verified by the researchers. Almost completely obscured by the modern Yesilova houses, it has been saved from the possible damages after the excavation was started. The Melendiz Stream (Uluirmak) originating from the Melendiz Mountain, used to pass by the hill to spill into the Lake Tuz. Today, it disappears in the plain before reaching the lake as it is used for irrigation purposes.

Overview of Ancient Acemhoyuk

The Ancient Site of Acemhöyük (ancient Purushanda/Burushattum) consists of a large mound (700 x 600 m) and lower city. The mound itself consists of four high points, with flat areas between, and has occupation going back into the 3rd millennium, but the lower city was occupied only in the Assyrian Colony period. Both areas were abandoned at the end of that time. Levels I and II were disturbed and excavation has concentrated on level III, the burnt level contemporary with Kültepe Karum II, which has produced two palaces on the high points of Sarıkaya and Hatipler and the West Building on the third high point, as well as other buildings in between. The cemetery was some 500 m from the mound.

Excavations at the site began in 1962 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nimet Özgüç (AU-DTCF) and have continued since 1989 under Prof. Dr. Aliye Öztan (AU-DTCF).

Around 1950 B.C., traders from the northern Mesopotamian city of Ashur established karums, or merchants' colonies, at a number of Central Anatolian cities, among them the site of Acemhöyük. Assyrian merchants lived in a restricted area of these cities, trading textiles and tin from the southeast for silver but operating under the rule of local kings. Acemhöyük is a large mound located south of Ankara near the Turkish city of Aksaray on the Konya Plain. It lay on a route linking Anatolia with the East and seems to have been an important center for the copper trade and industry. In 1965, a Turkish archaeological expedition found sealed bullae, inscribed clay tablets, ivories, and other objects outside the karum of Acemhöyük in two burned palaces on the highest part of the mound.

Acemhöyük is one of the biggest tumuli of Anatolia, beside Aşağı Şehir. The data obtained from the archaeological diggings shows that the tumulus was erected in BC 3000 and the most successful period of the tumulus was seen in the Assyrian Trade Colonies Period, that is in BC 1800. In the Colony Period, Aşağı Şehir was also a large settlement area beside the tumulus. It is the center of one of Anatolia's important kingdoms in this period. At the end of this period, both the tumulus and Aşağı Şehir were deserted. However, settlement occurred in the tumulus in the Early Hellenistic and Rome Periods. The tumulus was completely deserted at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. 3 nomad families, who came from Hoy City of Azerbaijan / Iran in 1517, settled at the foot of the tumulus and founded today's Yeşilova.

Two palaces found in the 3rd level belonging to the Colony Period, the most successful period of the city, is not only important for Acemhöyük, but also for Anatolian architectural history. The palace at the south side of the tumulus is called Sarıkaya, and the one at the north - west is called Hatipler Palace.

Mac North and Maryanne Newton are finishing putting together a 546-year juniper chronology from 68 pieces (possibly 15 trees) from Building Level III in the Northwest Trench at Acemhöyük. At Acemhöyük, an enormous mound (800m N-S x 800m E-W) only a fraction of which has been investigated, excavator Prof. Aliye Öztan (Ankara) thinks that the rooms of the Northwest Trench are service buildings, or kitchens, for the palatial Hatipler Tepesi to the east for which we already have a wiggle-matched dendrochronological date of 1791 B.C.±37 years. Eleven ovens were excavated during the summer of 1993 from this new area.

Although the finds (wheelmade pottery, bullae, bronze objects, etc.) are clearly Middle Bronze Age, and the violent destruction which brought the lives of most of the Northwest Trench buildings to an end is thought to be the same destruction that burned Hatipler Tepesi and the Sarikaya Palace some 400 meters to the southeast, the timbers which served as footings for the walls of these buildings do not crossdate at all with the Middle Bronze Age master chronology. As a glance at Fig. 3 below will show, inside an unburned section of mudbrick wall with its two white plastered faces left and right are horizontal stretchers with charred ends, a classic example of reused and recycled material. Indeed, the left and right timbers are joining half-sections of the same tree. The one chronology with which they do fit securely is the 198-year sequence from Levels 6/7 at Konya-Karahöyük which Professor Sedat Alp (Ankara) thinks is contemporary with the Alaca Höyük royal graves about the middle of the third millennium B.C. These stretchers were probably posts in burned EBA buildings which were demolished to make way for the MBA service buildings now being excavated. It is odd, if not out-right distressing, that so far not one single piece of wood from these buildings has a Middle Bronze Age cutting date. If, as now seems likely, we are able to attach the new 546-year Acemhöyük series to the early end of the 1761-year Bronze Age/Iron Age chronology, we should have a continuous chronology well over 2000 years long. This would extend this long sequence back to 2922 B.C., but that depends on a tenuous overlap that has not yet been worked out as of November 1993.

For instance, the first juniper sample from the Kayran Mevkii Tumulus near Gordion, collected in a salvage operation by personnel from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, took Maryanne Newton all of 45 minutes to prepare, measure, and crossdate to 862 BC. By contrast, three large boxes from a large building at Acemhöyük, just north of the Sarikaya Palace, sent to us by Prof. Aliye Öztan, have occupied 15 people for a month, and the end is not yet in sight, even though the majority of the 60+ samples were poplar and consequently undatable. There are, however, some 15 pieces of pine and long-lived oak with microscopic rings—all in what is now an essentially treeless plain just south of the Great Salt Lake. The oak and pine appear to be datable (Maryanne is still working on it) against wood collected in earlier years from both Acemhöyük and Kültepe and wiggle-matched in place with a low error margin.

Team members for the summer 2002 collecting trip were Pam Sullivan (who has succeeded Jennifer Chiment as Lab Supervisor), students Laura Reis and Whitney Tassie, and Government Representative Nilüfer Karakas from the Antalya Museum. We came back at the end of August with a third of a ton of wood and charcoal, augmented last month by the charcoal from Acemhöyük. In the lab this term 20 people are working away on the summer’s haul, including old-timers Kelly Jenks, Defne Bozkurt, and Beth Ryan in addition to the summer crew.

Around 1950 B.C., traders from the northern Mesopotamian city of Ashur established karums, or merchants' colonies, at a number of Central Anatolian cities, among them the site of Acemhöyük. Assyrian merchants lived in a restricted area of these cities, trading textiles and tin from the southeast for silver but operating under the rule of local kings. Acemhöyük is a large mound located south of Ankara near the Turkish town of Aksaray on the Konya Plain. It lay on a route linking Anatolia with the East and seems to have been an important center for the copper trade and industry. In 1965, a Turkish archaeological expedition found sealed bullae, inscribed clay tablets, ivories, and other objects outside the karum of Acemhöyük in two burned palaces on the highest part of the mound.

A group of ivories given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1930s is thought to have come from Acemhöyük because of close similarities in style and subject to those known to have been found there. Ranging in color from white to gray blue and a pinkish orange, they have been carved to represent the fantastic composite creatures important in the mythology of the ancient Near East. This small female sphinx is a form borrowed from the Egyptians. Her large almond-shaped eyes and spiral locks ultimately derive from the Egyptian goddess Hathor. As with the later ivories from Nimrud, this sphinx, one of four in the Museum, was carved as furniture decoration.

Source: Furniture support: female sphinx with Hathor-style curls [Probably Acemhöyük, Central Anatolia] (32.161.46) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org

Situated in a fertile plain 13 km north-west of Aksaray at the south edge of the Tuz Gölü and on the main north-south and east-west routes, this site (ancient Purushanda/Burushattum) consists of a large mound (700 x 600 m) and lower city. The mound itself consists of four high points, with flat areas between, and has occupation going back into the 3rd millennium, but the lower city was occupied only in the Assyrian Colony period. Both areas were abandoned at the end of that time. Levels I and II were disturbed and excavation has concentrated on level III, the burnt level contemporary with Kültepe Karum II. It has produced two palaces on the high points of Sarıkaya and Hatipler and the West Building on the third high point, as well as other buildings in between. The cemetery was some 500 m from the mound. Excavations at the site began in 1962 under the direction of Nimet Özgüç and have continued since 1989 under Aliye Öztan of Ankara University. une.edu.au

Acemhöyük (Ancient Anatolian City of Acemhoyuk-Aksaray)

Location of Acemhoyuk: Acemhöyük, Ancient Anatolian City, is located within the territory of the Yesilova (Yeşilova) District, 18 km northwest of the Aksaray Province. It is easily accessible through the Aksaray-Yesilova motorway.

Geography and Environment of Acemhoyuk: Acemhöyük looks like a flat hill from a far distance. It is reported to measure ca. 800 x 700 m in dimensions according to the distribution of the pottery. The size of the EBA settlement couldn't be verified by the researchers. Almost completely obscured by the modern Yesilova houses, it has been saved from the possible damages after the excavation was started. The Melendiz Stream (Uluirmak) originating from the Melendiz Mountain, used to pass by the hill to spill into the Lake Tuz. Today, it disappears in the plain before reaching the lake as it is used for irrigation purposes

Early Bronze Age

Research and Excavations in Acemhoyuk: Acemhöyük was excavated by Prof. N. Özgüç of Faculty of Language, History and Geography, University of Ankara between 1962 and 1988. The excavation was taken over by Prof. A. Öztan from the same faculty in 1989, and it still continues. The recent excavations are focused on Assyrian Colony Period. It takes place in the registered archaeological sites list prepared by Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Stratigraphy:Ancient Acemhöyük site had been inhabited from the EBA to the Roman Period. Among others, the settlement of Assyrian Colony Period dating from the first quarter of the second millennium BC is particularly significant with its famous palaces and finds. Because the excavations were targeted revealing the settlements of the second millennium BC, the deeper levels were not excavated extensively. The EBA levels were only reached through a deeper sounding on the east of the mound. The building levels VIII-X uncovered in the trench S are dated to the EBA II-III periods. Depending on the surface finds of the first settlement, it is claimed the first occupation started during the Last Chalcolithic Age [Yakar 1985:199].

Findings & Observations in Acemhoyuk:

Architecture: Acemhöyük excavations yielded a village architecture consisting of mudbrick structures with rectangular or crooked plans from the EBA period. The houses with stone foundations are thought to have flat roofs. The floors are of compressed soil. Because of the lack of an extensive research for areas belonging to this age, the settlement plan is yet to be identified.

Ceramics: Sherds of the EBA ware in the Central Anatolian style were recovered. They are handmade in the lower building levels whereas wheel made in the upper levels. The building level 9 yielded sherds of the red burnished group of ware as well as the wheel made, buff coloured coarse group of ware decorated with bands and hatchings by red paint. The building level 10 included sherds comparable with the ones recovered at EBA II of Gözlükule (Tarsus) [Mellink 1983:431]. The wavy sherds disappear with this level and handmade monochrome sherds appear. Samples of the metallic ware from Central Anatolia are also found.

Clay: Loomweights were found in the building level 10. The weights found in situ reveal that the stone paved room was a weaving room [Özgüç (N) 1984:110].

Ground stone: Fragment of a Cappadocian style marble idol was recovered from the building level 8 identical to the ones recovered in the building levels 13-12 of Kültepe (Kayseri) [Özgüç (N) 1984:110]. This is the only sample found outside Kültepe. It has a pointed head, a long neck and a round body. Obviously it is a evidence of the relationship between the two settlements during the end of the third millennium BC. Bone/Antler: Very restricted number of bones was found. The radiating circles on all four sides of an ivory object look exactly like the circle decorations of marble idols at Kültepe. This is another evidence to prove the relation between the two settlements.

Human Remains: Both extramural and intramural burials were found. When the burial practices of EBA are taken into consideration, the number of simple pit burials or pithos graves is poor in the settlement. N. Özgüç claims that the extramural cemetery is located on the side facing Aksaray depending on the grave found in the field owned by M. Mengi on the Yesilova-Aksaray road. A cup and a depas made of a slow wheel were found here [Özgüç (N) 1980:621]. In addition, the exposure of two pithos graves recovered under the floor of a house with stone foundation in the area BB/51 of the building level 10 indicates, even tough seldom, the presence of intramural burials [Özgüç (N) 1993:517-520]. One of the pithoi is washed in reddish brown has a sand-tempered paste. It contains no grave goods. The other pithos is 68 cm in height and in better condition. It is of red washed, burnished ware. There are two small handles on the shoulders of the vessel. It includes an infant burial just like the other one. It yielded two small copper bracelets, a golden hair pin and various sizes of miniature pottery as grave goods [Özgüç (N) 1993:fig.2/1-2].

Interpretation and Dating: The EBA I settlement of Acemhöyük revealed not only the Central Anatolian but also Mesopotamian and North Syrian pottery. It demonstrates that the interaction between Acemhoyuk, localized as Prushanda later and the other places had started in the third millennium BC. As the excavations conducted by N. Özgüç and A. Öztan were mainly concerned with the second millennium BC, the period of the third millennium of this significant mound is not well known. The mound may be an important city as a citadel of EBA I. The layer IX was dated to the early third millennium BC because of a finding, a bottle which undeniably belonged to Syria [Özgüç (N) 1979:890]. The two handled cup (depas) is said to be in the style of Akkads from the King Naramsin period. N. Özgüç basically dates the building level X to the end of EBA II -beginning of EBA III depending on the two pithos graves and their findings. There is a discrepancy in the dating of the building levels.

It has been revealed that the Acemhöyük mound had been inhabited from the Early Bronze Age until the Roman Period. The EBA layers were uncovered only in the eastern part of the mound during a deep sounding. The building levels VIII-X in the trench S are dated back to the EBA II-III. All dates are based on the palace complex, which had been undergone a fire, dating to the Middle Bronze Age. Furthermore, the dates taken from a juniper tree from the EBA layer of Acemhöyük went far back to BC 2671-2169 (Kuniholm 1996:331).

References
Prof. Aliye Oztan
Prof. N. Ozguc
Data Base of The Archeological Settlements of Turkey-Tay Project

Acemhöyük (Aksaray)

Situated in a fertile plain 13 km north-west of Aksaray at the south edge of the Tuz Gölü and on the main north-south and east-west routes.

This Acemhöyük site (ancient Purushanda/Burushattum) consists of a large mound (700 x 600 m) and lower city. The mound itself consists of four high points, with flat areas between, and has occupation going back into the 3rd millennium, but the lower city was occupied only in the Assyrian Colony period. Both areas were abandoned at the end of that time. Levels I and II were disturbed and excavation has concentrated on level III, the burnt level contemporary with Kültepe Karum II, which has produced two palaces on the high points of Sarıkaya and Hatipler and the West Building on the third high point, as well as other buildings in between. The cemetery was some 500 m from the mound.

Excavations at the site began in 1962 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nimet Özgüç (AU-DTCF) and have continued since 1989 under Prof. Dr. Aliye Öztan (AU-DTCF).

Around 1950 B.C., traders from the northern Mesopotamian city of Ashur established karums, or merchants' colonies, at a number of Central Anatolian cities, among them the site of Acemhöyük. Assyrian merchants lived in a restricted area of these cities, trading textiles and tin from the southeast for silver but operating under the rule of local kings. Acemhöyük is a large mound located south of Ankara near the Turkish city of Aksaray on the Konya Plain. It lay on a route linking Anatolia with the East and seems to have been an important center for the copper trade and industry. In 1965, a Turkish archaeological expedition found sealed bullae, inscribed clay tablets, ivories, and other objects outside the karum of Acemhöyük in two burned palaces on the highest part of the mound.

Acemhöyük is one of the biggest tumuli of Anatolia, beside Aşağı Şehir. The data obtained from the archaeological diggings shows that the tumulus was erected in BC 3000 and the most successful period of the tumulus was seen in the Assyrian Trade Colonies Period, that is in BC 1800. In the Colony Period, Aşağı Şehir was also a large settlement area beside the tumulus. It is the center of one of Anatolia's important kingdoms in this period. At the end of this period, both the tumulus and Aşağı Şehir were deserted. However, settlement occurred in the tumulus in the Early Hellenistic and Rome Periods. The tumulus was completely deserted at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. 3 nomad families, who came from Hoy City of Azerbaijan / Iran in 1517, settled at the foot of the tumulus and founded today's Yeşilova.

Two palaces found in the 3rd level belonging to the Colony Period, the most successful period of the city, is not only important for Acemhöyük, but also for Anatolian architectural history. The palace at the south side of the tumulus is called Sarıkaya, and the one at the north - west is called Hatipler Palace.

Mac North and Maryanne Newton are finishing putting together a 546-year juniper chronology from 68 pieces (possibly 15 trees) from Building Level III in the Northwest Trench at Acemhöyük. At Acemhöyük, an enormous mound (800m N-S x 800m E-W) only a fraction of which has been investigated, excavator Prof. Aliye Öztan (Ankara) thinks that the rooms of the Northwest Trench are service buildings, or kitchens, for the palatial Hatipler Tepesi to the east for which we already have a wiggle-matched dendrochronological date of 1791 B.C.±37 years. Eleven ovens were excavated during the summer of 1993 from this new area.

Although the finds (wheelmade pottery, bullae, bronze objects, etc.) are clearly Middle Bronze Age, and the violent destruction which brought the lives of most of the Northwest Trench buildings to an end is thought to be the same destruction that burned Hatipler Tepesi and the Sarikaya Palace some 400 meters to the southeast, the timbers which served as footings for the walls of these buildings do not crossdate at all with the Middle Bronze Age master chronology. As a glance at Fig. 3 below will show, inside an unburned section of mudbrick wall with its two white plastered faces left and right are horizontal stretchers with charred ends, a classic example of reused and recycled material. Indeed, the left and right timbers are joining half-sections of the same tree. The one chronology with which they do fit securely is the 198-year sequence from Levels 6/7 at Konya-Karahöyük which Professor Sedat Alp (Ankara) thinks is contemporary with the Alaca Höyük royal graves about the middle of the third millennium B.C. These stretchers were probably posts in burned EBA buildings which were demolished to make way for the MBA service buildings now being excavated. It is odd, if not out-right distressing, that so far not one single piece of wood from these buildings has a Middle Bronze Age cutting date. If, as now seems likely, we are able to attach the new 546-year Acemhöyük series to the early end of the 1761-year Bronze Age/Iron Age chronology, we should have a continuous chronology well over 2000 years long. This would extend this long sequence back to 2922 B.C., but that depends on a tenuous overlap that has not yet been worked out as of November 1993.

For instance, the first juniper sample from the Kayran Mevkii Tumulus near Gordion, collected in a salvage operation by personnel from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, took Maryanne Newton all of 45 minutes to prepare, measure, and crossdate to 862 BC. By contrast, three large boxes from a large building at Acemhöyük, just north of the Sarikaya Palace, sent to us by Prof. Aliye Öztan, have occupied 15 people for a month, and the end is not yet in sight, even though the majority of the 60+ samples were poplar and consequently undatable. There are, however, some 15 pieces of pine and long-lived oak with microscopic rings—all in what is now an essentially treeless plain just south of the Great Salt Lake. The oak and pine appear to be datable (Maryanne is still working on it) against wood collected in earlier years from both Acemhöyük and Kültepe and wiggle-matched in place with a low error margin.

Team members for the summer 2002 collecting trip were Pam Sullivan (who has succeeded Jennifer Chiment as Lab Supervisor), students Laura Reis and Whitney Tassie, and Government Representative Nilüfer Karakas from the Antalya Museum. We came back at the end of August with a third of a ton of wood and charcoal, augmented last month by the charcoal from Acemhöyük. In the lab this term 20 people are working away on the summer’s haul, including old-timers Kelly Jenks, Defne Bozkurt, and Beth Ryan in addition to the summer crew. transanatolie.com

The text known as Epic of the King of the Battle depicts King Sargon of Akkad (reigned 2270 to 2215 BC) advancing deep into the heart of Anatolia to protect Akkadian and other Mesopotamian merchants from the exactions of the King of Burushanda (Purshahanda). The oldest extant text was found on an Akkadian-language tablet in the Amarna archives; translations have since been discovered in Hittite and Hurrian. wikipedia

The oldest name for Anatolia, "Land of the Hatti" was found for the first time on Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the period of Sargon the Great of Akkad ca. 2350-2150 BC: on those tablets Assyrian traders implored the help of the Akkadian king Sargon. This appellation continued to exist for about 1500 years until 630 BC, as stated in Assyrian chronicles. According to later Hittite documents, Sargon the Great had fought with the Hattite king Nurdaggal of Burushanda, while his successor Naram-Sin of Akkad had battled Pamba, king of Hatti and 16 other confederates. wikipedia

More: Exploring lost civilizations of 5000 years.

Origins of Language

2013-09-03T14:59:00.000+03:00

The Proto-Human language is the hypothetical ancestor of all the world's languages, between 200,000 years ago, the age of Homo sapiens, and 50,000 years ago, the age of behavioral modernity at which Homo sapiens began to demonstrate an ability to use complex symbolic thought and express cultural creativity. These developments are often thought to be associated with the origin of language.

One theory holds that modern human behavior is the result of the gradual accumulation of knowledge, skills and culture occurring over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution.

Another theory holds that behavioral modernity occurred as a sudden event some 50 kya (50,000 years ago) in prehistory, possibly as a result of a major genetic mutation or as a result of a biological reorganization of the brain that led to the emergence of modern human natural languages.

It has been speculated that the FOXP2 gene may be what gives humans the ability to develop grammar and syntax.

Altar of Zeus at Mount Ida

2013-08-15T17:42:00.000+03:00

Altar of Zeus on 275m hill watching Adramyttian Gulf and Lesbos Island at land of Troy. It is a stone structure with stairs upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place. High places and elevated areas on which altars have been erected for worship in the belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and valleys, they are more favourable places for prayer.

Mount Ida

The mountain is the scene of several mythic events in the works of Homer. At its summit, the Olympian gods gathered to watch the progress of the epic fight. But the mountain was the sacred place of the Goddess, and Hera's powers were so magnified on Mount Ida, that she was able to distract Zeus with her seductions, just long enough to permit Poseidon to intercede on behalf of the Argives to drive Hektor and the Trojans back from the ships.

During the Trojan War, in an episode recorded in Apollodorus's Epitome, Achilles with some of the Achaean chiefs laid waste the countryside, and made his way to Ida to rustle the cattle of Aeneas. But Aeneas fled, and Achilles killed the cowherds and Nestor, son of Priam, and drove away the sacred kine (Epitome 3.32). Achilles briefly refers to this incident as he prepares to duel with Aeneas during the siege of Troy. (Iliad XX)

After the Trojan War, the only surviving son of Priam, Helenus, retired to Mount Ida, where he was surprised and became the captive of Neoptolemus.

Paris

On the sacred mountain, the nymphs who were the daughter-spirits of the river Cebrenus, had their haunt, and one, Oenone, who had the chthonic gifts of prophetic vision and the curative powers of herb magic, wed Paris, living as a shepherd on Mount Ida. Unbeknownst to all, even to himself, Paris was the son of Priam, king of Troy. He was there on Mount Ida, experiencing the rustic education in exile of many heroes of Greek mythology, for his disastrous future effect on Troy was foretold at his birth, and Priam had him exposed on the sacred slopes. When the good shepherd who was entrusted with the baby returned to bury the exposed child, he discovered that he had been suckled by a she-bear (a totem animal of the archaic goddess Artemis) and took the child home to be foster-nursed by his wife.

When Eris ("discord") cast the Apple of Discord, inscribed "for the fairest", into the wedding festivities of Peleus with Thetis, three great goddesses repaired to Mount Ida to be appraised. By a sacred spring on the mountainside, in "the Judgment of Paris", the grown youth Paris awarded it to Aphrodite, who offered Helen for a bribe, earning the perpetual enmity of the discredited goddesses Hera and Athena to the Trojan cause (Apollodorus, 3:12.5). Wikipedia

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Turkey

2012-11-18T13:41:00.001+02:00

On Nov. 16, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrates the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, an international treaty that set out to preserve important cultural and natural sites.

Cultural

Archaeological Site of Troy (1998)
City of Safranbolu (1994)
Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği (1985)
Hattusha: the Hittite Capital (1986)
Historic Areas of Istanbul (1985)
Nemrut Dağ (1987)
Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük (2012)
Selimiye Mosque and its Social Complex (2011)
Xanthos-Letoon (1988)

Mixed

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (1985)
Hierapolis-Pamukkale (1988)

Properties submitted on the Tentative List

Hasankeyf: Dam Controversy

2012-05-16T12:06:00.000+03:00

Hasankeyf is a city located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province of southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is an ancient city, with roots going back 10,000 years. (Greek: Kiphas; Latin: Cepha; Aramaic and Arabic: Hisn Kayfa) It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981.

With its history that spans nine civilizations, the archaeological and religious significance of Hasankeyf is considerable. Some of the city's historical treasures will be inundated if construction of the Ilısu Dam — is completed. These include ornate mosques, Islamic tombs and cave churches.

The Romans had built a fortress on the site and the city became a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Arabs, in ca. 640, who built a bridge over the Tigris river. The city was successively ruled by the Artukids and Ayyubids. The city was captured and sacked by the Mongols in 1260. Following the Ottoman ascendancy established by Selim I in the region in the early 16th century, the city became part of the Ottoman Empire during Sultan Süleyman I's campaign of Irakeyn (the two Iraqs, e.g. Arabian and Persian) in 1534, at the same time as Diyarbakır, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.

Ilisu Dam project prompted the World Monuments Fund to list the city on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. The flooding that would follow construction of the Ilisu dam would destroy some of Turkey's most ancient archeological sites, including the 2,000-year-old city of Hasankeyf. Dam supporters point out that Hasankeyf consists of upper and lower towns, and that only the lower settlement will be completely submerged by the flooding. They also insist that material of historical value will be salvaged from the lower town before it is flooded -- and a number of archeologists are indeed working to recover artifacts from the area.

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Etruscans: Anatolian Italians?

2012-05-10T09:19:00.000+03:00

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. The ancient Greeks' word for them was Tyrrhenoi, or Tyrrsenoi. The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.

As distinguished by its own language, the civilization endured from an unknown prehistoric time prior to the foundation of Rome until its complete assimilation to Italic Rome in the Roman Republic; numerous artifacts of Etruscan culture survived the Roman conquest. For example, according to Jenő Szmodis' research, the ancient roots of Roman Law derive directly from the Etruscan religion. At its maximum extent during the foundation period of Rome and the Roman kingdom, it flourished in three confederacies: of Etruria, of the Po valley and Latium and of Campania. Rome was sited in Etruscan territory. There is considerable evidence that early Rome was dominated by Etruscans until the Romans sacked Veii in 396 BC.

Culture that is identifiably and certainly Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the seventh century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. Of the various theories about the ethnic origins of the people who were culturally Villanovan, the noncommittal expression "Proto-Etruscan" is preferred: if the Etruscans were not already the very people living within the range of culturally "Villanovan" sites, they would have had to enter Italy in numbers from the sea, have fought a major war to displace the indigenes, and to have developed into three confederacies of 36 cities, all within 100 years and without leaving any legends or other evidence.

A possible Etruscan sea people

An Egyptian inscription at Deir al-Madinah records a victory of Ramesses III over Sea Peoples, including some named Tursha. These are probably the same as the earlier Teresh of the Merneptah Stele, commemorating Merneptah’s victory in a Libyan campaign at about 1220 BC. This may be too early for the Trojan War. Some have connected the name to the city Taruisas, Troy. The Greeks referred to them originally as *Tyrsenoi, later as Tyrrhenoi. Etruscans referred to themselves as "Rasena", possibly a later corruption of "Trasena" ' even "Tlasena" (from Thalassa = pre-Greek or "Pelasgian" for Sea).

The first Etruscan settlement in Italy was said to have been Piombina, after an initial settlement in Elba. From there they are said to have spread throughout Etruria.

The seafaring Etruscans may simply have sought brides from among their client or host populations, accounting for present-day dispersal patterns of mitochondrial DNA. We have little evidence as to what language the Sea Peoples spoke. They could have assimilated to Etruscan culture, just as the Etruscans assimilated to the Romans. The latter assimilation was thorough. Etruscan tradition accounted that they settled first at Populonia modern Piombino, spreading thence to Volterra. The population of modern Tuscany and Latium is the closest of the moderns to the Etruscans.

Genetics

In an effort to resolve the contradictions, a team of geneticists from different universities in Italy and Spain undertook the first genetic studies of the ancient Etruscans, based on mitochondrial DNA from 80 bone samples taken from tombs dating from the seventh century to the third century BC in Etruria. The results are enlightening but also self-contradictory.

This initial genetic study of the Etruscans finds that they were more related to each other than to the population of modern Italy; i.e., they qualify as a partially distinct genetic pool, or "people." Moreover, this pool contained between about 150,000 to 200,000 women. Dividing these numbers by the 36 cities in the three Etruscan leagues obtains an average of between 4167 and 6944 women per community. Selecting an arbitrary family size of four gives a most approximate Etruscan population of 600,000 to 800,000 persons in about 36 communities of an average between 16,668 and 27,776 persons each. These populations are sufficiently dense and sufficiently urban to have accomplished everything the Etruscans were supposed to have accomplished. While this study gives an insight into the genetic composition of the Etruscans, it cannot resolve the linguistic controversy: An invasion of an elite imposing itself over autochthonous subjects often leads to linguistic changes as part of cultural hegemony without leaving genetic traces.

The study has also shown that there is a link between Etruscans and certain populations of Anatolia. In particular, the areas of historical Etruscan occupation have a relatively high concentration of y-haplogroup G.

According to the research conducted by genetic scientists in Italy's Pavia University, the roots of Etruscans were in the ancient Lydian region in Anatolia. The scientists have reached the conclusion by examining 322 Mitochondrial DNA Variations derived from the three districts in Italy's Toscana region where the Etruscans once lived as well as comparing their sequence variation with that of 55 western Eurasian populations.

The results also support the information about Etruscans given by famed Greek historian Herodotus, known as the father of history. According to Herodotus the Etruscans immigrated to Italy from the Lydian region, Turkey's modern provinces of İzmir and Manisa.

The origin of the Etruscan people has been a focus of major controversy for the past 2,500 years and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain their language and sophisticated culture as well as their origin. The research is thus considered to be an important development supporting the Etruscan people's Aegean/Anatolian origin or the direct genetic input from the Near East, a scenario in agreement with the Lydian origin of Etruscans.

The results were published in the “American Journal of Human Genetics."

One of anthropology's most enduring mysteries - the origins of the ancient Etruscan civilisation - may finally have been solved, with a study of cattle.

This culturally distinct and technologically advanced civilisation inhabited central Italy from about the 8th century BC, until it was assimilated into Roman culture around the end of the 4th century BC.

The origins of the Etruscans, with their own non-Indo-European language, have been debated by archaeologists, geneticists and linguists for centuries. Writing in the 5th century BC, the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the Etruscans had arrived in Italy from Lydia, now called Anatolia in modern-day Turkey.

To try and discover more about the Etruscans' movements, Marco Pellecchia at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza, Italy, and colleagues have analysed mitochondrial DNA in modern herds of Bos Taurus cattle in the north, south and central regions of Italy. This genetic material is passed down the female line from mother to offspring.

Genetic revelations

The team found that almost 60% of the mitochondrial DNA in cows in the central Tuscan region of the country - where the Etruscan civilisation is thought to have arisen - was the same as that in cows from Anatolia and the Middle East. There was little or no genetic convergence between cows from the north and south of Italy and those from Turkey and the Middle East, the researchers say.

Pellecchia notes that no archaeological or genetic traces of Etruscan culture have been found elsewhere between Turkey and Italy. This, combined with the Etruscans' famed nautical prowess leads Pellecchia to conclude that the Etruscans and their cattle arrived in Italy by sea, and not by land.

Mark Thomas, a human geneticist at University College London in the UK, says that European cattle tend to be genetically very similar, so the study's conclusion is plausible.

Sources: wikipedia.org, newscientist.com, turkishdailynews.com.tr

Mosaics of Antioch

2012-05-10T09:11:00.000+03:00

The Antioch mosaics are a grouping of over 300 mosaic floors created around the 3rd century AD, and discovered during archaeological excavations of Antioch between 1932 and 1939 by a consortium of five museums and institutions. About half of the mosaics are housed at the Antakya Archaeological Museum, with others currently residing at the Worcester Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Baltimore Museum of Art, Harvard University and Princeton University Art Museum among others. The mosaics range in design from realistic imagery and scenes, to purely geometric patterns.

Antioch was a ancient city located just outside the modern day city of Antakya, Turkey. During the reign of Hadrian, during the 2nd century, through to the reign of Justinian in the 6th century, mosaic floors were the fashion in the city and its surrounding suburbs. The city thrived until it was destroyed by earthquakes in 526 and 528.

Beginning in 1932, under French invasion of Antioch, a consortium of museums and institutions sponsored expeditions to the archaeological sites where the city of Antioch once stood. These museums, the Worcester Art Museum, Princeton University, the musée du Louvre, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Harvard University's affiliate Dumbarton Oaks, were attempting to uncover great monuments, palaces, and treasures, but were disappointed when most of what was unearthed, under tons of silt, was just the remains of houses, most without any remaining walls. The only surviving part of the majority of the houses was the floors.

The floors the archeologists discovered were covered in intricate mosaics. More than 300 mosaics were found.

In 1939 the expedition ended and the archeologists packed up to leave. They left about half of the unearthed mosaics to the city if Antakya, the modern day city located at Antioch, which subsequently built a museum, the Antakya Archaeological Museum, to house them. The rest of the mosaics were split up amongst the institutions that took part in the dig, and were sent all over the world. To be transported, large amounts of concrete was poured behind the mosaics to create a stable backing. When dividing up the floors, the archeologists, often took apart rooms and sent different parts of the floor to different museums. For an exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum in 2000, mosaics were compiled from Paris, Baltimore, Princeton and Wellesley, to reassemble a single room's floor. After the expedition left, the pits were filled back in and olive groves were planted over them.

The Antioch mosaics were created at a time and place between distinct artistic styles. They show how the link between artistic styles of ancient Greece and Rome, and the art of early Christianity. The mosaics are incredibly large, with "The Worcester Hunt," the largest Antioch mosaic in the United States, measuring 20.5 feet (6.26 m) x 23.3 feet (7.11 m). The mosaics range in design from realistic imagery and scenes, to purely geometric patterns. It is believed that the mosaics were created by mosaic specialists.

The Tessera for the mosaics is both white and colored marble as well as white and colored limestone.

Inside the Roman Tomb

2012-03-25T14:04:00.000+03:00

Inside the Roman Tomb, originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com.

Sarcophagus of the Crying Women in Istanbul

2012-03-02T16:42:00.000+02:00

The Sarcophagus of the Crying Women in Istanbul Archaeology Museum, found at the Royal Necropolis in Sidon.

It is the best example of the group called by archaeologists "Sarcophagi with Columns". From the partial traces on the marble that remained until today, it is understood that it had been dyed in blue and red initially. Nothing could be found other than the bones of its owner and a bronze belt buckle inside, since it had been robbed in an earlier times. It is considered as a final resting place, like the "Mausoleum of Halicarnassus" or the "Nereid Monument", rather than a tomb.

Its architectural features were used in the architecture of the old building of the İstanbul Archaeological Museums. It is an example of the Greek sculpture displaying Eastern influences. The shaved heads, bear feet, ragged clothes of the figures and their movements and expressions of sadness are features of Semitic societies. It is thought to be the sarcophagus of the King of Sidon, Straton (374-358 BC), who was said to have led a life of pleasure. The sarcophagus has the shape of an Ionian temple.

It is thought that the figures of 18 sad women between the columns represent the wives of the dead person or the women in his seraglio, rather than crying women who were common in the Middle Eastern countries.