Gertrude Bell’s Resolution of a Disputed Inscription

Year 2020, Volume: 20, 1 - 26, 25.11.2020

Alan Cadwallader

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.708896

Cited By: 3

Abstract

One inscribed tombstone was placed at Appa station on the Ottoman Railway line from İzmir to Dinar. The inscription was published by three different copyists in the course of eleven years. Each person who transcribed the inscription, Georg Weber, William Mitchell Ramsay and Georges Cousin, made no acknowledgement of each other. Moreover, each transcription and reconstruction differed from the other in more lines than the number of lines in which they were in agreement; the provenance for the stone was credited to different locations and the minimal description of the form of the stone left considerable doubt as to the tombstone’s design. No sketch or photograph was provided. The names on the epitaph have been harnessed by the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names to a site (Sanaos) to which none of the three published editions actually tied the inscription. The dispute may have been left unresolved, but for a photograph taken by Gertrude Bell in 1907. She never published it, but, for her, it was the fitting compensation for a failed visit to the site of Colossae. By careful enhancement of the photograph and close study of its contents, the three disputed elements — the form of the tombstone, its original location and the wording of the inscription — can be resolved to a high degree of probability. The restored inscription becomes particularly valuable for a name that may connect with one of the (in)famous features of Colossian religious life — the worship of angels.

Keywords

Gertrude Bell, epigraphy, Colossae, angels, photography, Ottoman Railway, travellers

Supporting Institution

Charles Sturt University

Tartışmalı Bir Yazıt İçin Getrude Bell’in Çözümü

Abstract

İzmir’den Dinar’a giden Osmanlı tren yolu hattı üzerindeki Appa istasyonuna yazıtlı bir mezar taşı konulmuştu. Bu yazıt 11 yıllık bir süre zarfında üç farklı kişi tarafından kopyalanarak yayımlanmıştır. Yazıtın transkripsiyonunu yapan Georg Weber, William Mitchell Ramsay ve Georges Cousin birbirlerinden habersizdi. Üstelik, her transkripsiyon ve rekonstrüksiyon uyum içinde oldukları satır sayısından daha fazla sayıda birbirinden farklıydı. Taşın menşei değişik yerlere atfedilmişti ve taşın şeklinin çok kısa tasvir edilmesi mezar taşının nasıl tasarlandığı konusunda büyük bir şüphe bırakmıştı. Herhangi bir çizim ya da fotoğrafı da verilmemişti. Mezar yazıtındaki isimler ‘Lexicon of Greek Personal Names’ tarafından bu üç yayımlı edisyonun aslında bağ kurmadığı bir yere (Sanaos) konulmuştu. Gertrude Bell tarafından 1907 yılında çekilen bir fotoğraf olmasaydı bu tartışma çözümsüz kalabilirdi. O, bu yazıtı hiç yayımlamadı ama onun için yazıt Kolossai yerleşimine yaptığı başarısız bir ziyaretin uygun bir telafisi olmuştu. Fotoğrafın dikkatli bir şekilde kalitesinin artırılması ve içeriğinin sıkı bir şekilde çalışılmasıyla üç tartışmalı konu – taşın şekli, orijinal yeri ve yazıtın yazılış biçimi – büyük bir olasılıkla çözüme kavuşturulabilmektedir. Okunan yazıt, Kolossai dini yaşamının ünlü/ünsüz özelliklerinden biri olan meleklere tapınım ile bağlantı kurabileceğimiz bir isim için özellikle değerli hale gelmiştir.

Keywords

Gertrude Bell, epigrafi, fotoğrafcılık, Kolossai, melekler, Osmanlı tren yolu, gezginler

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