Meydancıkkale

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Coordinates: 36 ° 16 ′ 24 ″  N , 33 ° 26 ′ 28 ″  E

Relief Map: Turkey
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Meydancıkkale​
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Turkey
Meydancıkkale fortress, ramp and gate construction

Meydancıkkale (or Meydancık Kalesi) is the Turkish name of a fortification located on a ship-like mountain at 700 m altitude ten kilometers south of Gülnar and about 40 km west of Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin in the rough Cilicia .

Name and story

Aramaic inscriptions from the Persian period found on site attest to KRŠ as the ancient name of the fortress. Due to the similarity of names, the place is possibly identical to the Kiršu mentioned in a Neo-Babylonian chronicle . It says for the year 557/6 BC Chr. Reports of a campaign of the Babylonian king Nergal-šarra-usur against the king Appuašu of Pirindu in the rough Cilicia. Here the old capital Kiršu is mentioned, which was moved to Ura and was destroyed by the Babylonians.

According to archaeological traces, the place had been open since the late 7th century BC. Settled. In the Achaemenid Empire it became the seat of a Persian governor who built a palace here. During the Hellenistic period he changed owners and functions several times. Early Christian and Byzantine use are also documented.

exploration

Excavations by Emmanuel Laroche from 1971 to 1982 uncovered a heavily fortified entrance. Fortifications from Persian times with Hellenistic alterations were also found, an administration building and the foundation walls of a monumental building from the time of Ptolemy III. , two Achaemenid reliefs and various graves on the slopes. Furthermore, Greek inscriptions with the name of Ptolemy and Aramaic inscriptions with the name of the city came to light (on the fortification wall and in a burial chamber on the west side of the mountain) and finally an important coin find from the 3rd century BC. With over 5000 silver coins. At the eastern foot of the rock, a tomb from the first half of the 6th century was uncovered, with two caryatids in front of the facade .

In 1972 Laroche reported on a great king cartouche of the Hittite ruler Muwattalli II on a column in the entrance area and in 1974 on the remains of reliefs with inscriptions in Luwian hieroglyphs and a prince relief similar to that of Hemite . This would mean that the buildings were built in the 13th century BC. BC, i.e. to the time of the Hittite empire. However, there was no photograph, drawing or detailed description. Eberhard P. Rossner, who visited the castle in 1985 and 1987, could not find any traces of it either. According to Olivier Casabonne of the Groupe de Recherches sur l'Antiquité Classique et Orientale , they never existed.

Some of the finds are exhibited in the Silifke archaeological museum , such as the two caryatids and the coin treasure.

  • Foundation walls

  • Residential buildings

  • Palace foundations

  • Gate construction

  • Caryatids of the grave building in the Silifke Museum

literature

Web links

Commons : Meydancıkkale  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Donald J. Wiseman: Chronicles of Chaldean Kings (626-556 BC) in the British Museum. London 1956, pp. 39-42, 74-77, 86-88.
  2. ↑ Machteld J. Mellink : Archeology in Asia Minor In: American Journal of Archeology 76/2, 1972 p. 171.
  3. ↑ Machteld J. Mellink : Archeology in Asia Minor In: American Journal of Archeology 78/2, 1974 p. 111.
  4. ↑ Eberhard P. Rossner: The Hittite rock reliefs in Turkey. 2nd edition, 1988, ISBN 3-924390-02-9 , pp. 239-240.
  5. ↑ Olivier Casabonne: Notes Ciliciennes (suite) . In: Anatolia Antiqua VII , 1999. pp. 69-88 digitized