Sinope, Black Sea

Öz: Her ne kadar tarihin belirli bir evresinden sonra yol ayrımına girilmiş olsa da Türklerle Rumlar uzun yıllar bir arada yaşamayı başardılar. Bu süreçte iki toplum arasındaki etkileşim, duruma göre bazen sınırlı bazense daha geniş alanda oldu. Her bölge veya şehirde bu vaziyet değişkenlik göstermiştir. Sinop’taki Türk ve Rum toplumlarının yaşanmışlıkları ise Anadolu’daki iki halkın paylaşımlarına dair asgari düzeyde fikir verecektir.Sinop’ta Müslüman halk içkale olarak tabir edilen sur içinde yaşarken gayrimüslim haneleri surun dışında yer alıyordu. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada surun içindekiler değil, surun dışındakiler incelendi. Bu bağlamda Sinop Rumları özelinden hareketle bir toplumun 19. yüzyıldaki demografik, içtimaî, iktisadi, dinî ve çeşitli tarihsel vakıasına ışık tutulmaya çalışıldı. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı’nda yer alan arşiv vesikaları ile çeşitli telif ve tetkik eserler ise çalışma sırasında istifade edilen başlıca kaynaklar oldu. Ortaya çıkan bilgiler çerçevesinde Sinop kent monografisine katkı sağlanması amaçlandı.
Abstract: Even though they found themselves at the threshold of diverging roads after a critical moment in history, Turks and Greeks lived together for a long and considerable time. During such shared experience, the interaction between the two communities was sometimes limited, sometimes extensive due to location, city or region. The experiences of the Turkish and Greek communities in Sinop, for example, will provide data for the shared history of these communities in Anatolia/Asia Minor. The Muslim people who lived in Sinop would live within the castle walls, while non-Muslim families were living outside. Therefore, this study particularly examines the external life of the people who lived outside the city walls, rather than internal life of those who lived within. Contributing to Sinop’s city monograph, the study aims to investigate the demographic, social, economic, religious and various historical developments that the communities witnessed in the 19th century, using archive documents and copyrighted material preserved at the Department of the Presidency State Archives of the Republic of Turkey.

The ancient city of Sinop has always been an important port and Balatlar Church is the only building from the Roman Period whose  function could be determined in this area. The caldarium, tepidarium, apoditerium and palaestra of the Bath are still preserved at present. A group of buildings have been revealed during the first-five years of the still-continuing excavations. These buildings were used as a church and a graveyard from Byzantine to Ottoman periods, after being used as a bath-palestra first. Because of the localization, Sinop was always in contact with Black Sea costs and so many pottery, bone, metal and glass objects have been unearthed which attributed to medieval age. There have been Ottoman and European ceramics findings as well. Especially Canakkale Ware is the most common ware. Separately, England and France productions are abundant like Sarreguemines porcelain, Staffordshire pottery. The intensity of Byzantine, Ottoman and European ceramics found in the excavations at Balatlar Church indicate the additional importance for both internal and foreign trade.

Sinope ancient city (modern Sinop) was established as a Milesian colony on Sinop cape where is the northernmost point of Anatolia, in the center of South Black Sea coastal strip. Sinope owes its natural harbor to be the most important stop of the east-west strait in the southern shoreline of the Black Sea, which has a challenging geography. Being this city almost right across the Crimea Peninsula enables for Sinop to play a significant role in transportation and trade between the Crimea Peninsula and Anatolia.
Sinope was a settlement also in the periods of Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman without any interruption. The city was an important seaport where the commercial products could be transferred by water from territorial enclaves to the Black Sea during and after the Persian domination.
Not only the sculptor artifacts but also the candles (oil-lamp) found in Sinop Museum and several excavations around Sinop display the relationship network between the regions mentioned and the important countries in the same area. The general run of these candles found in Sinop Museum is dated to Hellenistic Period as well as reach from the Classical Period to the midst of Late Roman Period. They were made of cogwheel and molding as the characteristics of the period. There are materials in them that reflect the trade network of the time and show the commercial and cultural interaction with Western Anatolia, North Africa, and the Southern Black Sea.

Rethinking the “Plaketten-Vasen” from Sinope: A New Late Classical Sarcophagus Burial from the Western-Necropolis

An undecorated sarcophagus was found in 2013 during infrastructure works in the Gelincik neighborhood where the western necropolis of Sinope once located. The rescue excavations of the Museum of Sinop documented a rich assemblage of grave offerings, various types of jewelry, personal care utilities, coins and different types of pottery from the sarcophagus. Within the pottery, a small group of Attic vases and several well-preserved clay vessels with polychrome relief decoration, known in the literature as “Plaketten-vasen”, attract a special attention. According to the anthropological analyses, this rich burial belonged to a young female deceased.
This paper will present this new burial with its offerings by focusing on the polychrome “Plaketten-vasen”. It will review the dating of this pottery-group, controversially discussed in the literature, on the base of the assemblage of the new burial.

Keywords: Plaketten-vasen, Sinope, sarcophagus, polychrome relief ceramics, Late Classical.

When Sinop was founded by the the people Miletos, it became the main colony in the Southern Black Sea. Many wrecks dating from the Antiquity to the present day are present under water around Sinop and a new wreck can be discovered every day. Some of the submerged wrecks can be dived with SCUBA, however, the sheet metal shipwrecks on the shores of Sinop are particularly attractive for those who want to dive deep underwater. The dives in the shallow waters from 40 meters described in this article were made with SCUBA system. Dives that are deeper than 40 meters are carried out with mixed gas trimix equipment. These wrecks are at the ideal depth for diving tourism with technical diving, ie diving with mixed gas trimix equipment and the wrecks are in perfect condition. Diving with trained guide divers will be a protective feature for some of our underwater cultural elements, since it is easy to determine whether there are any losses when compared to the previous day, by the controlled photographed and videos taken each day. The protected area on the Sinop coast and the prohibition of sportive diving practices have caused more destruction than preserving our underwater cultural heritage, since, when well-meaning people and scientists who obey the prohibitions moved away from the prohibited areas in the sea; underwater sites where cultural assets are left to the disposal of malicious people then these cultural assets were looted. Some submerged wrecks, which may be damaged by divings, must immediately be underwater excavations done then exhibiting them in the museum will be accurate and this will add value to Sinop tourism.

Ancient Coin Commemorates Trojan War’s Kilikian King Eëtion?
Robert M. Cutler, 2016
Abstract: Ancient Roman provincial coins long described as a possible first-century BCE issue of Pontos are considered further. The coins appear to be inscribed EETIA, possibly preserving the Latinized name of legendary King Eëtion of the Kilikians as applied to his people and their progeny, or to a festival or other observance in his honor. Eëtion was the father of the exemplary Princess Andromache and father-in-law of Troy’s valiant Prince Hektor. Both men were killed during the Trojan War by the Greek hero Achilles, as Homer relates in the Iliad. EETIA coins do not appear to be from the area of Eëtion’s Thebe, but elsewhere in Anatolia, probably either along its north or southeast coast. If the northeast is correct, the coins may be from provincial Bithynia or Pontos. If the southeast is correct, the coin may be from the area of historical Kilikia and its reverse design could refer to the legendary soothsayers Mopsos and Kalchas. The coin issue, wherever it was minted, may be the only one that explicitly memorializes Eëtion, though it was not issued until some twelve centuries after his supposed defeat and death, and seven centuries after Homer told his story.

ÖZ
Arkeolojik sondaj çalışmaları, antik Karadeniz’in önemli liman  kentlerinden biri olan Sinop’un (antik Sinope) arkeolojik potasiyelinin anlaşılması adına büyük önem arz etmektedir. Bu kazılardan biri olan “ORD 2016” kente ulaşımı sağlayan boğazın güney kısmında olacak şekilde Gelincik Mahallesi olarak bilinen bölgede gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bir inşat yapılması düşünülen tek bir parselde gerçekleştirilen kazıda birden fazla sayıda açma açılmış ve bu açmalar dâhilinde arkeolojik buluntulara, mimari unsurlara ve bazı mezarlara ulaşılmıştır.
Bu çalışma ORD 2016 kapsamında açığa çıkarılan arkeolojik buluntuların, mimari unsurların ama en çok da mezarların irdelenmesi üzerine odaklanacaktır. Çalışma kapsamında ilk olarak kazının gerçekleştirildiği alanın antik kent ve çevresi bağlamındaki konumu ve önemi aktarılmıştır. Buluntu konumları ve sıralamalarının daha iyi anlaşılabilmesi adına kazı süreci de kısa ancak yeterli derecede detay verecek şekilde paylaşılmıştır. Hem bu aşamada hem de mezarların değerlendirmesi esnasında özellikle eserler üzerinde durularak gömü alanı ile mezarların tarihlemesi de gerçekleştirilmiştir.
Çalışmalar sonucunda ORD 2016 kapsamında kazısı gerçekleştirilen alanın Sinope’nin Güney Nekropolü’nün küçük bir bölümünü teşkil ettiği anlaşılmıştır. Mezarlar ve sundukları buluntu repertuvarları ise tüm gömülerin sıradan kişilere ait olduğunu göstermektedir. Mezarlar civarında açığa çıkarılmış olan Dor sütunu biçimli ve yazıtlı bir mezar belirteci ise bölgedeki mezarlarda bu tipte yer belirticilerin tercih edilmiş olabileceğine işaret etmektedir. Mezarlar ışığında Erken Hellenistik – Erken Roma arasına tarihlenebilen bu gömü alanının kullanımını kazılarda ele geçen başka buluntular ışığında Klasik Dönem’e kadar çekmek mümkün olmuştur.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Sinope, nekropol, Hellenistik, Roma, bodur lekythos, Dor biçimli mezar belirteci.