Oku, İzle ve Düşün

Etiket: history

  • GERGA

    GERGA

    https://knotsofancientoriginaydin.com/2021/01/15/gerga/

    Presentatin on the project: Zeynep TOKER

    GERGA

    1.Introduction

    How well do we know the history that lies beneath the ground where we live ?

    That’s the question we’re looking  for answers to. We want to explore our history, introduce the lesser-known or unknown sites by taking this opportunity that comes to our  feet today. But we didn’t think we’d get started so soon. When we first heard about Gerga, it was totally new to us. It’s a bit shame for a person who has lived in Aydin for many years. However, isn’t it fascinating to discover such a mysterious site on top of the paths  we often take? So are you ready?

    In this corner of our site we will introduce Gerga, a sacred place,  to you.  Now let’s find out some information on the subject.

    2.Brief History

    Gerga is an important center that reflects ancient Carian culture. The word ‘GERGA’ or ‘GERGAS ’written on the Stones in Cyrillic alphabet mean God or Goddess. It was a common area that all ancient cities in the Carian region consider Gerga sacred. It proves how important the city was. The temples that are still standing are made of large cut Stones. Due to the fact that many illegal excavations were carried out by treasure hunters, Aydin Provincial Directorate of Culture and Toursim has put it under protection. Fort he last 2 years, Assoc. Prof. Dr Murat Chekilmez from the Department of Archaeology at Adnan Menderes University has been conducting his research on Gerga. According to his research results and excavations, it stated that Gerga was a sacred place for people nearby its surroundings. In other words, it has played a vital role as a temple where people come to make a wish and sacrifice an animal so that their dreams can come true. During the field trip to Gerga, we could see that tremendous work of clearance and excavation has been done by Murat Chekilmez. We are grateful for his work.

    GERGA

    3. IMPORTANCE   

    Looking at its historical traces, we could say that Gerga is a historic sanctuary waiting to be discovered. Since other civilizations in the Carian region used Gerga as a common area, we think that the excavations will guide us to  recognize other civilizations too. It’s impossible not to be impressed! Gerga, a place to worship on top of the hills with its temples, animal statues, writing on the stones will attract a great number of local tourists across the Turkey and foreign tourists from around the world. This will be beneficial for both local and national economy.  We hope everyone will value and preserve this treasure of our local community greatly so that our next generation nationwide and worldwide could enjoy it.

    1.Giriş

     Yaşadığımız yerlerin altında kalan tarihi ne kadar tanıyoruz?

    İşte biz bütün bu soruya cevaplar arıyoruz. Bugün ayağımıza gelen bu fırsatı değerlendirerek biz de tarihimizi keşfetmek, bilinmeyenleri ortaya çıkarmak ve insanlara fayda sağlayacak şeyler yapmak istiyoruz. Ama işe bu kadar erken başlayacağımızı düşünmemiştik. Gerga’yı ilk duyduğumuzda sanki Aydın’da yaşamıyormuş gibiydik. Sık sık geçtiğimiz yolların üstünde böyle bir kutsal alanın keşfedilmesi çok etkileyici değil mi? Şimdi ise işe koyulduk ve araştırmaya başladık. Peki sen bizimle misin? Biz de geçmişimizi öğrenerek güzel yarınlar inşa etmek istiyoruz. O yüzden bu projedeyiz!

    Sitemizin bu köşesinde size Gerga’yı tanıtacağız. Şimdi konuyla ilgili biraz bilgi sahibi olalım.

    2.Tarihçe

    Gerga, Karya kültürünü yansıtan önemli bir merkezdir. Karya bölgesindeki bütün antik kentlerin kutsal saydığı ortak alan olması kentin ne kadar büyük bir öneme sahip olduğunu kanıtlar nitelikte. Hala daha ayakta olan tapınakları, büyük kesme taşlardan yapılmış; alınlığında ise Kiril alfabesinden oluşan Gergas yazıyor. İsmini MÖ 2000. yıldan almış. Daha öncesinde defineciler tarafından birçok kaçak kazı yapılması nedeniyle Aydın İl Kültür Müdürlüğü kenti korumaya almış. Şu anda ise kentle ilgili kazı ve araştırma işleriyle Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Arkeoloji Bölümü Öğretim Üyesi Doçent Dr. Murat Çekilmez ilgilenmekte. Kazı ve temizleme çalışmalarından sonra araştırma sonuçlarına göre Gerga civarındaki yerleşim alanlarında yaşayan insanlar için bir kutsal alan rölünü taşıyordu. Başka bir değişle, insanların oraya gelip hayvan kurban ederek dilek tutmaya ve dua etmeye geldikleri bir kutsal alandı. Keşif gezimiz esnasında Murat Çekilmez ve ekibine ait çok büyük ölçüde kazı ve temizleme çalışmalarını yaptığını gördük. Ona minnettarız ve teşekkürlerimizi sunarız.

    3.ÖNEM

    Tarihçesinden de anlayacağımız gibi Gerga, keşfedilmeyi bekleyen büyük bir hazine. Karya bölgesindeki diğer medeniyetlerin ortak alan olarak Gerga’yı kullanması nedeniyle, kazılar sonucunda bize diğer uygarlıkları tanımakta da yol göstereceğini düşünüyoruz. Bundan etkilenmemek mümkün değil! Gerekli araştırmalar sonucunda bulunan bilgiler ve çıkarılan tapınak, taş vb. şeylerle halka açılması, bize her açıdan fayda sağlayacaktır. Türkiye’nin ve dünyanın dört bir yanından yerli yabancı turist çekecektir. Bu da hem ülke ekonomisi hem dünya tarihi için yararlı olacaktır. Umarım bu cevherin değerini bilelim ve onu koruyalım ki gelecek nesil hem ülke çapında hem dünyada bunun keyfini çıkarsın.

  • Knots of ancient Aydin

    Knots of ancient Aydin

    Knots of ancient Aydin

    Aydin is the city where you will find the warm welcome of local people while a hot weather of Mediterranean climate will accompany you. Famous Greek historian Herodotus for this city said: “It is the most wonderful place under the sky with the best climate on earth to live.” Famous Turkish traveler and explorer Evliya Chelebi has praised Aydin by saying: “It is the place where pure olive oil flows from its mountains and honey from its plains.”

    Aydin has always attracted people by its unique location, warm climate, beautiful coastlines, delicious olive oil dishes and folk dances. With warm winters and very hot summers, there are three distinctive features that make Aydin privileged: fig fruit, Efeler and keşkek (keshkek).

     Although fig fruit is grown in many parts of the world, the best quality figs are  grown in a great abundance in Aydin due to its geographical position. Fig fruit, which is consumed wet and dry, has extremely high nutritional value.  

    Efeler make Aydin privileged both in Turkey and in the world. Efe; is literally a symbol of courage, boldness and generousity. They have played a critical role in Turkey’s history. Efeler made an epic defense against  the Greeks in the War of Independence. This defense set an example for all of Anatolia. Efeler represent a culture in their own right with their distinctive clothing, a specific lifestyle and an authentic dance moves.  The melody and movements of their dance are so unique that they have recieved honors at many nationa  and international folk dance competitions.  

    If you attend a wedding or any other event in Aydin, you will taste a unique, local meal by the name “keshkek”. The dish, which is very demanding to cook, is a legacy of Aydin local people “Yoruks”. A lot of visitors who want to taste this dish are coming from different regions of Turkey.

    Coming close to the heart of the matter, Aydin is truly an open-air space of history and it   attracts  thousands of tourists with its clear water beaches and charming  warm climate as well. You will feel the breath of every single civilization in this modest city where many civilizations have existed since ancient times. Look who we had here: Lydians, Persians, Alexander the Great, the Kingdom of Pergamon, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, Anatolian Seljuks, Aydinogullari Principality, Ottomans and so on…

    Aydin has world-renowned ancient cities such as Aphrodisias, Alabanda, Alinda, the Temple of Apollo, Miletus, Nysa, Priene, Tralleis, and Magnesia. Aydin, the Valley of Civilizations which displays millenial history of rock paintings in the Beshparmak(Latmos) Mountains discovered by Dr. Anneliese Peschlow. In the light of the this information, it is so upsetting that very little known about Aydin Province.

    We pursued three ancient ruins and rock paintings which are less known or not known at all in this unique city where Western Civilization meets Eastern civilization. So much so that the name of one of the remain was not identified and registered in historic places checklist. This unknown ancient ruin is waiting to be unraveled in the farthest corner of Aydin Madran Mountain. We have given a temporary name to these remains in order to understand what we are talking about throughout this research: Madran Baba Mountain Ruins ( MMBR ). The name was given on account of its location. It is at the foot of Madran Mountain. 

    It appears that there are so many historical artifacts in Aydin Province such as ruins, inscriptions, pictures that have not been identified yet. We could only bring to light the writings on the walls of a cave. Nobody knows how many cave writings from ancient times are waiting for us with a deep patience. Every piece of information to be discovered will be a torch which sheds the light one the dark pages of history.

    No one could have imagined that there are 8,000-year-old cave paintings on the rocks in the LATMOS forest in the district of Kocharli in Aydin Province. We found out this hidden treasure and we wanted primarily our local community and later on the whole world to see and protect these mysterious rocks.

    GERGA  which is located in the Chine District nearby Deliktash surroundings dates back to the Archaic period. There are the remains of the city with very little information about it waiting to be investigated. It seems that this precious work from ancient times deserves worldwide recognition which belongs to world heritage.

    The ancient city of  ORTHOSIA located in the village of Donduran in Aydin, is also waiting its turn to come to light. There are many historical cities in Aydin which lie beneath the surface of its earth. We hope that this project which we started for the recognition of Aydin, which is not even noticed by the local people in the terms of unknown wealth, will bring us closer to our goal.  create an awareness in our community on a large scale and if we can make a connection with our newly discovered small ancient site, past heritage will remain connected to its roots in safer hands. In other words, we will make the first connection with the newly discovered ancient remains in remote corner of Aydin by creating an awareness in our community and we will feel proud to preserve and pass on our ancient values to the next generation.