Kesikbeli caravan route

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kesikbeli Route (also Kesikbelen or Kesik Beli Route ) is an old caravan and trade route in southern Turkey from Konya or Kobadabad on Lake Beyşehir in the Anatolian highlands via the Taurus Mountains to Alanya and Antalya in the Pamphylian coastal plain, the was opened in the Roman Empire between the provinces of Konya and Antalya . The ancient road was owned by the Seljuk state after Roman timesrepaired and reused. The historical road connected Konya to Antalya and Alanya via the Demirkapı and Kesikbelen sites respectively, via Manavgat and Side respectively , but consisted of different routes.

About the history of the route

Active and heavily used during the ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods, the Kesikbeli caravan route, also known as the Gembos Road in modern times, flourished especially under the Seljuks . Between the years 1204 and 1243, during the reigns of the Seljuk rulers Kai-Khusrau I , Kai-Kawus I and Ala ad-Din Kai-Qubad I , when trade was gaining importance in Asia Minor, about forty caravanserai were built in Anatolia . The total number of caravanserais built by the Seljuks in Anatolia is about 90. Seljuk sultans paid great attention to the development of trade in Anatolia. Goods that were very popular at the time, such as spices and silks, which came by ship or directly from Central Asia , were always transported from one place to another by caravan . What is certain is that the caravanserai of the Anatolian Seljuk period made a great contribution to the country's commercial life and road routes.

From the former palace complex of the Seljuks on the Alaeddin Tepesi only a few protected sparse remains of walls next to the Alaeddin Camii are preserved.
From the time of the local principality of Eşrefoğlu, various structural structures of the Eşrefoğlu Külliyesi have been preserved in Beyşehir on the Beyşehir Gölü.
The Eşrefoğlu Camii of the Eşrefoğlu Külliyesi in Beyşehir is one of the few "forest mosques" (so called because of the wooden "pillared forest") in Turkey from the Seljuk period.

In view of the fact that the Seljuk caravan route between Konya, where today - apart from the Alaeddin Camii - on the Aladin Hill (Alahaddin Tepesi) only the sparsest remains of the sultan's palace are protected, and Alanya ran mainly via Beyşehir , it acted as an important factor also in the establishment of the Turkmen Principality of Eşrefoğlu , one of the successor principalities ( Beyliks ) of the Seljuk Empire on the Beyşehir Gölü . Structures such as the Seljuk caravanserai, the ruins of the city of Karalis (Beyşehir; Byzantine Skleros ; later Turkmen Viranşehir; under the Eşrefoğulları Süleymanşehir; Beyşehir before 1320) and the Kubadabad Palace (Kubadabad Sarayı) influenced the establishment of the local principality of Eşrefoğlu in the area of Lake Beyşehir. From this time there are still various structural structures of the Eşrefoğlu Külliyesi preserved, primarily the worth seeing Eşrefoğlu Camii ( Eşrefoğlu Mosque ).

Under the Ottomans , the historical road was no longer given much importance. From 1453 the center of the empire was in İstanbul , no longer in inner-Anatolian Konya. Only in 1899, during the reign of Grand Vizier Avlonyalı Mehmet Ferit Pasha as governor of Konya, was the expansion and modernization of the route awarded to a French company after a tender, but the construction work was interrupted by the death of the contractor. Its route was later partly used by the Italians for the expansion of an Antalya-Konya road, but construction was stopped in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I and the road was largely left to its fate. With the rural exodus since the mid-20th century, the regions of İbradı and Akseki , where this “Gembos Strait” (named after the Gembos polje in the western Taurus region) ran, suffered a significant population loss, while the population of Seydişehir and Beyşehir increased. As a result, the Konya-Seydişehir-Akseki-Antalya route, which was expanded after the 1970s, gained in importance, while the old Gembos connection disappeared from planning, only to come into focus again at the beginning of the 21st century: Since the 2015s, the expansion of the historical Kesikbeli caravan route under the name Gembos Yolu in three parts of the project, including the construction of the Demirkapı Tunnel in the district of İbradı, with the northern sections of the historical route being used for the expansion. The new road, which will be an alternative to the older Konya-Antalya link via Seydişehir, Akseki and Manavgat, will be on the Konya-Beyşehir-Derebucak-Gembos route, crossing the Gembos and Eynif plains in Taurus and connecting with the coastal road at Serik /Manavgat (Antalya Province) connect. It is scheduled to go into operation in 2022.

The old routes

The sketch map shows the course of the main route of the Seljuk caravan route over the Kesikbeli Pass in western Middle Taurus with the location of the corresponding caravanserai between Konya in the central Anatolian highlands and Kubadabad on the Beyşehir Gölü and the coastal towns of Antalya, Alanya and Side together with some alternative routes.
The ruins and remains of the walls of the Seljuk castle complex rise above Alanya on the edge of the largely deserted old town on a rocky peninsula.

At least three routes connected the port city of Antalya and the winter residence of the Seljuk Sultans of Rum at Alanya Castle in the Pamphylian plain with the Seljuk capital of Konya in the Anatolian highlands and their summer residence in Kubadabad Sarayı on Lake Beyşehir:

The Gündoğmuş – Bozkır route

Şerafza Hanı is located on the eastern branch of the Kesik Beli route, which runs parallel to the Mediterranean coast towards Alanya. It was built around the year 1237/8 by order of the Seljuk sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Kai-Khusrau II.

One of the historical routes ran westward from Alanya (Koracesian) in the east to Şerafza Han/Şarapsa Hanı , then crossed a bridge over Kargı Çayı and from there turned north via Güzelbağ and near Gündoğmuş via Kemer Köprüsü crossing the Alara Çayı. After that, the trail reaches the village of Narağacı, where it gained height over a short distance, a problem that was solved after the Kemer Bridge by serpentines of the road and the use of the step technique. This part was called “Forty Serpentines” (Kırk Dönmeler) by the locals. After the village of Narağacı, the road behind the village of Pembelik with the Gündoğmuşluların Yaylası reached the Gelesandara plateau at an altitude of about 1600 m. From here the route leads through the Boğaz Hanı and Baş Hanı to the Susam Beli pass, where the route shares. The northern branch of the route then crossed the Iron Gates (Demir Kapı) passage at an altitude of 2000 m and led through the Gücen Strait through today's Bozkır County to Iconium (Konya). The route ran from the Gelesandara plateau (Gelesandara Yaylası ) in Gündoğmuş district apparently northwards via the Merdivenli Yaylası and the plateau of the Susam-Beli pass to the Sarıot-Han. Their footprints among the trees on the western slope of the Gelesandra Plateau can still be followed today. There is a historical cemetery between Susam Beli and Merdivenli Plateau. 25 km after the Sarıot Caravanserai, at the beginning of the Gelesandara Plateau, next to the current road, are the remains of the Gelesandara Han. Its main building, which until recently was used by the nomads as a "stopover place", was repaired in the 2010s but has stood unused ever since. Apparently, the caravanserai on the Gelsandra Plateau and in the village of Durak (with the Buyuk Han) are not Seljuk Hane due to their shared architectural features, but rather 19th-century structures used by nomads who spent the winter months in the south of the Taurus Mountains and the Spent the summer season in the highlands of the Konya region.

The line then reached Bozkır County in Konya Province near Söbüçimen Yaylası. The further route to Konya is not entirely clear. Also about the construction data of the caravanserai on this route z. B. at Sariot and on the way to the Gelesandra Plateau from Gündoğmuş over the Susam Beli Pass via the village of Sorkun near Bozkır and the Sarıot Plateau, no precise information is available. This route was used as a way to the Yayla by the villagers between Alanya and Manavgat who still carry on their transhumance tradition today. The street was paved irregularly with stones that were not too big. Their width is narrower than that of alternative routes and varies between 1m and 1.5m, even narrowing at passes, e.g. B. at the Iron Gate, to 60 cm. It is still maintained by local people from time to time. Regular maintenance and repair work continued into the 1960s. Of course, it is reasonably certain that this route from Bozkır via Gündoğmuş to Alanya was used by Sultan Ala ad-Din Kai-Qubad I in 1221 with a large number of soldiers of a Seljuk army equipped with heavy weapons, after the conquest of Alanya despite the shortness of this line did not become popular, although the conquest of Alanya was initially decisive for the construction of a road connecting the capital city of Konya with the Mediterranean Sea in the 13th century.

It is known, however, that apart from caravans transporting sesame from Manavgat and Alanya and bringing back grain from the Konya region, nomads used this road through Bozkır and Gündoğmuş until the early republican years. A map in the Ottoman Prime Minister's archives dated March 31, 1920 proves the fact that at that time a road connected Bozkır via Gündoğmuş with Alanya, which belonged to the caravan delivery routes, and confirms that this historical route retained its importance until the last Ottoman has preserved for years.

The Kesikbeli Route

Built by order of Alaeddin Keykubad I (1220–1236), the Kubadabad palace complex is the only Anatolian Seljuk palace building that has survived to the present day, albeit only in ruins.
The Naras Bridge, part of an Imperial Roman (2nd century) aqueduct near the town of Dikmen, was converted by the Seljuks into a bridge over the Naras Çayı in the 13th century.

On the other hand, the proven high density of caravanserai along another route between Konya and Antalya in connection with the construction of an important palatial settlement such as Kubadâbâd (1235) on the south-west coast of Lake Beyşehir, as well as the Malanda Köşk located on a plateau south-west of it, indicates a new alternative route laid out during the reign of Sultan Ala ad-Din Kai Kobad I (1219–1237) between the highlands and the coastal plains through the Taurus and, having reached the Pamphylian lowlands, turned towards Manavgat and Antalya in the west and Alara Hanı and Alanya in the east.

The Alara Han is located east of Manavgat in the southern foothills of the Taurus Mountains in the valley of the Alara Çayı not far below the Byzantine castle Alara Kalesi and served as a hostel on the old trade route from Alanya to Konya
The caravanserai of the Kargı Hanı on the Naras Çayı on the Turkish state road D687 is due to the Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev (1236-1246) according to its architectural style.

In addition, in the 13th century in the highlands, the route from Konya to Alanya was extended westward via an Eğirdir and Seydişehir route, although it was longer in distance. Since Side , as a port city, has retained the character of one of the most important cities on the eastern Mediterranean coast since ancient times, it has become the most important entry and exit point of south-north connecting roads. This road, which connected Side to Central Anatolia, crossed the “Naras Bridge” on the Naras Suyu, which flows into the Manavgat River from the west, and reached the ancient city of Seleucia (Pamphylia) via Erymna (Ormana) and Etenna ( Sırt Köy ) just above the village of Şıhlar and the Murtbeli Tol Hanı (Beldibi Hanı). The continuation road was connected at the site "At İzi" (Horse Path) with a line running from Aspendos over the Kargı Hanı , which continued to Lycaonia . This crossing point "At İzi" was made passable by opening up a high rock massif vertically and horizontally, so that the road here consists of blocky rocky ground. In order to overcome this rocky ground, small steps were built, which, however, made transport with beasts of burden more difficult. The locals called this steep passage “Horse Trail” (“At Izi”). With this section of road, made passable through the opening in a rock massif, a section of road was created for pedestrians and beasts of burden that was completely paved over long stretches. After the "At Izi" you passed the place Çaltılı and reached the Kesikbeli Pass, named after a legend "Ali Kesiği" at 1500 meters altitude, a 4-5 m wide and 30 m long rock opening created by hand as a drainage channel during the Lydian period to prevent regional flooding from meltwater. This made it easier to reach the Gembos plain and the Antalya route from Pınarbaşı and Yukarı Kayalar, and soon after that the junction with the route over the Kargı Hanı.

The route over the Kargı Hanı

In the foreground stands the caravanserai of Kızılören Hanı near the village of Kızılören south of the national road D330 between Beyşehir and Konya in 1972; in the background on the right you can see the Küçük Kızılören Han, also probably from the Seljuk period.

This alternative branch over the Kargı Hanı, coming from Antalya, first ran eastwards and then, without touching Side, over the Eurymedon (Köprüçay) and east of the Aspendos Bridge near the villages of Taşağıl and Çardak, reached the north of the village of Beydiğin Kargı Han, which apparently served as a junction and crossing point with other routes, and merged with the previous route coming from Side at "At İzi" near Beldibi Han . Both routes were considered the main routes between the coastal centers of Antalya or Alanya and Konya in Seljuk times. The northbound route then skilfully uses the elongated intramontane basin structures and valleys, such as the Eynif Ovası, the Ortapayam Ovası north of İbradi and the Derebucak Ovası between Akdağ (mountain range east of Antalya), Manastır Tepesi and Atyatağı Tepesi, which are largely north-south directed to allow the transitions across the individual chains of the Dedegöl Dağları within the eastern curve of Isparta south of Lake Beyşehir . After the Kesikbeli Pass, one descends over the south-eastern foothills of the Akdağ to Eynif-Ova (Ova = plain), passing a rock-hewn stele (milestone?), called "Girl's Stone" by the locals because young nomad women wear cloths or rags in the hope of being able to solve marriage or birth problems. Then you reach the Eynif Tol Hanı at the south-eastern end of the Eynif Plain, the first caravanserai in the north after the Kargı Han, of which only a part still stands. After Eynif, Üzümcü and Sobuca you pass the caravanserai of Tepsili and Dalkatıran ( Ortapayam Hanı ), climb to Gembos (Derebucak) and from there you reach the Derebucak Tol Hanı (Afşın Çavlı Hanı), the Gembos Ovası and the Yenice Çiftlik Hanı , the southern end of Lake Beyşehir and thus the connection towards Konya via Beyşehir, Küçük Avşar Köyü Hanı , Yunuslar Hanı , Kızılören Hanı , Kuruçeşme Hanı and Altınapa Hanı .

This part of the road is an ancient transit route opened in the Roman Empire between the provinces of Antalya and Konya, serving as an important military crossing over the Taurus River at the time. It was repaired by the Seljuk state in the 13th century, reused under the name Kesikbelen Kervan Yolu and ended near the Seljuk Kubadabad Palace near Beyşehir, but at the same time connected the coastal towns of Antalya and Alanya to the Seljuk center Konya via Demirkapı and Kesikbelen via Beyşehir . The Kesikbelen caravan route lost its importance during the Ottoman Empire and was no longer used. However, its route was later partly used by the Italians for the construction of the Antalya-Konya road, but construction was stopped in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I, so that part of the caravan route remained in the terrain. The Kargı Han, founded under the Seljuk sultan Gıyâseddin Keyküsrev II , and eleven historical road breakthroughs (bottlenecks) have therefore survived to this day.

The caravanserai on the main route

Although the caravanserais, which had their origins in the ribats (military forts) built as border posts, were mostly dwellings for merchant caravans, from the outside they appear like castles. These monumental commercial buildings of Anatolian Seljuk architecture demonstrate the development of the Seljuk state in the 13th century as a trading power as well. These structures, usually constructed of worked stone material, are complexes with monumental entrance gates, high buttressed body walls and vaulted stone ceilings that lie on the Seljuk-era trade routes that cut the Anatolian geography from east to west and north to south pull through. A distinction is usually made between four different groups depending on the summer (open building/yard) and winter courtyard (covered building/han): caravanserai with a courtyard, without a courtyard, with open and closed courtyards next to each other or in concentric structures in which both courtyards intertwine, the type with a single closed courtyard and a single nave being rarely encountered.

Here is a list of the individual Seljuk caravanserais in the order of the Kesikbeli caravan route between Konya and the Mediterranean coast near Alanya or Side and Aspendos:

Between Konya and Beysehir

Between Beysehir and Manavgat

Between Antalya and Alanya

Literature (chronological)

  • Osman Turan: Selçuklu Kervansarayları . In: Belleten 10/37, Ankara, 1946, pp. 471–496.
  • Gülgün Tunç, Gültan İçaydın: Selçuklu Hanları . In: İsmat İlter (ed.): Tarihi Türk Hanları . Ankara 1969, No. 77, pp. 14-59.
  • Kurt Erdmann: The Anatolian Caravansaray of the 13th Century , Part:II-III, Berlin, 1976.
  • Ayşıl Tükel Yavu: Anadolu'da Eşodaklı Selçuklu Hanları . In: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi 2/2 1976, pp. 187-204.
  • Giray Ercenk: Pamphylia Bölgesi ve Çevresi Eski Yol Sistemi . In: Belleten 56, 1992, pp. 361-370.
  • Tolga Bozkurt, Robin Wimmel: Bozkır-Gündoğmuş Tarihi Yol Güzergahı Üzerine İlk Tespitler . Uluslararası Semposyum: Geçmişten Günümüze Bozkır (06-08 May 2016). In: Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Yayınları 9. 2016, pp. 1489-1502.
  • Osman Kunduracı: Konya-Alanya Güzergahındaki Selçuklu Kervansarayılarının Eşrefoğlu Beyliği'ne Sunduğu Katkılar . In: Üniversitesi Selçuklu Araştırmaları Dergisi (USAD) 6, 2017 pp. 181-208.
  • Scott Redford: Reading Inscriptions on Seljuk Caravanserai . In: A mari usque ad mare 4. London 2016, pp. 221-234.
  • Ali Bakkal: Antalya Selçuklu Kervansarayları. - Kargı Han . In: Türk Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi 4/4, 2019, pp. 521–570.

itemizations

  1. ^ a b c Orhan Deniz Kaplan: Kesikbelen Kervan Yolu. In: Denizkaplan kişisel blog sitesi. 12 June 2021, retrieved 16 November 2021 (Turkish).
  2. ↑ Nurettin Korkmaz: Anadolu Selçuklu Kervansarayları . In: Türkiye Mandislik Haberleri . tape 453 , 2009, p. 40 f .
  3. ↑ İlçemizin Tarihçesi. In: TC Beyşehir Kaymakamliğı. Retrieved November 21, 2021 (Turkish).
  4. ↑ Hasim Karpuz: Konya . In: Türk Kültür Varlıları Envanteri . tape 1 . Ankara 2009, p. 676-678 .
  5. ↑ Servet Ramazan Çolak: Gembos Yolu Çile Dolu. In: Anadolu'da Bugun. 28 August 2020, retrieved 21 November 2021 (Turkish).
  6. ↑ ibradı demirkapı tüneli son durum. In: Emlakkulisi. 20 November 2021, retrieved 20 November 2021 (Turkish).
  7. ↑ a b Giray Ercenk: Pamphylia Bölgesi ve Çevresi Eski Yol Sistemi . In: bellets . tape 56 , 1992, p. 363 .
  8. ↑ a b Tolga Bozkurt, Robin Wimmel: Bozkır-Gündoğmuş Tarihi Yol Güzergahı Üzerine İlk Tespitler . Uluslararası Semposyum: Geçmişten Günümüze Bozkır (06-08 May 2016). In: Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Yayınları . tape 9 , 2016, p. 1495 .
  9. ↑ Tolga Bozkurt, Robin Wimmel: Bozkır-Gündoğmuş Tarihi Yol Güzergahı Üzerine İlk Tespitler . Uluslararası Semposyum: Geçmişten Günümüze Bozkır (06-08 May 2016). In: Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Yayınları . tape 9 , 2016, p. 1492 f .
  10. ↑ Selim Hilmi Özkan: Osmanlıdan Cumhuriyet Gündoğmuş (Kise ve Nağlu Nahiyeleri), Alanya . In: Alanya Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası Yayınları . Alanya 2010, p. 8-10 .
  11. ↑ Selim Hilmi Özkan: Tarihe Şahitlik Eden Alanya-Bozkır Yolu ve Bu Yolun Tarihi Serüveni . Alanya XII. Tarih ve Kültür Sempozyumu, Konaklı Belediyesi-Alsav. In: Konaklı Belediyesi Yayınları . Konya 2012, p. 292-296 .
  12. ↑ İbn Bibi: El-Evâmirü'l-Alâ'iyye fı'l-Umûri'l-Alâ'iyye Selçukname, II. Tercüme . translated by Mürsel Öztürk. In: Atatürk Kültür, Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları . Ankara 2014, p. 358-360 .
  13. ↑ a b Giray Ercenk: Pamphylia Bölgesi ve Çevresi Eski Yol Sistemi . In: bellets . tape 56 , 1992, p. 362 .
  14. ↑ Ali Kesiği büyük ilgi görüyor. In: Haberkonya. 2006 March 27, retrieved 2021 December 8 (Turkish).
  15. ↑ Giray Ercenk: Pamphylia Bölgesi ve Çevresi Eski Yol Sistemi . In: bellets . tape 56 , 1992, p. 364 f .
  16. ↑ Osman Turan: Selçuklu Kervansarayları . In: bellets . tape 10 , no. 37 . Ankara 1946, p. 471 .
  17. ↑ Kurt Erdmann: The Anatolian Caravansaray of the 13th Century . Part II-III. Berlin 1976, p. 28-33 .
  18. ↑ Kurt Erdmann: The Anatolian Caravansaray of the 13th Century . Part II-III. Berlin 1976, p. 33 .