DAĞLIK PHRYGIA’DA HELLENİSTİK VE ROMA İMPARATORLUK DÖNEMİ ANITSAL KAYA MEZARLARINDAKİ CEPHE MİMARİSİ VE MİMARİ SÜSLEME ÖĞELERİ ÜZERİNE NOTLAR

Abstract

In the Ancient Anatolia “mountainous section” of Phrygia Region is the section between Dorylaion (today the province of Eskisehir), Kotiaion (today the province of Kutahya) and Akroinos (today the province of Afyon) and it was named “Highlands of Phrygia”. In addition to magnificent monuments related to Mother Goddess worship carved in rock in “Phrygian” period as well as monumental tombs of the same period, various types of tombs and chamber tombs carved in rock in Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Periods can be found in Highlands of Phrygia Region. In almost half of the rock-cut chamber tombs carved in rock in Mountainous Phrygia Region in Hellenistic and Roman Imperial Periods facade architecture and ornaments at various levels could be detected. Some of the chamber tombs having such facade architecture are monumental in nature and they are required to be assessed not only in terms of tomb typology but also in terms of “facade design” separately due to ornaments and certain other elements in their facades. For this reason, approximately 20 of the rock-cut chamber tombs with the monumental facade architecture in question which I consider to be significant examples have been examined in the article for different aspects. These are Kumbet-Deliklikaya, Kumbet – Solon’s tomb, Zehran, Gerdekkaya which is the most monumental rock-cut tombs with temple form in the region, Kirkgozkaya located in Sacred Phrygian Yazilikaya, Church, chamber tombs in Yapildak necropolis within the boundaries of the province of Eskisehir, chamber tombs in Ahlatciinler necropolis, rock-cut chamber tombs in Ayazin town, in Gulluk location, from the necropolis nearby village Demirli within the boundaries of the province of Afyon. Two significant elements of comparison have been taken into consideration while dating the rock-cut chamber tombs in Highlands of Phrygia Region: tomb typology and facade architecture/ornaments. Tomb typology is an issue quite separate from the main content of the article and consequently it was not discussed in detail in this study. For facade design, in addition to the ordinary comparisons to be made with structures or carvings in different Ancient regions and geographical regions, the comparisons made for rock carvings in Phrygia Region and Highlands of Phrygia Region with “false door steles” mostly used as “tursteine” or “doorstone” in the literature, reflections of them in the rock carvings in the region as well as Dokimeion type tombs which is one of the most significant tomb production centers of the ancient geography and located in splitting distance to Highlands of Phrygia are remarkable. Furthermore, description of the goddess in her own holy region on the rock in all most all periods is another special example for the concepts of “tradition” and “continuity”.