x. completed project: Byzantine Diocaesarea (türkçe)

Byzantine Diocaesarea

Research into the liturgical side-rooms of the Isaurian church plan of the fifth and sixth centuries

Location

The Isaurian province of late antiquity lay between the Kalykadnos and Lamos Rivers, extending inland from the coastline and bounded by the ridges of the Taurus. It is part of Rough Cilicia, a raw karstic landscape slashed by deep gorges and characterized by harsh climate conditions.

History

In the centuries before Christ it was the religious dynasty in the temples of the Olbian city-state that ruled over Rough Cilicia. Its might remained centered high inland in the Sanctuary of Zeus Olbios at the site known today as Uzuncaburç, while after the founding of Seleukeias (Seleucia)-today's Silifke, the coastal strip fell under direct Hellenistic influence. Roman interests in Asia Minor brought profound changes that necessitated some mollification on the part of the Olbian religious dynasties-at least with the establishment of the Province of Cilicia in the first century AD. With the spread of Christianity and Diocletian's reform of the Empire began the third and final period of ancient settlement. During the fifth and sixth centuries the coastal region of the Isaurian province with its capital at Seleucia profited greatly from an agricultural boom stimulated by a population density that has never again been equaled in the area. In the seventh century, then, with the involvement of Cilicia in the geopolitical conflict between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Umaid Caliphate, the coastal strip was decimated, for a civilized existence was no longer possible. 

Objectives

	Öküzlü: reconstruction of the North Church

Like the "dead cities" of northern Syria, the deserted settlements in Rough Cilicia are an extremely impressive tourist destination and a nearly inexhaustible spring for scholarly research because of their exceptionally good state of preservation. Although the interlocking pattern of the Roman-Byzantine landscape with its farms, villages, and towns scattered across Rough Cilicia allows quite a reasonable interpretation-most especially from a social and economic point of view, one still remains deprived of a comprehensive picture in spite of the propitious circumstances. For the time being it seems advisable to proceed with individual studies and the investigation of specific aspects, among which church architecture takes a leading role. Here the long traditions and handcraft of the Isaurian masons reached a peak. Even the smaller villages were usually embellished with several large basilicas, so that within the area of the study we have more than two dozen ecclesiastical structures preserved well enough that they can be treated in reasonable detail without extensive excavation. One characteristic of the Cilician churches is the magnificence of the sanctuaries with groups of side rooms cloaking the apses: two-story ancillary chambers. Questions involving the typology and function-as well as the chronology where possible-of these side rooms constitute the object of this study. 

History of Research

Following the pioneer work that preceded the First World War (Bell, Heberdey - Wilhelm, Keil - Wilhelm, Herzfeld - Guyer), it has been primarily within the last decade that the description of the remains has progressed most intensively (Feld, Hild - Hellenkemper). Despite a series of individual studies (Eyice), there is still too little known to evaluate the architecture of the Cilician church from an art-historical point of view. Although the liturgical side-rooms have been accepted as a general characteristic, there have as yet been no attempts to define the typological development or agree upon the function of these rooms (Forsyth, Hill). 

Previous Activities

	Diocaesarea/Uzuncaburç: the Hellenistic Temple of Zeus rebuilt into a church in the fifth century

Survey of sites in Diocaesarea/Uzuncaburç during the summer campaigns of 2003 and 2004. Archiving of relevant material in the Photo-Archive of the DAI in Istanbul.  

Methods

Considering the wealth of detailed information on the cathedral built into the Hellenistic Temple of Zeus provided by the survey at Uzuncaburç, a productive first step-involving no technical investment whatsoever-is a similar reevaluation of plans and published reports on a whole series of churches (e.g. those at Alahan, Kanytelis, Demirciören, Tapureli, Cambazlı, Meramlik, Korykos, Çatıören, Öküzlu, Yanıkhan, Karakabaklı, Hacıömerli, and Seyranlık). The structures are being typologically classified according to the configuration of the liturgical side-rooms, and selected reconstructions drawn up. The next step will be to seek clues as to the possible function of the rooms. 

Results

	Diocaesarea/Uzuncaburç: Baptisterium in the 'temple-cathedral'

The terms prothesis and diokonikon familiar to art historians hardly seem applicable to the Cilician churches in which these side-rooms appear to have played a specific liturgical role. This said, there are various other functions that can be ascribed to these chambers, for example we see the inclusion of a baptistery-more often on the north. In such cases, a cross-shaped piscina is found cut into the floor. Cases where one of the rooms-preferably to the south-has been asymmetrically enlarged or furnished with a separate apse suggest a martyr cult to which burials and dedicatory offerings bear witness. Aside from the function, these ancillary chambers with articulate masonry and architectural ornament represent a significant aesthetic contribution of the Isaurian churches to Byzantine architecture, a characteristic that differentiates them even from those in the neighboring provinces. 

Cooperation

With the settlement survey in Uzuncaburç entitled "Vom Tempelstaat zur Stadtgemeinde. Transformation und Integration des Territoriums von Olba/Diokaisareia zwischen Hellenismus und Spätantike" within Schwerpunkt Programm 1065, supported by the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft: "Formen und Wege der Akkulturation im östlichen Mittelmeerraum und Schwarzmeergebiet in der Antike" / "Forms and Means of Acculturation in Antiquity within the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions"".  

Further Contact Partners

ab Juni 2005

Dr. Stephan Westphalen
Christliche Archäologie und Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte
Georg August Universität
Nikolausberger Weg 15
D-37073 Göttingen
E-mail: stephan.westphalen@web.de

Bibliography

G. L. Bell, Notes on a Journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue archéologique 4. sér. 7 (1906) 1-29, 385-414; 8 (1906) 7-36
S. Eyice, Ricerche e scoperte nella regione di Silifke nella Turchia meridionale, Milion 1 (1988) 15-58
O. Feld, Bericht über eine Reise durch Kilikien, IstMitt 13/14 (1963/64) 88-107
G. H. Forsyth, An early Byzantine Church at Kanlı Divane in Cilicia, in: M. Meiss (Hg.), De Artibus Opuscula 40, Essays in Honor of E. Panofsky (1961) 127-137
R. Heberdey - A. Wilhelm, Reisen in Kilikien (1896)
E. Herzfeld - S. Guyer, Meriamlik und Korykos, MAMA II (1930)
F. Hild - H. Hellenkemper - G. Hellenkemper-Salies, Reallexikon der Byzantinischen Kunst 4 (1990) 182-355, s.v. Kommagene - Kilikien - Isaurien
F. Hild - H. Hellenkemper, Kilikien und Isaurien, Tabula Imperii Byzantini 5 (1990)
S. Hill, The early Byzantine churches of Cilicia and Isauria (1996)
J. Keil - A. Wilhelm, Denkmäler aus dem Rauhen Kilikien. MAMA 3 (1931)