The Second Life of Inscriptions in Late Antique and Byzantine Asia Minor: Some Remarks on the Reuse of the Inscribed Material

Year 2019, , 59 - 76, 15.11.2019

Georgios Pallis

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.620882

Cited By: 2

Abstract

Classical,
Roman and Late antiquity inherited in the land of Asia Minor thousands of older
Greek and Latin inscriptions on stone, of various content and purposes. With the
collapse of the ancient world and the transition to the medieval period, this
material lost its significance as conveyor of public and private texts and
became incomprehensible to the viewers. In the meantime, contem­porary epigraphy
followed a different orientation and acquired new values, in the service of
Chris­tianity and the Eastern Roman imperial institutions.

Fortifications,
public infrastructure and churches predominate in the building activity in the
re­gion during this long period. Taking place primarily at ancient cities and
sites full of earlier ma­terial, architectural production extensively reused
spolia of various kinds and periods. These spo­lia included many inscriptions,
which were embedded –intact or reworked– in various
structures. The walls of Ankara, the churches of Ephesus and other monuments
are representative of this practice, which was later exercised by the Seljuks
and the Ottoman Turks too.  

The presence of inscribed
spolia in Byzantine monuments of Asia Minor raises several questions about the
attitude towards the written word in a society which was still using the same
language, in a somehow changed form, but was sharing a different culture. Based
on selected cases of reused epigraphic material from the Asia Minor, this
article argues that inscriptions were treated mainly in practical terms. Being
more or less incomprehensible by illiterate and literate Byzantines, in­scribed
stones became raw building materials available to be recycled in
fortifications, secular buildings and churches.

Keywords

Inscriptions, spolia, reuse, Asia Minor

Bizans Dönemi Anadolu’sunda Yazıtların İkinci Hayatı: Yazılı Materyallerin Yeniden Kullanımına İlişkin Görüşler

Abstract

Klasik, Roma ve Geç Antik
Dönem Anadolu topraklarına çeşitli içerik ve amaçlar barındıran, taş­lar
üzerine yazılı binlerce Yunanca ve Latince yazıt miras bırakmıştır. Antik
dünyanın çöküşü ve Ortaçağ’a geçiş ile birlikte, bu materyaller kamusal ya da
şahsi metinleri taşımaları bakımından önemlerini kaybetmişler ve onlara
bakanlar için anlaşılmaz hale gelmişlerdir. Bu süre içerisinde, epigrafi farklı
bir yönelim izlemiş ve Hıristiyanlık ile Doğu Roma İmparatorluğu’na ait kurumla­rın
hizmetinde yeni değerler kazanmıştır.

Tahkimatlar, kamu
altyapısı ve kiliseler bu uzun dönem boyunca bölgedeki inşa faaliyetinde öne
çıkmışlardır. Erken dönem materyalleri ile dolu olan antik kent ve alanlarının
ilk olarak meydana gelmesinin ardından mimari üretim geniş ölçüde pek çok
çeşitte ve pek çok döneme ait devşirme malzeme kullanmıştır. Bu devşirmeler
çeşitli yapılar içerisine – hiç bozulmamış ya da yeniden işlenmiş şekilde –
konmuş pek çok yazıtı içermektedir. Ankara’nın duvarları, Ephesos kentinin
kiliseleri ve diğer anıtlar, sonradan Selçuklu ve Osmanlı Türkleri tarafından
da kullanılan bu uy­gulamayı temsil etmektedirler.

Anadolu’nun Bizans Dönemi anıtlarındaki yazılı
devşirme malzemelerin varlığı, bir şekilde deği­şik formda hala aynı dili
konuşan fakat farklı bir kültürü paylaşan bir toplumda yazılı kelimelere karşı
gösterilen tutuma dair pek çok sorun ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Bu makale,
Anadolu’dan seçilen yeniden kullanılmış epigrafik malzemeler ışığında
yazıtların çoğunlukla pratik amaçlarla kullanıl­dığını iddia etmektedir.  Okuma yazma bilen ya da bilmeyen Bizanslılar
tarafından neredeyse an­laşılmaz olan yazılı taşlar, savunma yapılarında, sivil
binalarda ve kiliselerde yeniden kullanılmak üzere ham inşa malzemesine
dönüşmüşlerdir.

Keywords

Yazıtlar, devşirme malzeme, yeniden kullanım, Asia Minor, Anadolu, Bizans Dönemi

References

• M. Adak, Claudia Anassa. Eine Wohltäterin aus Patara, Epigraphica Anatolica 27, 1996, 127-142.
• J. Alchermes, Spolia in Roman Cities of the Late Empire: Legislative Rationales and Architectural Reuse, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 48, 1994, 167-178.
• St. Altekamp – C. Marcks-Jacobs – P. Seiler (eds.), Perspektiven der Spolienforschung 1. Spoliierung und Transposition, Topoi, Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 15, Berlin-Boston 2013.
• St. Altekamp – C. Marcks-Jacobs – P. Seiler (eds.), Perspektiven der Spolienforschung 2. Zentren und Konjunkturen der Spoliierung, Topoi, Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 40, Berlin 2017.
• E. Alten, Komana’dan Yeni Yazıtlar, in: D. B. Erciyas – M. N. Tatbul (eds.), Komana’da Ortaçağ Yerleşimi/The Medieval Settlement at Komana, İstanbul 2015, 75-82.
• K. Altuğ, Reconsidering the Use of Spolia in Byzantine Constantinople, in: S. Pedone – A. Paribeni (eds.), «Di Bisanzio dirai ciò che è passato, ciò che passa e che sarà». Scritti in onore di Alessandra Guiglia, v. I, Roma 2018, 3-16.
• G. E. Bean, The roman Inscriptions, in: J. Morganstern (ed.), The Byzantine Church at Dereağzı and its decoration, IstMitt Beiheft 29, Tübingen 1983, 178-181, pl. 42,1-44,4.
• E. Bosch, Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Ankara in Altertum, Ankara 1967, 353-355, n. 290-291.
• B. Böhlendorf-Arslan, Nothing to Remember? Redesigning the Ancient City of Assos in the Byzantine Era, in: E. Mortensen – B. Poulsen (eds.), Cityscapes and Monuments of Western Asia Minor, Oxbow 2017, 21-28.
• R. Brilliant – D. Kinney (eds.), Reuse Value. Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine, Farnham-Burlinghton 2011.
• W. H. Buckler – D. M. Robinson, Sardis VII, Greek and Latin Inscriptions, Part I, Leyden 1932.
• H. C. Butler, Sardis I. The Excavations, p. I, 1910-1914, Amsterdam 1969.
• A. Cameron – J. Herrin (eds.), Constantinople in the early eighth century. The “Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai”, Leiden 1984.
• R. Coates-Stephens, Epigraphy as spolia - the reuse of inscriptions in early medieval buildings, PBSR LXX, 2002, 275-296.
• A. Cooley, The Life-cycle of Inscriptions, in: A. Cooley (ed.), The Afterlife of Inscriptions. Reusing, Rediscovering, Reinventing and Revitalizing Ancient Inscriptions, London 2000, 1-5.
• R. Cormack, The Temple as the Cathedral, in: Ch. Roueché – K. T. Erim (eds.), Aphrodisias papers. Recent work on architecture and sculpture, including the papers given at the Second International Aphrodisias colloquium held at King's College, London, on 14 November 1987, JRA Suppl. 1, Ann Arbor 1990, 75-88.
• C. W. M. Cox – A. Cameron, Monuments from Dorylaeum and Nacolea (Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua V), Manchester 1937.
• J. St. Crawford, The Byzantine Shops at Sardis, Archaeological Exploration of Sardis Monograph 9, Massachusetts 1990.
• G. Dagron, Psellos épigraphiste, in: C. Mango – O. Pritsak (eds.), Okeanos. Essays presented to Ihor Ševčenko on his Sixtieth Birthday by his Colleagues and Students, Massachusetts 1983, 117-124.
• O. Dally – M. Maischberger – P. Schneider – A. Scholl (eds.), ZeitRäume. Milet in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike, Ausstellungskatalog Berlin 2009, Regensburg 2009.
• P. D. de Staebler, Şehir Surlarında Kullanılan Işlemeli Devşirme Mermerler/Re-use of Carved Marble in the City Wall, in: R. R. R. Smith – J. L. Lenaghan (eds.), Aphodisias’tan Roma Portreleri/Roman Portraits from Aphrodisias, Istanbul 2008, 185-199.
• P. D. de Staebler, The City Wall and the making of a late-antique provincial capital, in: Chr. Ratté – R. R. R. Smith (eds.), Aphodisias Papers 4. New Research on the City and the Monuments (JRA Suppl 70), Portsmouth 2008, 285-318.
• V. A. Foskolou, The Magic of the Written Word: The Evidence of Inscriptions on Byzantine Magical Amulets, Deltion tes Christianikes Archaiologikes Etaireias 35, 2014, 329-348.
• Cl. Foss, Byzantine and Turkish Sardis, Cambridge-Massachusetts-London 1976.
• D. French, Roman, Late Roman and Byzantine Inscriptions of Ankara. A Selection, Ankara 2003.
• J. Μ. Frey, Spolia in Fortifications and the Common Builder in Late Antiquity, Leiden-Boston 2016.
• L. V. Geymonat, The Syntax of Spolia in Byzantine Thessaloniki, in: M. J. Johnson – R. Ousterhout – A. Papalexandrou (eds.), Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and its Decoration, Farnham 2012, 47-65.
• C. M. B. Greenhalgh, Marble Past, Monumental Present. Building with Antiquities in the Mediaeval Mediterranean, Leiden-Boston 2008.
• Η. Grégoire, Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d’Asie Mineure, Paris 1922.
• H. Grégoire, Inscriptions historiques byzantines, Byzantion 4, 1927-28, 437-468.
• M. F. Hansen, The eloquence of appropriation. Prolegomena to an understanding of spolia in early Christian Rome (Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 33), Rome 2003.
• M. F. Hansen, The Spolia Churches of Rome. Recycling Antiquity in the Middle Ages, Aarhus 2015.
• R. M. Harisson – N. Christie et al., Excavations at Amorium: 1992 Interim Report, AnSt 43, 1993, 147-162.
• L. Hebert, The Temple-Church at Aphrodisias, PhD Dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York 2000.
• W. Hoepfner, Herakleia Pontike – Ereğli. Eine baugeschichtliche Untersuchung, Wien 1966.
• E. I. Ivison, Kirche und Religiöses Lebens in Byzantinischen Amorium, in: F. Daim – J. Drauschke (eds.), Byzanz - das Römerreich im Mittelalter, T. 2,1, Schauplätze, Mainz 2010, 309-343.
• M. Jeffreys, Literacy, in: E. Jeffreys – J. Haldon – R. Cormack (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, New York 2008, 796-802.
• L. Jonnes, The Inscriptions of Heraclea Pontica (Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien 47), Bonn 1994.
• N. D. Karydis, Early Byzantine Vaulted Construction in Churches of the Western Coastal Plains and River Valleys of Asia Minor, Oxford 2011.
• D. Kinney, Spolia. Damnatio and renovation Memoriae, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 42, 1997, 117-148.
• S. Ladstätter, Ephesus, in: Ph. Niewöhner (ed.), The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, New York 2017, 238-248.
• M. Lauxtermann, The Anthology of Cephalas, in: M. Hinterberger – E. Schiffer (eds.), Byzantinische Sprachkunst. Studien zur byzantinischen Literatur gewidmet Wolfram Hörander zum 65. Geburtstag (Byzantinisches Archiv 20), Berlin-New York 2007, 194-208.
• Chr. S. Lightfoot, Die byzantinische Stadt Amorium. Grabungsergebnisse der Jahre 1988 bis 2008, in: F. Daim – J. Drauschke (eds.), Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter, T. 2,1, Schauplätze, Mainz 2010, 293-307.
• Chr. S. Lightfoot, Amorium Reports 5: A Catalogue of Roman and Byzantine Stone Inscriptions from Amorium and its Territory. Together with Graffiti, Stamps and Miscellanea, Istanbul 2017.
• J. Magness, The Date of the Sardis Synagogue in Light of the Numismatic Evidence, AJA 109.3, 2005, 443-475.
• St. Mitchell – D. French (eds.), The Greek and Latin Inscriptions of Ankara (Ankyra) I. From Augustus to the End of the Third Century AD, München 2012.
• D. G. Mitten – A. Fr. Scorziello, Reappropriating Antiquity. Some Spolia from the Synagogue at Sardis, in: N. D. Cahill (ed.), Love for Lydia. A Sardis Anniversary Volume Presented to Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr., Cambridge- Massachussets- London 2008, 135-146.
• J. Moralee, The Stones of St. Theodore: Disfiguring the Pagan Past in Christian Gerasa, Journal of Early Christian Studies 14, 2006, 183-215.
• D. Y. Ng – M. Swetnam-Burland (eds.), Reuse and Renovation in Roman Material Culture: Functions, Aesthetics, Interpretations, Cambridge 2018.
• Ph. Niewöhner, Sind die Mauern die Stadt? Vorbericht über die siedlungsgeschichtlichen Ergebnisse neuer Grabungen im spätantiken und byzantinischen Milet, AA 2008.1, 255-263.
• Ph. Niewöhner, Introduction, in: Ph. Niewöhner (ed.), The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, New York 2017, 1-6.
• J. Nollé, Side im Altertum: Geschichte und Zeugnisse, B. 2 (Inschriften Griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien 44), Bonn 2001.
• Th. Oten, Pergamon, in: Ph. Niewöhner (ed.), The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, New York 2017, 226-230.
• R. Ousterhout, Masterbuilders of Byzantium, Princeton 1999.
• A. Papalexandrou, Memory Tattered and Torn: Spolia in the Heartland of Byzantine Hellenism, in: R. M. Van Dyke – S. E. Alcock, Archaeologies of Memory, Oxford 2003, 56-80.
• U. Peschlow, Ankara. Die bauarchäologischen Hinterlassenschaften aus römischer und byzantinischer Zeit, Wien 2015.
• U. Peschlow, Patara, in: Ph. Niewöhner (ed.), The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, New York 2017, 280-290.
• M. Rautman, Sardis, in: Ph. Niewöhner (ed.), The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, New York 2017, 231-237.
• T. Ritti, An Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis (Pamukkkale), Istanbul 2006.
• Ch. Roueché, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity. The Late Roman and Byzantine Inscriptions, including texts from the excavations at Aphrodisias conducted by Kenan T. Erim, London 1989.
• V. Ruggieri, La Caria Bizantina: topografia, archeologia ed arte (Mylasa, Stratokikeia, Bargylia, Myndus, Halicarnassus), Catanzaro 2005.
• H. Saradi, The Use of Ancient Spolia in Byzantine Monuments: The Archaeological and Literary Evidence, International Journal of the Classical Tradition 3, 1997, 395-423.
• A. M. Sitz, Hiding in Plain Sight: Epigraphic Reuse in the Temple-Church at Aphrodisias, Journal of Late Antiquity 12.1, 2019, 136-168.
• A. M. Sitz, Beyond Spolia: A New Approach to Old Inscriptions in Late Antique Anatolia, AJA 123.4, 2019, forthcoming.
• M. Tziatzi-Papagianni (ed.), Theodori Metropolitae Cyzici Epistulae (CFHB 48), Berlin-Boston 2012.
• G. Wiplinger, Die Wasserversorgung von Ephesos in byzantinischer Zeit, in: F. Daim – J. Drauschke (eds.), Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter, Teil 2,2, Schauplätze (Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums), Mainz 2010, 593-613.
• S. Yalman – I. Jevtić (eds.), Spolia Reincarnated: Afterlives of Objects, Materials, and Spaces in Anatolia from Antiquity to the Ottoman Era/Devşirme Malzemenin (Spolia) Yeniden Doğuşu. Antikçağ’dan Osmanlı’ya Anadolu’da Objelerin, Materyallerin ve Mekânların Sonraki Yaşamları, İstanbul 2018.