Zerzevan

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Zerzevan Kalesi
Aerial photo 2014

Aerial photo 2014

Alternative name (s): Samachi Castle
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Geographical location 37 ° 36 '29 "  N , 40 ° 29' 57"  E Coordinates: 37 ° 36 '29 "  N , 40 ° 29' 57"  E
Zerzevan (Turkey)
Zerzevan

Zerzevan ( Turkish Zerzevan Kalesi , Armenian Զերզեվանի ամրոց ), also known as Samachi , is a former important Eastern Roman military base in the Diyarbakır Province in southeastern Turkey . The name Zerzevan is modern and the original meaning is not clear; during the Roman settlement, the hill fort was probably called Samachi. Archaeological excavations from 2014 onwards show not only typical defensive structures but also the existence of underground structures, including a large hall and a mithraium . The castle dates from the 4th century and was used until the 7th century; between the 1890s and 1960s the square was used as a civilian settlement. The site is partially open to tourism.

location

The castle was built in the 4th century by the Eastern Roman Empire as a military base on the old trade route between Diyarbakır and Mardin . This area was fought over for centuries between the Roman Empire and the Iranian Sassanid Empire , so that garrison towns were founded at strategically important places . Zerzevan is located on a 105 to 124 m high rocky hill, which extends in a north-south direction, from where the castle overlooks the valley of the Göksu - a tributary of the Tigris . Today the D950 expressway from Diyarbakır to Mardin runs past the castle through the valley. North of the castle is the village of Demirölçek, the provincial capital Diyarbakır is 45 km away, the district town Çınar 13 km.

Exploration and description

In 1766 the facility was visited by the researcher Carsten Niebuhr , who called the place Kasr Zerzaua and at that time only found a few buildings and no inscriptions. Other European researchers were Eduard Sachau (1880), Conrad Preusser (1910) and the siblings Samuel Guyer and Hanna Schätti-Guyer (1911). All of these researchers reported little or no report about the facility. However, Guyer mentioned a village, which the other researchers had not done.

The first archaeological excavations took place in the summer of 2014. The work was initially carried out by a team of 35, led by an archaeologist from Dicle University under the supervision of the Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum. In 2015 the local team grew to 60 people. The excavation work is expected to take around 30 years.

The castle extends over an area of ​​5.7 hectares. It contains both surface and underground structures. The crumbling walls are 1200 m long and 12 m high and 2 to 3 m thick. In the northern corner there is still a 21 to 22 m high watchtower. Originally ten bastions and two towers were part of the wall. The entrance to the castle was to the east, where the defense system was thickest. In the east and south the rock was worked and used as a base for the wall.

Inside the castle there are extensive ruins and outside the wall there is a necropolis carved into the rock . In the north part of the hill, which is a little lower, houses and roads were built, while in the south public buildings were built on the higher ground. An east-west facing church building from the 6th century is still one of the best preserved public buildings. Other public buildings are a palace, administration buildings, baths, grain stores, an arsenal and 54 cisterns . Military and medical material, jewelry, ornaments and bronze coins were also found during the excavations. In 2016, an underground church and secret passages were discovered. The discovered underground secret passage had not been used for about 3,000 years and the underground church was closed about 1,500 years ago. It turned out that this church was originally a Roman rock tomb, which was then converted into a church. A mithraium and an underground sanctuary that could hold 400 people were also excavated. According to official figures, the underground temple of the Mithraic cult attracted more than 20,000 tourists in just one week. Four more underground sites were discovered in 2017 that require further excavation to uncover.

In 2019 an Assyrian cylinder seal was discovered near the castle , which extends the settlement history several centuries into the past.

history

The castle was an Eastern Roman military base and a strategic garrison settlement that dominated the entire valley and controlled the old road between Amida (now Diyarbakır) and Dara-Anastasiupolis (now behind Mardin). Due to its location on the easternmost border, the castle played a key role in protecting the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the intersection and the growing together of cultures in the west and east.

The place was known as samachi in ancient times. It was the scene of intense fighting between the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. Jewelry found in the castle indicates that civilians and military personnel lived together, and soldiers lived with their family members. It was big enough to feed a population of around a thousand.

With the restoration and reconstruction measures, which were carried out under the Eastern Roman emperors Anastasios I (r. 491-518) and Justinian I (r. 527-565), the castle developed to its climax before it became in later times Ruin crumbled. The castle was most likely used until the beginning of the Arab-Byzantine wars in the middle of the seventh century.

In the 1890s a new settlement was established within the castle ruins when a family moved there. But when the population had grown to over 30 households, the residents left the Zerzevanburg for good in the 1960s and founded a village outside the castle under the name Zerzevan - today's Demirölçek.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Zerzevan Castle home to secret history . In: Hürriyet Daily News , August 25, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2018. 
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Zerzevan Kalesi'nde Mithras Tarikatı'na Ait Yeraltı Tapınağı Bulundu (tr) . In: Arkeoloji Haber , December 27, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2018. 
  3. ↑ Zerzevan Kalesi'nde am 500 yıllık yeraltı sığınağı bulundu (tr) . In: Habertürk , October 24, 2016. Accessed April 30, 2018. 

literature

  • Aytaç Coşkun: Zerzevan Castle (Samachi): Roman border garrison / Zerzevan Kalesi: Roma'nin sinir garnizonu . TC Diyarbakır Valiliği / TC Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, 2017, ISBN 978-6-05149919-2 , p. 72 (Turkish, English).
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann and Urs Peschlow: Two late antique ruins in northern Mesopotamia . Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-7696-1483-6 , p. 86 ( badw.de [PDF]).

Web links

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