Ayathecla
Ayathekla , also Ayatekla , from the Greek Ἁγια Θεκλα, Hagia Thekla , German Holy Thekla , also Meriamlik , is the Turkish name of a pilgrimage site of Saint Thekla . The place is located in the south of the district town of Silifke , the ancient Seleukia am Kalykadnos, in the Turkish province of Mersin , about two kilometers southeast of the local castle .
history
According to legend, St. Thekla, originally a noble virgin from Iconium , spent her retirement here in a cave after her conversion by the apostle Paul and lengthy persecutions in the 1st century AD and is also buried here. A first church was built over this cave and its shrine in the 2nd century. In the middle of the 4th century, in the course of the conflict between the Romans and Isaurians , a Christian Isaurian noblewoman named Bassiane was held hostage in the sanctuary. Although the pregnant woman could not stand the hot and humid climate and passed out, according to legend, she was saved by the saint. The place developed into a much-visited pilgrimage destination, especially for pilgrims. In 374, Gregor von Nazianz retired to the premises for some time, in 384 the consecrated Virgin Egeria visited the site on her return journey from her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In her itinerary she reports on the church and numerous monk cells in the area. The location of this first church has not yet been located. Shortly thereafter, the shrine was moved to a cave on the southern slope of the hill, in which a three-aisled crypt was built. At the time of Egeria's visit, the pilgrimage area was surrounded by a strong wall to protect it from raids by predatory Isaurians. In 476, the Eastern Roman Emperor Zenon of the Isaurians expanded the sanctuary by adding a basilica. At the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 6th century there was a lot of building activity, at least two more churches, a public bath and several cisterns were built. In Korasion , Korykos , Olba , Seleukia and Anemurion , funerary and dedicatory inscriptions have been found that referred to Saint Thekla.
In Ottoman times, the area was assigned to Maria and therefore called Meriamlik, the name has been used to this day. The French traveler Victor Langlois describes the place under this name in his 1861 report on his trip to Cilicia.
investment
The holy district lies on sloping limestone tongues at today's Ayatekla Sokak in the south of Silifke, in the extensive necropolis of Seleukia, from which numerous grave caves can be seen in the area. At the parking lot is the entrance to the underground church. It is a three-aisled column church 17 m long. From the entrance in the south you enter a narthex with a barrel vault . From there you get to the central nave, from which the aisles are separated by two rows of Doric columns. In the north are naturally formed cave rooms, according to tradition, the living quarters of the saints. A pastophorion (abode of the priest) adjoins a semicircular apse in the south .
The Thekla basilica was located above the cave, of which only a part of the apse is preserved today. On the basis of archaeological findings, a three-aisled columned basilica with dimensions of about 70 × 40 m was developed. In front of it was a narthex with a flight of stairs, from which one could get into the three naves, each with 15 columns. The apse, which had four semicircular double windows, was connected to chapel-like adjoining rooms on both sides. In the south a vestibule was attached along the entire length of the church, which gave the building a representative character.
A Temenos district , which is surrounded by a fortification wall, extends around the cave and church . Several cisterns and a monastery were located within this area . One of the cisterns has been uncovered and can be viewed. North of the fortified area were a public bath and at least two other churches, the so-called domed church and the not yet excavated northern church. The domed church, which is dated to the late 5th century, is a three-aisled gallery church with a semicircular atrium and a narthex in the west . Whether it was really domed or rather, like the Eastern Church in nearby Alahan Manastırı , was covered with an octagonal wooden pyramid roof is disputed.
In the Syrian town of Maalula , the Mağarat Mār Taqlā cave is another place of pilgrimage of Saint Thekla, which also claims to be home to the tomb of the saint ( Monastery of Saint Thekla ).
literature
- Ernst Herzfeld , Samuel Guyer : Meriamlik and Korykos; Two Christian ruins in the rough Cilicia . Manchester University Press, Manchester 1930
- Gabriele Mietke: Construction phases and dating of the basilica of Meriamlik (Ayatekla). In: Ina Eichner, Vasiliki Tsamakda (ed.): Syria and its neighbors from late antiquity to the Islamic period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 37–56
- Urs Peschlow : The Meriamlik cisterns. Questions about construction and masonry technology in the Ayatekla district. In: In: Ina Eichner, Vasiliki Tsamakda (ed.): Syria and its neighbors from late antiquity to the Islamic period. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2009, pp. 57-80
- Turgut Saner - Bilge Ar - Gizem Mater (ed.), Metin Ahunbay'ın İzinden: Ayatekla, Binbirkilise ve Dara / Anastasiopolis Araştırmalarından Özel Konular. Istanbul 2017, ISBN 978-605-4778-58-4
Web links
- Topography entry for Ayathekla in the Arachne archaeological database
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl field: Barbarian citizens. The Isaurians and the Roman Empire . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, p. 52 ISBN 9783110188998 at GoogleBooks
- ↑ Stephen J. Davis: The Cult of Saint Thecla. A Tradition of Women's Piety in Late Antiquity . Oxford University Press, 2008 p. 5 u. 37 ISBN 9780199548712 on GoogleBooks
- ↑ Feld, pp. 158–159.
- ↑ a b c Feld, p. 26
- ↑ Davis, pp. 38f.
- ↑ Victor Langlois. Voyage dans la Cilicie et dans les montagnes du Taurus: exécuté pendant les années 1851-1853 . Paris 1861 p. 184 on GoogleBooks
- ^ A b Gunnar Brands : Pilgrimages and places of pilgrimage in the late ancient Orient, in Sabine Gralla: Oriens Christianus: History and present of Middle Eastern Christianity . LIT Verlag Münster, 2003 pp. 23–24. ISBN 9783825865122 on GoogleBooks
Coordinates: 36 ° 21 '48 " N , 33 ° 55' 52" E