Temelsiz Bir Lokalizasyon Önerisi Olarak Tismurna-Smyrna Özdeşliği

Abstract

The two pioneers of Anatolian archaeology and hittitology, E. Akurgal and S. Alp suggested that the word Smryna as a toponym derived from Tismurna that occurs in Assyrian texts found in Kultepe. According to them, the prefix –ti was dropped in time, this toponym turned into Smurna and from there to Smyrna. This indicates that the city was known in the 2nd Millenium BC This knowledge has been used by many archaeologists, local historians and architects, it is also very common because of the internet age we are experiencing today. However, this identification which was established based on similarity in sound actually has no historical value. Tismurna is a settlement in Central Anatolia during the Assyrian Colony Period and it has no relationship to Greek Smyrna. In this article, the localization proposals for Tismurna which has a minor role in the Central Anatolian Trade Network according to the Assyrian texts will be briefly mentioned; then the validity of Tismurna-Smyrna identification which becomes a fallacy will be examined by using recent studies on the historical geography of Anatolia, archaeological data and written sources.