Mardin, City of Legends

Turkchem 14 Dec 2021 60 4 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

The City of Legends: Mardin

We continue our article on Mardin, which we began in our previous issue. With a history spanning 3000 years, Mardin contains many cultures and historical monuments. With its mosques, monasteries, churches and distinctive architecture, Mardin is a cultural treasure. In our article tracing a journey through this treasure, we have included historical structures and the ancient city of Dara within the city.

Church of the Virgin Mary and Patriarchate

The structure, built as a church in 1860, is used as a museum today. The church features an acoustic sound system, and the patriarch's seat and pulpit are decorated with wooden craftsmanship. It stands out with its elegant appearance. The Patriarchate was constructed in 1895. It was transferred to the Ministry of Culture in 1988. After restoration, it began to be used as a museum from 1995 onwards. A portion of the Old Patriarchate building was demolished during expansion work carried out in 1914-1915.

Deyrulzafaran Monastery

Deyrulzafaran Monastery is among the most renowned historical structures of Upper Mesopotamia. It is located 5-10 minutes from Mardin. The monastery, which served as a religious education centre for the Syriac Orthodox community, dates to the 4th century. The monastery remains one of the important centres of the Syriac Church today. The monastery is situated on the site of a Sun Temple belonging to the Shamis, who worshipped the sun, and an area that was used as a fortress by the Romans. Beginning in 793, Metropolitan Saint Hananyo carried out extensive renovations of the monastery, which was known by his name for some time. Due to the saffron plant cultivated in its vicinity, the monastery's name later became Saffron Monastery (Deyrulzafaran). The name Deyrulzafaran comes from the Arabic words "deyr," meaning monastery, and "zaferan," meaning saffron. The monastery is a fine example of architecture with its domes, vaulted columns, wooden carvings, and stone inlays in interior and exterior spaces. The monastery contains three places of worship from various periods, and the tombs of 52 Syriac Patriarchs are also located here. Inside Deyrulzafaran Monastery are the Shamsi Temple, the Church of Mor Hananyo, the Church of the Virgin Mary, the Church of Mor Petrus, the Cemetery of Saints, the Divan House, and monks' cells.

Mor Gabriel (Deyrulumur) Monastery

The temple, founded in 397 A.D., continues to function as one of the world's oldest active monasteries. The sacred centre of the region is located in the village of Yayvantepe, 22 kilometres from Midyat. The monastery is one of the renowned and major structures of the Syriac Orthodox community. The mosaics in the main church are among the most magnificent surviving examples of Byzantine art from the eastern regions. The dome, dating to the first half of the 6th century, is thought to have been built for the baptistery. In addition to the Main Church, the complex contains three other churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Forty Martyrs, and Mor Simeon, the monastery's founder. In the Church of Mor Simeon are an octagonal memorial tomb known as the burial place of Egyptian monks and three burial chambers.

Ancient City of Dara

According to the information provided by ancient and medieval historians such as Evagrius, Malalas, Agapius and Abu'l Farac; it is presumed that in the battle fought by Persian King Darius III (336-330 B.C.) against Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.), the place where the king died was subsequently named Dara, and that the origin of the name Dara is based on this location. According to the 13th century Syriac historian Abu'l Farac (Bar Hebraeus) regarding the origin of the name Dara, the Greek King Alexander the Great and Persian King Darius fought here and Darius died here. Therefore, this place became known as Dara. Important Structures Found in Ancient City of Dara Multi-Level Gallery Tomb Structure: In the rock necropolis area, it is a three-storey tomb structure arranged entirely by carving into the natural rock. The upper level of the structure, which has a rectangular plan running in a north-south direction, forms a corridor/balcony continuing along the western, southern and eastern edges. The monumental entrance to the north of the structure features religious scenes along with plant ornaments on its pediment. This gallery tomb, on which the Ezekiel (the Prophet who revived the dead) scene was depicted, depicting the "breathing of life into souls and resurrection" from sacred texts, is presumed to have been built by the East Romans returning from exile in 591, in honour of the East Roman people killed in battle by the Sasanids after the 573 invasion. In excavations conducted in 2009, hundreds of human bones were uncovered in the lower level of the structure, and it was determined that these people were gathered in this tomb for the day when they would be revived as in Ezekiel's miracle. Cemetery Area The wide hills to the west of the city were used as a stone quarry for the city's construction at the beginning of the 6th century A.D. Following uniform stone cutting surfaces, the area was converted into a cemetery. In the wide hills extending to the west of the city, deep and wide valley-shaped rock cemetery areas were created by carving out natural rock masses. Three different types of graves are found in this area. These are rock tombs (6th-8th centuries), sarcophagus-type tombs (6th-8th centuries) and simple stone coffin graves (8th-14th centuries). The chamber tombs carved into the rocks in Dara reflect the characteristics of pagan burial culture. This is because the characteristics of pagan culture had a lasting effect on the Christianized population for many years. Despite converting to Christianity, the people of Dara continued these chamber tombs, in which multiple burials were conducted, and pagan traditions for some time. Paganism is a form of belief that extends its roots to the ancient nature religions of the world and is the general name for these religions. A person belonging to these religions is called a pagan. For Romans, sarcophagus-type tombs were the places of spirits in the other world. The soul of the deceased would rest and be protected in this place. Roman period sarcophagi were shaped with this understanding. With the institutionalization of Christianity, burial in simple stone coffins began.