The metamorphosis of a historical city: From the Byzantine city Argyropolis to the Ottoman neighborhood Süleymaniye

Abstract

Anatolia, which has hosted many civilizations since the early ages, is historically very important. While the majority of the settlements of these civilizations are still present where they were founded, there are some historical cities that have disappeared or moved to another place; while some are known with their names only in old sources, the ruins of some of them are found, and some continue to exist in other places because the original places of foundation of the cities were deserted. One of the cities which sought its continuity in another place is Argyropolis. The city which was founded on a sloping area with rich silver mines and which was spread along heights of 1400–1500 m, moved to a valley of a height of 1150 m and some 4 km away from its original place of foundation because of the loss of its socio-economic power. In its original place of foundation, the city was called as Argyropolis and Canca, respectively. After the city was left it was called Eskişehir (Old City) and Eski Gümüşhane (Old Gümüşhane), respectively; and when it lost its status as a city and reduced to the status of a neighborhood it was called Süleymaniye (The City of Suleiman). The names given to the old city before it reduced to the status of a neighborhood and to the new city refer to the ‘silver mines’, which were an indication of the economic condition of the city. The closure of these mines was to the desertion of the city what the running of these mines was to its foundation and development. In general, it is aimed to investigate reasons of transformation from a rich city from a small neighborhood of Old Gümüşhane city. With that aim, Byzantine and Ottoman buildings in the scope of this study have been researched and evaluated. The study consists of four sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Fieldwork, stages of the study and the analyses of the examined samples; determining the boundaries of the area of study, determining the actual places of the buildings and ruins on the ground and showing them on the site plan, drawing the plans showing the original states of the buildings, drawing the plans showing the original states of the historical buildings and ruins, analyzing the architectural characteristics of the periods that they belong to based on the relevant literature, determining the historical processes depending both on the interviews made with the people living in the area and on the inscriptions on the buildings on the site. For each sample whose original design was determined, creating identity cards including its plan, cross-section, façade (as the main façade) and history, a section explaining its present condition, and its photos, preparing a model of the site and placing the buildings, building traces and the roads on it. (3) General evaluation. (4) Conclusions.