Aelius Aristeides’e Göre Pergamon’un Fizyognomisi ve Jeosofisi

Year 2023, Volume: 26, 39 - 54, 12.11.2023

Murat Tozan

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.1300441

Abstract

Antik metinlerdeki coğrafi tanımlamalar genellikle kişisel, önyargılı, öznel ve bazen de hayalidir. Bu nedenle J. Kirtland Wright tarafından ortaya atılan jeosofi (geosophy) kavramı, tarihsel metinlerdeki coğrafyaya dair anlatıların ve ifadelerin incelenmesi bakımından önemlidir. Ona göre jeosofi, coğrafi bilgilerin her bakımdan incelenmesidir ve her türden insanın hem doğru hem de yanlış coğrafi düşüncelerini kapsar. Dolayısıyla Wright, coğrafi algılamada sezgisel, imgesel ve öznel düşüncelerin de değerli olduğunu ve dikkate alınması gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır. Böylelikle geçmişten günümüze metinlerdeki coğrafya algısına ilişkin her türlü bilginin irdelenmesi Wright’ın jeosofi kavramını tarih disiplinine yaklaştırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, İS 2. yüzyıl hatip ve sofistlerinden Aelius Aristeides’in Kaikos Vadisi’nin en önemli antik yerleşimi olan Pergamon ve çevresi ile ilgili fizyognomik ve coğrafi tanımlamaları, jeosofik öznellik ve imgelem kategorileri açısından ele alınmıştır. Böylece antik metinlerin yersel uzama ilişkin anlatılarının jeosofik açıdan incelenmesinin Eskiçağ tarihi ve tarihsel coğrafya çalışmalarına yeni bakış açıları sunabileceği ortaya konmuştur.

Keywords

Pergamon, Aelius Aristeides, jeosofi, tarihsel coğrafya, peyzaj arkeolojisi

Physiognomy and Geosophy of Pergamon according to Aelius Aristeides

Abstract

Geographical depictions in ancient texts are often personal, biased, subjective, and sometimes imaginative. Therefore, the concept of geosophy coined by J. Kirtland Wright is important in terms of examining the geographical narratives and expressions in historical texts. According to him, geosophy is the study of geographical information in all respects and covers both true and false geographical ideas of all manner of people. Hence, Wright emphasizes that intuitive, imaginative and subjective thoughts are also valuable in geographical perception and should be taken into consideration. Examining all kinds of information related to the geographical perception in the texts from past to present brings the concept of geosophy closer to history as a discipline. In this study, physiognomic and geographical definitions of Aelius Aristeides, an orator and sophist of the 2nd century CE, about Pergamon, which is the most important ancient settlement of Kaikos Valley, and its surroundings are examined in terms of geosophical subjectivity and imagining categories. Thus, it is revealed that the examination of the narratives of ancient texts on terrestrial space from the geosophical point of view can offer new perspectives in studies on ancient history and historical geography.

Keywords

Pergamon, Aelius Aristeides, geosophy, historical geography, landscape archaeology

References

• H. L. Ansbacher – R. R. Ansbacher (edd.), The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings, New York 1956.
• C. A. Behr, Aelius Aristides and the Sacred Tales, Amsterdam 1968.
• C. A. Behr, P. Aelius Aristides, the Complete Works: Vol. 2, Orations XVII-LIII, Leiden 1981.
• C. A. Behr, P. Aelius Aristides. The Complete Works. Vol. 1, Orations I-XVI with an Appendix Containing the Fragments and Inscriptions, Leiden 1986.
• B. Burrell, Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors, Leiden 2004.
• E. J. Edelstein – L. Edelstein, Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, 2 vols, Baltimore 1945.
• V. A. Foertmeyer, Tourism in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Ph.D. Thesis, Princeton University, New Jersey 1989.
• S. Freud, A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, transl. by G. Stanley Hall, New York 1920.
• M. Galli, Pilgrimage as Elite Habitus: Educated Pilgrims in Sacred Landscape during the Second Sophistic, in: J. Elsner – I. Rutherford (edd.), Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman & Early Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods, Oxford 2005, 253-290.
• Ch. Habicht, Die Inschriften des Asklepieions [Altertümer von Pergamon 8.3], Berlin 1969.
• H. Halfmann, Städtebau und Bauherren im römischen Kleinasien: Ein Vergleich zwischen Pergamon und Ephesos [Istanbuler Mitteilungen Beiheft 43], Tübingen 2001.
• W. V. Harris, Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity, Cambridge, MA 2009.
• I. Israelowich, Society, Medicine and Religion in the Sacred Tales of Aelius Aristides, Leiden 2012.
• C. P. Jones, Aelius Aristides, On the Water in Pergamon, AA, 1991, 111-117.
• C. P. Jones, Aelius Aristides and the Asklepieion, in: H. Koester (ed.), Pergamon, Citadel of the Gods: Archaeological Record, Literary Description, and Religious Development [Harvard Theological Studies 46], Harrisburg 1998, 63-76.
• I. M. Keighren, Geosophy, Imagination, and Terrae Incognitae: Exploring the Intellectual History of John Kirtland Wright, Journal of Historical Geography 31, 2005, 546-562.
• O. Kühne, Landscape and Power in Geographical Space as a Social-Aesthetic Construct, Cham 2018.
• V. Nutton, Ancient Medicine, London 2004.
• A. Petsalis-Diomidis, ‘Truly Beyond Wonders’: Aelius Aristides and the Cult of Asklepios, Oxford 2010.
• S. F. R. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor, Cambridge 1984.
• W. Radt, W. Pergamon: Geschichte und Bauten einer antiken Metropole, Darmstadt 1999.
• S. Swain, Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, AD 50-250, Oxford 1996.
• M. Trapp, Introduction, in: D. A. Russell – M. Trapp – H.-G. Nesselrath (edd.), In Praise of Asclepius: Aelius Aristides, Selected Prose Hymns, Tübingen 2016, 3-27.
• M. Tozan, Pergamon’un Yolları: Antikçağ’dan Bizans’a Bakırçay (Kaikos) Havzası’nın Yol Sistemi, Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi 32/2, 2017, 531-563.
• M. Tozan, The Asklepieion of Pergamon as a Place of Wellness to the Graeco-Roman Elite, in: C.G. Williamson – O. van Nijf (edd.), Sacred Landscapes – Connected Routes [Caeculus: Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology and Greek & Roman Studies 9], Leuven.
• B. Weisser, Pergamum as Paradigm, in: C. Howgego – V. Heuchert – A. Burnett (edd.), Coinage and Identity in the Roman Provinces, Oxford 2005, 135-142.
• C. G. Williamson, Mountain, Myth, and Territory: Teuthrania as Focal Point in the Landscape of Pergamon, in: J. McInerney – I. Sluiter (edd.), Valuing Landscape in Classical Antiquity: Natural Environment and Cultural Imagination, Leiden 2016, 70-99.
• J. K. Wright, Terrae Incognitae: The Place of the Imagination in Geography, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 37, 1947, 1-15.
• M. Zimmermann, Pergamon: Geschichte, Kultur und Archäologie, München 2011.