Anatolian Traditions Research Articles

Ashes to Kraters, Dust to Jugs. Use of Ceramic Vessels as Urns in the Middle and Late Bronze Age East Aegean–West Anatolian Region

The appearance of a large number of cremation burials towards the end of the Late Bronze Age in the west Aegean is usually explained as a result of the influence from the east Aegean–west Anatolian region, which is itself seen as influenced by the central Anatolian tradition. Although in some cases the cremated remains were deposited directly into graves, there are a number of cases in which they were first deposited in urns. This paper focuses on the use of urns in the east Aegean–west Anatolian region during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. It examines the use of different shapes of ceramic vessels as urns, as well as the similarities and differences between the attested traditions. The paper also compares the east Aegean–west Anatolian traditions to the picture emerging from the cemeteries in central Anatolia in order to re-examine the possible origin of the east Aegean–west Anatolian practices. Moreover, the east Aegean–west Anatolian traditions in the use of ceramic vessels as urns are compared to the newly emerged traditions at the end of the Late Bronze Age in the west Aegean. Finally, the results are used to re-evaluate the widely accepted and simplified narratives about the spread of the cremation burial rite from Anatolia to the west Aegean.

Henna Ritual Clothing in Anatolia from Past to Present: An Evaluation on Bindalli

The rites of matrimony, which are formed with various rituals and activities, have been accepted as one of the main components of Anatolian traditions from the Ottoman period to the present time. The marriage is celebrated with ceremonies that include a series of entertainment activities. The henna rituals are conducted prior to marriage. In these rituals, first, various folk songs are sung to make brides, who will be away from their parents, cry. Then, fun music is played to entertain the bride, who wears dress in traditional henna clothes called bindalli on henna night. The material, colors, motif, and ornaments of these clothes have symbolic meanings culturally. In Anatolian marriage ceremonies, bindalli clothing decorated with metal and pearls are usually worn by brides. The current study will analyze the henna-night clothes as symbols of the henna ritual by referring to different samples within the framework of intangible cultural heritage, because traditional henna clothes vary by local factors such as cut, fabric, and ornaments, this study will focus on bindalli from Beypazari, Ankara, within the scope of research sampling. By underlining that culture can be preserved through conducting related activities, the importance of this current study rests upon the analysis of how henna-night clothing has changed from past to present. In recent years, it has been shown that variously designed bindalli clothes are being used as henna-night dresses, even prom dress or beachwear.

The Family of Zeus in Early Greek Poetry and Myths

The Family of Zeus in Early Greek Poetry and Myths In early epic poetry it is evident that certain differences exist in both traditions, mainly due to the fact that Homer’s epic poems were written on the western coast of Asia Minor and the surrounding islands, while Hesiod’s poems were composed on mainland Greece. From the analysis, it becomes clear that the development of the cult of an Indo-European Sky Father differs significantly from the assumed Proto-Indo-European tradition. His family is completely different from that in the Indo-European tradition. His wife is the goddess Hera, whom Homer calls ‘old’, as opposed to the Hesiodic tradition, in which Hestia and Demeter are older than her. Homer makes no mention whatsoever of Hestia. The ‘daughters of Zeus’ are the goddesses Athena and Aphrodite, and the ‘son of Zeus’ is Apollo. The family of Zeus according to Homer also differs from the archaeological findings of the tradition on land. Hera of Samos bears no resemblance to Hera of Argos. The oldest large temples are connected to her, as well as to the memory of Oceanus and Thetis as parents to the gods, which is a direct influence of the Mesopotamian myths of Apsu and Tiamat. Homer’s Zeus from Mount Ida, Hera of Samos, Apollo of Cilla, and Tenedus and Artemis of Ephesus are closer to the Anatolian tradition.

KALAYERI YAŞAM YERİ: DOĞU ANADOLU-KAFKASYA SON KALKOLİTİK GENELEKLERİ

The article summarizes the results of the excavations in the Galayeri settlement of Leilatepe culture, which is located in Gabala district of the Azerbaijan Republic. The roots of this culture are connected with the late Cholcolithic Eastern Anatolian traditions. Excavations were completed in 400 sq/ m area in Galayeri. The thickness of the cultural layer at the excavation site was 3m. The constructions were made of non-standard clay layers. Semi- dugouts, dug into the subsoil, have been revealed there. One of the semi-dugouts probably served as a sanctuary. More than 20 child burials in ceramic vessels and one catacomb with the child burial have been revealed. The pottery is divided into 4 groups according to the composition of the clay. Most of all,vessels of the first group, made of plant tempered clay and thrown on a potter’s wheel, have been found. Stone products are represented by grain grinders, pestles, graters, as well as numerous obsidian and flint tools. Bone tools are few and consist of spindle whorls and awls. The metalworking items - molds for axes and ingots are of interest.

Cultural and religious perspective of loss and bereavement in Anatolia

Coping with death is a grueling job to be done however it is not impossible. All cultures have developed ways to cope with death. Interfering with these practices may interfere with the necessary grieving processes. Understanding different cultures' and religions response to death can help counselors recognize the grieving process in patients of other cultures. It is also important to realize that, while each individual grief process is unique, there is a form of grief that is disabling, interfering with function and quality of life. A great majority of the people in Anatolia have remained under the influence of tradition as well as religion. In the foundation of main behavior models which forms our traditional life, ensuring them to possess specialty and formation however there lays numerous customs, beliefs and ethic operations. So that such kind of variations affects the death and the bereavement customs. As in the case of the three important event of the life, a great number of beliefs, customs, tradition, ceremonies, and behaviors have been also grouped around death. Such beliefs, customs, transactions, ceremonies and pattern behaviors which accumulated around the death and surrounded individuals with the death are collected under three groups. Sets of traditions formed as pre-death, during death and after death. So this study was carried out so as to determine the approach of Anatolian traditions to the death and bereavement. This qualitative research was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews in which three questions prepared by the researchers and were asked to four volunteer male participants whose mean age was seventy-five years old. The study concludes that the traditions of Anatolia give importance to sharing and supporting the family of deceased, which overlaps the literature of bereavement process psychology.

Moral Language and the Politics of Need Interpretation: The Urban Poor and Social Assistance in Turkey

Liberal modernists have claimed that democracy requires participation by interested parties in the politics of need interpretation. Poor people, an interested party, may lack the rational and critical language essential for the process of interpretation. This paper discusses a different perspective on the language of participation by the poor. Focusing on the everyday practices of the poor and using information collected from ethnographic research in Sultanbeyli, a low-income district in Istanbul, Turkey, it is shown how discursive power constrains the language and the manner of talking that the poor use to articulate their needs. The people in the district, “former villagers bound to the Anatolian tradition” using religious morality as a justification of their demands, successfully negotiate with administrators of social assistance programs, thus participating directly in the politics of need interpretation.

From Central Asia to Anatolia: the transmission of the black-line technique and the development of pre-Ottoman tilework

AbstractBlack line is a polychrome overglaze painting technique that was developed in Central Asia in the late 14th century. Black-line tilework is also found in 15th- and 16th-century Anatolia, yet it is unclear how the tradition emerged in this region. This paper investigates the appearance of the technique in Anatolia and situates it in the context of Timurid (1370–1501) tilework as well as the development of Anatolian traditions of the Rum Seljuk (1077–1307) and Beylik (1071–1453) periods. The analysis is conducted by tracing the history of two tiles from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and by stylistic, technological and contextual comparisons with Seljuk, Timurid and Ottoman examples. I suggest that the introduction of the black-line technique to Anatolia was concurrent with the introduction of yellow pigment in the 15th century. I also propose that the Metropolitan Museum tiles should be redated to the second half of the 15th century on the basis that they were produced in Anatolia by craftsmen trained in Transoxiana who were also familiar with local Rum Seljuk and Karamanid traditions. These artists introduced new eastern styles which, together with local traditions, created an exciting experimental period in Anatolian tilework production and contributed to the emergence of Ottoman tile art.

Portentous Birds Flying West: On the Mesopotamian Origin of Homeric Bird-Divination

Abstract Drawing on the Akkadian omen series Šumma Ālu and its predecessors, this essay argues for a Mesopotamian origin of Homeric bird-divination. Against the suggestion of Högemann and Oettinger that Greek bird-divination has its closest parallels with Hittite bird-divination, I argue that both in its function as a tool for divination and in its specific content, Homeric bird-divination, if not all such ancient Greek divination, finds much closer parallels in Mesopotamian divination traditions than it does in Anatolian traditions. I suggest that the late 8th century B.C.E. and the decades before and after 1200 B.C.E. represent two periods when conditions were particularly ripe for the introduction of Mesopotamian bird-divination into the Aegean and that itinerant diviners, perhaps in the employment of armies, were the most likely conveyors of this particular form of divination.

King Midas' Ass's Ears Revisited

On several occasions the Phrygian King Midas was portrayed with donkey’s ears in Greek literature and art. There is no text that offers a plausible explanation of Midas’ strange appearance and later commentators provide many competing stories to account for his animal ears. A new interpretation can be offered on the grounds of a pre-Phrygian Anatolian tradition. The revised reading of the Luwian hieroglyphs on the so-called ‘Tarkondemos Seal’ reveals the donkey as an old Anatolian royal symbol. The Phrygians might possibly have adopted this kind of symbolism which later was lost or misunderstood. Greeks who provided their own interpretations of Midas’ ass’s ears only re-interpreted the original myth creating several aitia. Anatolian and Aegean Bronze Age survivals in Phrygian culture are being discussed as well.

Lieux de mémoire en Lycie

Starting from the concepts of «memory of the invisible» and of «history-making memory», as they have been recently elaborated by J.-P. Vernant, from the concept of «places of memory» as described by P. Nora, and finally from the works of G. Dumézil and M. Halbwachs, it is shown that the civilization of Lycia (South-West Anatolia) has consciously built up, in the classical and hellenistic periods (5th-2nd century B. C.) a system of mythical traditions and cult space organization that have contributed, in the middle of extended hellenic influence, to the preservation of its Anatolian identity. Moreover, one has tried to describe the instruments (pre-achaemenid myths, Homeric epic poetry) and the visible signs (ancient cult monuments inserted in Greek buildings) that were used to this aim. The synthesis, that succeeded for a time, of Anatolian tradition and hellenism is the key of Lycian originality.

Frogs around the Pond? Cultural Diversity in the Ancient World and the New Millennium

This essay examines relations between Greeks and non-Greeks in the eastern Mediterranean in three case studies. A Geometric clay pyxis from Athens is compared to an older Egyptian granary, to consider how shapes, images, and beliefs might travel across time and place. In the second case, a famous image of Artemis from Ephesus is traced to Anatolian traditions of the second millennium. Finally, the role of myth, or the narrative behind such images, is examined in the figure of Midas, whose asses’ ears could harbor royal Anatolian attributes. Details of these connections are explored elsewhere; this essay asks how and why we pursue them in classical art and myth, and what the results accomplish for our purposes as teachers and scholars of classical antiquity.

Labraunda Açık Hava Kült Alanı

Labraunda, connected to the ancient city of Mylassa, was a sacred religious center for the Caria region. The remains are situated in the northeast side of the sacred area between and in front of two large rocks that rise approximately 10-15 m height. Among the ruins are several small niches cut into the rocks, one big niche, a door, stalls, a channel for libations. In addition, several sitting places might be mentioned. The fact that the Labraunda was built into rocks and that the cult area was entered through rocks, links the site with Yazilikaya, another religious site situated in a naturally rocky environments. The Labraunda cuit area, therefore, has many similarities with monuments chiseled into rock facades and those, in particular, built in forest for the Goddess Kybele. Since the Bronze Age, it is an Anatolian tradition to built monuments and produce reliefs near the natural water sources. Labraunda followed this tradition; it was built on the high rocks near the region's main water source, similar to the sacred area of Eumeneia Kybele in Phrygia. In Labraunda, like the open-air temple of Karahisar, the monuments carved rocks were grouped together to form a religious center. The Labraunda ruins are indicative of an old and native Anatolian tradition. An explanation for the Classic Period's use of the cult area - dedicated to the God Zeus- is the pre-existing veneration of the same space. Carians worshiped their Gods, like the Urartians and the Phrygians, through nature, through water source and natural stone. A door cut into lock, an altar with stairs, and indeed the entire sacred area was constructed to demonstrate the power of the God. The Labraunda cult area represents a synthesis between the Urartian Culture in the East, the Phrygian Culture in the Middle West, and the Ionian Culture along the Aegean. This synthesis is also represented in attributes of statues, such as the Goddess Artemis in Ephesus and on Zeus in Labraunda.

Taş Kule: A Persian-Period Tomb near Phokaia

A unique freestanding tomb near Phokaia, known as Taş Kule, is presented here, and an attempt made to analyze its cultural background. Taş Kule does not belong to any of the normal Anatolian traditions in funerary architecture; rather, its unique form should be connected with Persian aristocrats and administrators living in Asia Minor, and with "Persianizing" local nobility. The funerary traditions of these aristocrats seem to differ from those of local nobles and of Persians living in the homeland, and certain aspects of these "hybrid" traditions, such as false doors, are discussed. On archaeological and historical grounds, Taş Kule should probably be dated to the second half of the sixth or earlier fifth century B. C., placing it among the earliest freestanding tombs in Anatolia. The origins of these tombs may be related to the more general use of monuments as propagandistic memorials, and the historical context of Taş Kule itself may thus be related to attempts to maintain political control over this traditionally rebellious area of the Persian empire.

Middle Chalcolithic Pottery from Southwestern Anatolia

The various sequences constructed for the Chalcolithic period in southwestern Anatolia are based on two sites, Beycesultan and Hacilar. Each produced evidence of a well defined material culture and these were attributed to the Early Chalcolithic and Late Chalcolithic respectively. However, there was no observable relationship between them. Two hypotheses have been advanced to explain the lack of continuity—an invasion, at the end of the Hacilar period, that brought the fully developed Late Chalcolithic culture into the Southwest, or a hiatus between Hacilar and Beycesultan that lasted for much of the fifth millennium B.C. Pottery that fits into none of the known Southwest Anatolian traditions has recently been identified in the Elmali Plain. It is described and attributed, on the basis of internal evidence and parallels with pottery from the eastern Aegean islands, to the fifth millennium. Support is thereby given to the "hiatus" theory, and the incompleteness of our knowledge of the Chalcolithic period emphasized. The repercussions for our understanding of this period, both in Anatolia and the Aegean, are discussed.

The Heroic Age of Phrygia in Ancient Literature and Art

The object of this paper is to re-examine the Greek literary traditions concerning a Phrygian migration from Europe to Asia Minor and the early movements of that people within Asia Minor, also allusions to these traditions in local legends and coin-types of the Roman period. Such archaeological and philological evidence as there may be for a migration is not considered: a superficial examination would seem to indicate that neither of these disciplines can yet suggest a clearcut picture of population movement which we can relate to that presented by the literary evidence, and I am not qualified to take part in the creation of one. Without supporting evidence from either of these disciplines it must be emphasised that the historicity of the events recorded in the traditions must remain open to doubt. The discussion that follows is concerned with the development of the traditions, especially that which we shall call the “Anatolian tradition”, as purely literary constructions, not as historical accounts.