Günder Varinlioğlu

“Artamonoff: Picturing Byzantine Istanbul, 1930-1947” exhibition (26 June-10 November 2013) and catalogue were prepared within the scope of the Third International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium. It is the product of a collaboration among Koç University's Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC), Dumbarton Oaks, Freer|Sackler, and Robert College. features the photographs taken by Nicholas V. Artamonoff, an amateur photographer of Russian origin, during the time he lived in Istanbul between 1922-1947. Artamonoff's photographs constitutes a unique record of the city, which since then has gone through a radical transformation. The life and career of Artamonoff, who developed an interest in photography and Istanbul’s cultural heritage during the years he studied and worked at Robert College, were reconstructed through extensive research. The exhibition featured the photographs taken by Nicholas V. Artamonoff, an amateur photographer of Russian origin, during the time he lived in Istanbul between 1922-1947. Artamonoff's photographs constitutes a unique record of the city, which since then has gone through a radical transformation. The life and career of Artamonoff, who developed an interest in photography and Istanbul’s cultural heritage during the years he studied and worked at Robert College, were reconstructed through extensive research. The digital exhibition of Artamonoff photographs can be accessed at  http://images.doaks.org/artamonoff/

... provinces of Isauria (metropolis Seleukeia), Kilikia I (metropolis Tarsos), and Kilikia II (metropolis Anazarbos). See E. Honigmann, ed., Le synekdemos d'Hierokles et I'opuscule geographique de Georges de Chypre: Texte, introduction, commentaire et cartes (Brussels, J939)? ...

Taseli’nde (Kilikia) karsilasilan phalloslar, bolgenin yaygin olarak tapinilan ikinci buyuk tanrisi Her­mes’le iliskili gorulegelmistir.  Guvercinlik’te kapi dikmesi uzerindeki I. S. III. ya da IV. yuzyildan bir ya­zit bu varsayimi yeniden ele almamizi gerektirmektedir. Yagmacilara karsi urunu korumak amaciyla yazilmis olan bu yazit ve altindaki phallos cizimi, benzer amacla I. O. II. ya da III. yuzyilda Sicilya’nin Catania bolgesinde Priapos heykeline yazilan epigrami animsatmaktadir. Batida Priapos, Roma kentsel alanlarinda sik gorulurdu. Guvercinlik yaziti ise, kisitli tarim olanaklari olan kirsal alanla ilgilidir. Bu alanda, gec Roma’dan Eskicagin sonuna degin surekli tarim yapilmis ve oturulagelmistir. Guvercinlik yazitinin isiginda, phalloslarin bolgede yaygin olarak gorulmesi, tam kentlesmemis Taseli’nde, Roma geleneklerinin de etkisiyle, Priapos tapinmasinin olabilecegini ileri surmemizin gerekcesi olmustur.

The history of agricultural terraces remains poorly understood due to problems in dating their construction and use. This has hampered broader research on their significance, limiting knowledge of past agricultural practices and the long-term investment choices of rural communities. The authors apply OSL profiling and dating to the sediments associated with agricultural terraces across the Mediterranean region to date their construction and use. Results from five widely dispersed case studies reveal that although many terraces were used in the first millennium AD, the most intensive episodes of terrace-building occurred during the later Middle Ages (c. AD 1100–1600). This innovative approach provides the first large-scale evidence for both the longevity and medieval intensification of Mediterranean terraces.

I. Eichner’s long-awaited monograph on the Early Byzantine houses of Cilicia stems from her doctoral thesis completed in 2003 at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.1 Her team documented and studied (1998-2000, 2003) 20 houses and house complexes in 11 settlements in the immediate hinterland of Seleucia ad Calycadnum (Silifke), Corycus (Kızkalesi), and Elaiussa-Sebaste (Ayaş). The chosen region, delimited by Boğsak in the west and Alata Çayı in the east, covers agriculturally marginal, semi-arid hills rising above the coast which contain well-preserved remains of several dozen settlements of various sizes, functions and characteristics. With the exception of the village of Manastır2 on the coast, all the other sites in this study lie in the mountainous territory east of the Calycadnus (Göksu) river. They are located on rural roads connecting the coast to urban centers in the hinterland and thence through the Taurus mountains to the Anatolian plateau. This is the first systematic and comprehensive study of Early Byzantine domestic architecture in this rural built environment, a region that is still largely understudied despite a growing number of archaeological, architectural and epigraphic investigations in the last two decades.3 Eichner underlines the gap in our knowledge of Byzantine domestic architecture, Asia Minor being especially underrepresented in contrast with the extensively investigated rural landscapes of Syria, which serve as the main comparandum throughout the book. By laying out the common characteristics of Early Byzantine domestic architecture in the region of Seleucia ad Calycadnum, Eichner has built a solid foundation for others studying the built environment in Cilicia.