Turkey: In Cappadocia Archaeologists discovered a huge mosaic and the Greek inscription "if you are healthy, enter". - 18.11.2023

 

Turkey: In Cappadocia Archaeologists discovered a huge mosaic and the Greek inscription "if you are healthy, enter".

Original Greek title: "Τουρκία: Αρχαιολόγοι ανακάλυψαν στην Καππαδοκία τεράστιο ψηφιδωτό και την ελληνική επιγραφή «αν είσαι υγιής, μπες»", Πρώτο Θέμα, 07.11.2023.

As part of the excavations, new mosaics were uncovered in a 33-room villa, which is estimated to have been built in the 4th century AD.

Discovery in the area of İncesu in Caesarea during excavations.

In the centre of Turkey, in a villa with 33 rooms, a construction with the largest floor mosaic was found, and parallel walls were discovered with the Greek inscription: "If you are healthy, enter" were found inside the space.

Specifically, as part of the excavations that continued this year, new mosaics were uncovered in the villa, which is estimated to have been built in the 4th century AD.

The Director of Culture and Tourism of Caesarea (Kayseri ) stated that the excavation started three years ago and that every year more and more surface is revealed. "The initial estimate of the area where the mosaic is located was 300 square meters and now it has reached 600 square meters," he said.

Excavations continued on an area of about 4 thousand square meters. “We came to the conclusion that this place was built in the 4th century. According to the finds, there are also traces dating from the 3rd century onwards. The quality technique used in the floor mosaics indicates that this place was a very important villa at the time" emphasized the Director of Culture.

“In the space identified as the banquet hall, a Latin inscription was found. In addition, Greek inscriptions were also discovered. There are mostly geometrically decorated mosaics," he added. Excavations have come to an end for this year, but are expected to continue next year.

The person in charge of the excavation project stated that the structure continued to be used during the Byzantine period and after the arrival of the Turks in Anatolia.

The mosaics first came to light during archaeological restoration work in 2010. After two excavations (2010 and 2012) that partially revealed the mosaic inscriptions, some legal issues forced the suspension of archaeological work. Excavations started again in 2020 and by the end of 2021, more than 10 rooms with around 300 m² of continuous mosaic floors that were in excellent condition had been uncovered. This year's excavations have doubled the area of the mosaic, which now reaches approximately 600 square meters. So far, approximately 4,000 square meters of the site have been excavated.

The Latin inscription states, among other things, that the building was erected under the direction of Count Hyacinthos. Count was a title awarded to officials of the imperial court. But nothing is known of an official named Hyacinthos recorded in this inscription.

Another, much shorter inscription in a smaller adjacent walled room is in Greek and reads: "If you are healthy, enter." This could refer either to physical health, or, if the building had a religious purpose, it could be a condition that all who were allowed to enter the premises had to be mentally healthy.

For more information and images see:

https://www.raillynews.com/2023/11/Mosaics-in-%C4%B0ncesu-illuminate-the-history-of-Kayseri/

https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68762

https://news.artnet.com/news/largest-known-4th-century-floor-mosaic-uncovered-in-turkey-2395605

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/11/anatolian-mosaics/

https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/largest-byzantine-mosaic-structure-found-in-central-turkey/news (for the image of the Greek inscription)

 

Notes by ArchaeologyMatters:

Although I only have knowledge of the discovery through the press, there are some conclusions that we can draw.

As for the Latin inscription, it appears to read:

VOTIS XXX MVLTIS * XX BIS XX

CVRANTE YACINTHO COMITE

FABRICA AD SVMVM PER

DVCTA ES CVLMEN

1.       For the vows on the thirtieth anniversary of the rule of the emperor, and more (vows) for (another) twenty years, and twenty more years again.

2.       While Hyacinthos, holding the office of count, was governing,

3.       building, up to the roof

4.       you were delivered.

 

VOTIS - Votis (Decennalibus) : Vows/Prayers for 10 years of rule

CVRANTE = Curante: While (he) was governing

YACINTHO: Yakinthus

COMITE: count

PERDVCTA - perducta: conducted, delivered

FABRICA:  A skillful production, fabric, building, structure.

CVLMEN - culmen: top, roof, summit (cf. culmination)

The Emperor implied in the first line is probably Constantius (Κωνστάντιος)II – 317-361 (cf. his coin: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constantius2cng10400876.jpg). This appears to be consistent with dating given in the article.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Constantius2cng10400876.jpg?20200831172840

The name YACINTHO is Greek (Υάκινθος). In mythology this was a lover of Apollo, whom the god killed accidentally. The Spartans celebrated a festival called the Yakintheia during a month called after him (Μηνός Υακινθίου) that corresponded to the Attic Ἑκατομβαιών (May-June). Interestingly the latinised form here remains closer to the Greek (not “Hyacintho”).

The Greek inscription:

ΥΓΕΙ

ΕΝΩΝ

ΕΙCEΛ

ΘΑΙ

Ὑγιένων (sic) – Ὑγιαίνων (;): Definition: to be sound, healthy - Usage: I am well, am in good health; I am right, reasonable, sound, pure, uncorrupted.

Note the spelling Ὑγιένων instead of the more usual Ὑγιαίνων. This obviously attests to the pronunciation of the word in the 4th c. AD, although y this time even the most hard-line accepts that the pronunciation had evolved. Conversely it is interesting that the author of the work chose this unconventional spelling.

Είσελθαι:  εἰσέρχομαι

to go into, enter, invade

(of the chorus or of actors) to come upon the stage, to enter

(as an Attic law term, of the accuser) to come into court

(of the parties, with accusative) to enter upon the charge

(of the accused) to come before the court

(of the cause) to be brought in

to enter on an office

Interestingly, we also find Υγιαίνων as the name of an official of the Kingdom of Bosporus in the 3^rd century BC, as attested by coins. 

Πηγή: https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A5%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BD%CF%89%CE%BD_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%92%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%80%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%85#/media/%CE%91%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BF:%D0%97%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D1%86%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8F_%D0%93%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0.jpg

cf. Elena Stolyarik. THE REIGN AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE ARCHON HYGIAENON. Leucon of Bosporus.

The same name is also to be found on a 4th century White-ground lekythos in the British Museum (1874,1110.1 - https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1874-1110-1): "ΥΓΙΑΙΝΟΝ ΚΑΛΟΣ" and in Aristotle's Rhetoric 1416a-1416b as an accuser of Euripides in a court case. 

In our case the "ΥΓΕΙΕΝΩΝ ΕΙCEΛΘΑΙ" is probably a formula of blessing "Come in and may you be in good health" (cf. the modern "Γειά σου" - "Το your health"), rather than the conditional proposed in the article that has led to the accompanying hypothesising. 

For similar formulations (and other examples of the spelling with an "E", see Anna Avramea, Le Péloponnése du IVe au VIIIe siècle. Changement et persistances, Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1997, p. 145-155, that reproduces the examples collected by L. Robert, Bulletin épigraphique 1976, 751:  "ὑγιαίνοντες ἀπ[ολαύετε] (Salamine de Chypre) ; ἐν ὑγίᾳ λουσάμενος ἀπολαύσιας (Jérusalem) ; εὕχεσθαι οῦν οἱ ἀπολαύοντες (Zénonopolis). Cf. en dernier lieu, J. Russel, The Mosaic Inscriptions of Anemurium, Vienne 1987 (Ôster. Akad. der Wiss., Philos.-Hist. Klasse, Denkschriften 190), p. 33 : ]υγιένων λούσε".

Weary Hercules returns from Boston

Weary Herakles bust to be returned by US to Turkey

From BBC News, 22.07.2011

The two halves of the statue (top half in Boston MOFA, lower half in Antalya museum)


The stunning piece portrays the demigod Hercules

The top half of the Weary Herakles statue, which was bought by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1982, is to be returned to its native Turkey.

After an ongoing dispute, the MFA will reunite the bust with its lower half at the Antalya Museum later this year.

The announcement is seen as a victory for Turkey which is trying to retrieve artefacts it believes have been looted throughout the years.

It is thought the full statue will return to Boston on a short-term loan.

The top half of the sculpture of weary demigod Hercules was purchased in 1981 from a German dealer, by the MFA and late New York art collecter Leon Levy.

A year later, it was displayed at the US museum before being put into storage in 2007.

Turkish archaeologists were convinced the bust had been looted and taken from the country. At the same time, the lower half of the statue was discovered in 1980 at Perge in southern Turkey.

The MFA always denied that was the case, insisting the bust could have been found "any time since the Italian Renaissance".

Speaking to the Times newspaper, Katherine Getchell from the Boston Museum, said: "It's only in the last couple of years that they've presented us with photos and other evidence of looting from that site."

This is the latest victory for Turkey's campaign to track down lost antiquity.

In May, the Pergamon Museum in Germany agreed to return a Hittite sphinx after the Turkish Culture Minister threatened to ban German archaeologists from digs in the country.

Ertugrul Gunay told the Times that the country plans to "fight in the same way for all our other artefacts".

........................................................................

A.M. Note

Despite the declaration that "It's only in the last couple of years that they've presented us with photos and other evidence of looting from that site", the video (see above) shows that casts of the two pieces had been fitted together. The test appears to have taken place in September 1992 (see the Boston Globe article). After this test - which proved beyond doubt the origin of the statue, the museum decided to switch its defence, arguing that the date of exportation could have been prior to 1906, as Turkish law protects only artefacts smuggled out after that date.

.............................................................................

See also:

• Boston Globe, 17.07.2011. (if you are interested in the matter you must see this)
• Rogueclassisim, 23.07.2011.
• Daily Mail Online, 26.07.2011
• To Vima, 25.07.2011
• SETimes.com, 28.07.2011
• Hürriyet, 25.09.2011
• Hürriyet, 28.09.2011
• Hürriyet, 30.09.2011 (interview of Professor İnci Delemen of Istanbul University)
• Hürriyet, 30.09.2011
• Hürriyet, 09.10.2011
  

Turkey: Sites and Monuments

Turkey:
Istanbul (Constantinople):
Küçükçekmece lagoon

• Greece and Turkey Boast Two of the World’s Top 2009 Archaeology Discoveries

Greece and Turkey Boast Two of the World’s Top 2009 Archaeology Discoveries

Greece and Turkey Boast Two of the World’s Top 2009 Archaeology Discoveries

BalkanTravellers.com

30 March 2010 | Two archaeological sites, one in Crete and one in Istanbul, were included in the list of last year’s most exciting discoveries compiled by the Archaeology Magazine, a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America.

The discovery of the Iron Age necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna in Crete, which was featured among the year’s top 10 finds, shed light on the role of women in the so-called “Dark Ages” of Greece.

The remains of four females, aged between seven and 70, were excavated last summer in an eight-century BC tomb, whose floor was covered with thin strips of gold, once affixed to burial garments. The women were surrounded by bronze vessels and figurines, as well as jewellery made of gold, silver, glass, ivory, and semiprecious stones imported from Asia Minor, the Near East, and North Africa.

These and other artefacts discovered in the tomb suggested these women played an important role in Eleutherna's religious life, and the head of excavations, Nicholas Stampolidis of the University of Crete, believes the oldest one was a high priestess interred with her protégés.

Based on a shared dental trait, archaeologists discovered that all four women were related and further research is expected to confirm they were related to a dozen women unearthed nearby last year.

“This time period is erroneously called the Dark Ages,” Adelphi University forensic anthropologist Anagnostis Agelarakis said, cited by the publication. “The finds show that these women were aristocratic. Their social standing was superlative. I mean, the phiale alone--it must have been sent from a ‘prince’ of Mesopotamia! And their matrilineage was not ruptured for two centuries. I don't think it was dark at all.”

While the Eleutherna find was the only archaeological site on the Balkans listed among the world’s top 10 most exciting discoveries for 2009, another place in the region was also included as a significant discovery for the year.

This was the Lost City in Istanbul. Described as “too big to classify,” the site stretches over eight kilometres and includes several separate sites from various periods. With its main part being on the peninsula that juts out into the Küçükçekmece lagoon, now separated from the Sea of Marmara by a narrow strip of land, but there are also remains on the surrounding shores of the lagoon and in the lagoon itself.

Some of the sites identified so far are: two harbor installations and kilometers of seawall from the classical period; a harbor, with a long breakwater and a lighthouse, most likely from the fourth century BC; Hellenistic pottery and a second-century BC Corinthian column capital; a wide and well-paved Roman roadway that excavators believe is part of the imperial Via Egnatia; a necropolis and likely residential areas, as well as possible villa remains on the eastern shore of the lagoon.

In addition, finds similar to the artifacts discovered in the central Anatolian late Pre-Pottery Neolithic site, which began around 9500 BC were made. If they turn out to be from the same period, archaeologists say the site at Küçükçekmece could be one of the earliest farming communities settled by people moving from Anatolia into Europe.

As Küçükçekmece is located just 20 kilometres from downtown Istanbul on land that is currently being farmed, the publication suggests turning the area into an archaeological park.

The other top 10 archaeological discoveries for 2009, according to the publication included: the Lord of Úcupe in Peru; the First Domesticated Horses in Botai, Kazakhstan; the Early Irrigators in Tucson, Arizona; the Anglo-Saxon Hoard in Staffordshire, England; the Popol Vuh Relief in El Mirador, Guatemala; the World’s First Zoo in Hierakonpolis, Egypt; the Earliest Chemical Warfare in Dura-Europos, Syria; the Palace of Mithradates in Kuban, Russia; and the Rubaiyat Pot in Jerusalem, Israel.

Source: Balkantravellers

Museum theft – Hundreds of artworks in Turkish museum stolen and replaced with fakes

March 26, 2010 – 15:50

Hundreds of artworks in Turkish museum stolen and replaced with fakes

Thomas Seibert, Foreign Correspondent

* Last Updated: March 26. 2010 12:12AM UAE / March 25. 2010 8:12PM
GMT

ISTANBUL // Inspectors in a state-run museum in Turkey’s capital
Ankara have raised the alarm after finding that hundreds of paintings
by Turkish masters have been replaced by copies or simply vanished
without a trace.

“The museum has been looted,” said Osman Altintas, an art professor
from Ankara’s Gazi University. He leads a team of experts sent by the
culture ministry to investigate how many original paintings in the
Ankara State Museum for Painting and Sculpture are actually still
there and how many have been replaced by copies.

Speaking to Turkish media earlier this month, Dr Altintas put the
number of vanished or copied paintings at about 400, or about 10 per
cent of the total number of paintings in the museum. He estimated that
the thefts may total 100 million lira (Dh238m). News reports this week
said a previous inspection in 1996 found that 313 paintings had been
missing even then.

To make matters worse, Dr Altintas found that storage conditions for
paintings in the museum were so poor that many works of art that were
still there had been damaged or destroyed. “It would have been better
if they had been stolen,” he said.

Government officials said that in some cases, state institutions had
helped themselves to precious works of art from the museum to adorn
offices and reception halls. Critics say the looting of the museum,
which went on for 30 years, is a sign of the country’s failure to
adequately protect its cultural heritage.

Ertugrul Gunay, the culture minister, is the man in the eye of the
storm. He promised to clear up the mess, but immediately had to admit
that his own ministry had taken eight paintings from the museum. They
were recently returned, as a good example to other ministries, as he
put it. “From now on, we will only give reproductions to state
institutions, not originals,” the minister said.

Public attention focused on the disappearance of 13 works of Hoca Ali
Riza (1858–1939), an artist renowned for his paintings and drawings of
Istanbul whose works can fetch prices of tens of thousands of dollars.
Omer Osman Gundogdu, the museum director, admitted that he did not
even know when the missing charcoal drawings were stolen and replaced
by copies. “It may have been five or 10 years ago,” he said.

Mr Gundogdu also said the museum’s system of surveillance cameras had
been out of order for a long time. The problem is exacerbated by the
fact that the museum’s storage and inventory system leaves much to be
desired. “Our depot is a little crowded,” the director said. Asked on
television about reports that inspectors had found five empty frames
in the museum, Mr Gundogdu said the pictures belonging to the frames
“may turn up somewhere”.

Omer Faruk Serifoglu, a writer who has edited a book about Hoca Ali
Riza, said that of the 441 works of the artist that had been given to
the state only 56 remained in official records. “It is unknown what
happened to the rest,” he told the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The investigation in Ankara was triggered by the discovery of a case
of art robbery in a museum in the town of Usak, in the south-west of
the country, in 2006. There, thieves replaced a 2,000-year-old golden
brooch in the shape of a winged sea-horse with a copy. The theft went
unnoticed for months, and the original has not been found. Earlier
this year, the director of the museum was sentenced to 13 years in
prison for being behind the crime. He says he is innocent.

Following the incident in Usak, the culture ministry ordered
inspections in museums around the country. In the Ankara museum, an
official was fired because he was suspected of being involved in the
disappearance of three paintings, Mr Gunay told reporters. According
to news reports, the police are still searching for 31 works of art
that disappeared from the museum 13 years ago. “The museums are in the
hands of Allah,” one newspaper headline said.

Mr Gunay said paintings started to vanish from the Ankara museum after
the military coup of 1980. “Back then, paintings were handed out as
presents to high-ranking institutions” of the state, he said. A total
of 649 works of art from the museum ended up in the buildings of other
state institutions, according to the minister. So far, 121 paintings
have been returned.

The combination of a self-service mentality by state institutions,
theft, as well as bad surveillance and management, speaks volumes
about Turkey’s relationship with its own cultural heritage, critics
say. Last month, a local historian on the Datca peninsula in south-
western Turkey alerted the media, saying authorities there had failed
to protect the ruins of the ancient city of Knidos from art robbers.
He said that only two guards were watching over Knidos in the winter
months. Eight suspected robbers had been arrested within two weeks, he
said.

“The number of security personnel in our museums is low,” Tomur
Atagok, a professor at the Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, told
the NTV news channel. She added that Turkish museums also lacked an
adequate number of art experts and an efficient system of record-
keeping. “If there are experts in a museum, they have to know what
kind of art works are in their own collection,” she said. “There have
to be records about where the originals go” when they leave the
museum.

tseibert@thenational.ae

Source: Museum Security Network

Looting of Byzantine artefacts from Cyprus: some information

On the estimated 15,000-20,000 icons and several dozen frescoes and mosaics that disappeared after the invasion:

• http://www.museum-security.org/cyprus-and-michel-van-rijn.htm
• http://www.museum-security.org/?p=3711
  

ON the controversial figure Michel Van Rijn: He was an Art dealer who turned Police Informant against the Art Trafficking Circuit. As a lone crusader and Internet whistle-blower his sites attracted a lot of attention of those "in the know". His revelations made him some important enemies, who had enough pull to get his sites to disappear from Google listings (!) and finally they shut them down...

• http://www.cronaca.com/archives/003192.html
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5270804.stm
  

Leaky Pergamum Museum

According to a recent article in Kathimerini.gr the recent snow and ice that covered Berlin was trying not only for the inhabitants but also for the infrastructure, including the famous Pergamum Museum. The glass roof covering the hall of the altar seems to have cracked letting the melting ice run through and flood the floor and showcases!

The only one who seemed to have any initiative left in him was the museum guard who alternately shouted at his superiors - who just stood there watching the water poor onto the antiquities - and the cleaning lady, who was courageous enough to take action: she spread her mops and rags over the floor and the objects so as to protect them from the incoming water. The result according to Panagiotis Panagopoulos who did the report, was that for a while "the hall seemed not to belong to the Pergamum Museum, but rather to contain exhibits from the Tate Modern!

Finally the people in charged made up their minds and took more drastic steps: They covered the part of the hall that had suffered the damage with tarpaulins, until the roof could be repaired...

It is noteworthy that the Greek newspaper enjoyed poking fun at "the otherwise impeccable Germany", partially because of various unflattering reports that have been published in German media concerning the state of the Greek Economy...

Venus de Milo on the front cover of the German Focus illustrating an article analysing the causes of the state of the Greek Economy. Leaving aside the analysis itself, one cannot but appreciate the humour of the artist who designed the cover...