Antik Yunan Kent-devleti “polis”in Özellikleri, ilgili Araştırmalar Ve Batı Anadolu’dan Örnekler

Abstract

Kentleşme ve kent (polis) olgusu Antik Yunan uygarlığının en önemli göstergelerinden biri olarak kabul edilir. Polise hem soyut bir takım içerikler yüklenmekte, hem de belli bir fiziksel çehre ile hayal edilmektedir. Ancak bu iki durum da polisin “ne” olduğu tartışmalarında önemli ölçüde yer tutar. Poliste yaşayanlar tam hak sahibi özgür erkekler, onlara bağlı kadın ve çocuklar, metoikoi (vatandaşlık haklarına sahip olmayan yabancı sakinler) ve köleler olarak sunulmaktadır. Ayrıca polisin politik ve ekonomik karar alma içeriği bulunmakta, kült alanları ve kent sakinlerinin soy ilişkileri polisin ortaya çıkışında birleştirici etkenler arasında sayılmaktadır. Antik yazılı kaynaklar, özellikle Homeros ve Hesiodos’un metinleri, Arkaik şiirlerdeki ifadeler polis tanımında yol gösterici kabul edilmektedir. Ağır teçhizatlı bir ordu biçimi olan phalanksın ortaya çıkışı, tapınak ve kutsal alanların gelişimi, felsefenin ve lirik şiirin gelişimi gibi alanlar polisle ilişkilendirilmektedir. Antik Yunan kültürünün oluşumunu şekillendirmiş bu olguların polis kavramı ve kentsel çevre olmadan düşünülemeyeceği önerilmektedir. Ayrıca Tunç Çağı’ndaki gelişmeler de polisin ortaya çıkışında etken görülmektedir. Genellikle bir merkez yerleşme, onu çevreleyen bölge ve çevre bölgenin sınır kesimleri üçlü bir resim oluşturur. Yine de bu yerleşim düzeninin her poliste aranması gereği bulunmamaktadır. Kuşkusuz ilk ortaya çıktığı 8.-7. yüzyıllardan sonraki gelişmeler de polisin karakterinde belirgin dönüşümler yaratmıştır. Araştırmalar ise daha çok bu ilk dönemleri tartışmaktadır. Arkaik dönem kenti araştırmalarında kırsal bölge çok iyi bilinmemekte, ancak İÖ 7. yüzyılda yerleşmeler arasında bir hiyerarşinin oluştuğu anlaşılmaktadır. Kentin hemen bitişiğindeki kırsalı işgal eden ilk yerleşmelere ek olarak, kırsalda tarımsal etkinliklerin belirlediği ikinci dereceden yerleşimler söz konusudur. “Khora” hem kent merkezini de içeren tüm polis bölgesini, hem de nüfusun büyük bir çoğunluğunun yaşadığı kırsal ortamı ifade eder. Polis teriminin kent ve bölgeyi kapsayan erken kullanımı, polisin en önemli karakteristiklerinden biri olarak kent ve bölgenin uyumunu gösterir ve kent ile kırsalın organik bütünlüğünün altını çizer. Üçüncü bölge olan “eschatia” ise polisin egemenlik bölgesinin en dış, sınıra paralel uzanan kısmıdır. Genel olarak tahkim edilmemiş, kutsal sınır taşları ile belirlenmiştir. Bu bölge kimseye ait değildir, bölüşülmez, ekilmez ve sadece otlak olarak ve odun sağlamak için kullanılır. Yerleşimlerin sadece çok azı surlarla çevrilidir. Süreç yavaş işlemektedir, Atina başta olmak üzere büyük kentlerin bir çoğu kentin çevresini saran bir sur duvarına Arkaik dönemin sonunda hala sahip değildir. Surlar farklı işlevlerle inşa edilmektedir. Polisin merkez yerleşimini ve etki alanını koruyan surlar olduğu gibi, birden fazla polisi korumak üzere yapılmış bölgeler üstü karakterde savunma sistemleri de bulunmaktadır. Kent merkezinde toplum hayatının politik açıdan ihtiyaçlarının yerine getirildiği (agora, prytaneion) ve kültsel (tapınak, kent ateşi) önem taşıyan yapılar yer alır. Bunlar konut alanları ile çevrilidir. Kent alanında ilk olarak ortaya xii çıkan yapılar, sunaklar, tapınaklar ve heros mezarları gibi topluluk birliğinin öncelikle kült etkinlikleri çevresinde oluştuğunu gösteren yapılardır. İÖ 7. yüzyıldan itibaren oval planlı konut ortadan kaybolmaya başlar, dörtgen plana dönüştürülür. Tek ya da iki odalı konutlar yerini bir avlu etrafında gruplanan çok odalı yapılara bırakır. İÖ 8. yüzyılın ortasında savunma surunun inşasına paralel olarak konut planında da bir değişiklik olmuştur. Geometrik dönemde işlik olarak kullanılan açık alanlar, Arkaik dönemde bitişik düzende yapılan evlerin içine taşınmış, avlulu bir ev tasarımı ortaya çıkmıştır. Tüm bu saptamalar büyük oranda kara Yunanistanı için geçerli kabul edilmektedir. Kaynaklar ve kazılar daha çok o bölgeye yöneliktir. Ancak özellikle son on yıllarla birlikte Batı Anadolu’da yapılan kazılar ve yeni saptamalar polis tablosuna katkıda bulunmaktadır. Batı Anadolu’dan seçilen örneklerde merkez-çevre alan ilişkisi, savunma yapıları, konut biçimlenmesi gibi konularda erken dönem polisi ile ilgili anlatılanlarla örtüşen durumlar görülmüştür.

The phenomena of urbanization and polis are considered as one of the most important reflections of ancient Greek culture. To the Greek polis is attributed both certain contents and a specific physical appearence. And in both cases, the question “what is a polis?” becomes crucial in discussions on urban character of the polis. Those who lived in a polis were according to research, free men with a complete set of civil rights, women and children dependent on them, metoikoi (i.e. foreign people in a city without civil rights) and slaves. In addition, the poleis were able to take desicions on political and economic issues, and the sanctuaries and the genealogical network among the citizens were facts which had great impact on the emergence of polis. The ancient written sources, especially the texts of Homer and Hesiodos, the descriptions in the archaic poetry are seen as leading components while defining the characteristica of the polis. The emergence of the phalanx army, the development of temples and sanctuaries, the development of philosophy and lyric poetry, all are seen in relation with the structure and meaning of polis. It is mostly suggested that these phenomena, which gave shape to ancient Greek culture, cannot be considered separately without the existence of the concept of polis and its urban environment. Besides, the developments in the Bronze Age were also influential in the process of emergence of polis. A central settlement, a surrounding area and a border zone of the periphery build up a tripartite picture for the polis. However, this arrangement of settlement cannot immediately be found in every single polis. Doubtlessly the developments following the eighth and seventh centuries BC, i.e. the early times of emergence of poleis led to obvious transformations in the charcteristics of polis. In the scholarship essentially prevail debates on these early stages. Even if the archaic urban and rural structures are not very well known in research, it can be identified that there was a certain hierarchy among the settlements in the seventh century BC. In addition to the primary settlements which occupy the rural area immediately next to the city, there were secondary settlements in the rural area determined by agricultural activities. The term chora defines the entire polis territory including both the urban center and the rural sphere where the majority of the population lived. The early use of the definition of polis comprising the center and the periphery indicates the harmony between the urban center and the surrounding area, one of the most characteristic features of polis. It also underlines the organic entity of center and periphery. The third area called eschatia was the outermost part of the territory of polis stretching along the borderline. This part was generally not fortified and was just marked by sacred border stones. This area did not belong to any people, was not due to be shared and cultivated; it was only used as pasture or for providing timber. Only few settlements were enclosed by city walls. The process of contructing fortifications was quite slow. Athens and many other big Greek cities did not possess fortifications to surround the city area still at the end of the archaic period. Defense walls carried different purposes. Walls were built to protect the center and the xiv immediate periphery. There were also supra-regional defense systems to protect a group of polies together. The city center was furnished with buildings of political character such as agora or prytaneion, and also with edifices of cultic importance such as temple or the place of the city fire. These were surrounded by dwellings. The very first buildings in the urban center were altars, temples or heroons to show enough that the society’s unity had initially come to being around the cultic activities. The oval houses vanished from the seventh century onwards and the rectangular house forms started to appear. Houses with single or double units were replaced by multi-spaced concepts which were arranged around a courtyard. In the middle of the eighth century BC, simultaniously with the construction of defense walls, the house forms had also undergone obvious changes. The open air areas which were used as workshops in the Geometric Period were tranferred into the houses in the archaic period which resulted in the courtyard design. All these developments mostly considered as being characteristic for the case of continental Greece. The information gathered from the written sources and excavations mostly depends on that particular region. However, the excavations which were held in western Anatolia especially in the last decades contributed to the picture of polis to a considerable extent. The examples taken in this thesis from western Anatolia have shown that they can be related to the overall research on early period polis considering the relation between the urban center and the periphery; defense systems and the architecture of dwellings. Polis defines the space which streches over both the urban, rural domains, and the boundary zones of a political community that is evolved around a cult centre. In this context, it had been possible to reach some conclusions on urban and architectural data of the selected western Anatolia cities in the archaic period, by comparison to cities of the Greek mainland under some titles. These titles might be put in order as the relationship between city-centre and chora, sanctuaries in and out of the city-centre, the acropolis as a sacred and political centre, the presence of acropolis walls and city walls, the separation between public and private space, housing, and the location of necropoleis. Study on the urbanism of archaic period concentrates on a scheme composed of an “archaic settlement nucleus” and its dependent settlements. This nucleated settlement can be identified at Miletus, Ephesus, and Cyme among the cities chosen from the western Anatolia. Mengerevtepe, situated 7 km. southeast of Miletus is identified as Assessos, a dependent settlement of Miletus. Other dependent settlements of Miletus are found in Teichioussa, Leros and Ionia Polis. In Ephesus based on the city wall remains on northern slope of Panayir Dağ, it has been suggested that the acropolis of archaic period is to be found at this spot. An archaic period neighbourhood of Ephesus, Smyrna, and the archaic harbour setllement, Koressos can be identified in ancient resources and by archaeological data. In addition, necropolis remains of archaic period around Ayasuluk might be pointing out a settlement around here. In this context, the settlement pattern composed by the unity of the principal walled settlement and its dependent villages (komai) or neighbourhoods (demoi) resembling the known examples of mainland Greece is to be mentioned. However, the capital of the rich Anatolian kingdom, Sardeis’ archaic settlement nucleus differs from the Greek mainland and the colonial cities of the western Anatolia with its greatness. Extra-mural sanctuaries are associated with the emergence of the polis in the regional sense. The earliest and the most important sanctuaries are generally located outside of the city. Sanctuaries away from the city-centre have a unifying function between xv the centre and the remote domains of a city. The underlying role of the sanctuaries and cult practices on the emergence of polis and the organisation of space draw attention especially in Miletus, Samos and Ephesus. Apollon, Hera, and Artemis sanctuaries in the vicinity of Miletus, Samos, and Ephesus respectively are examples to sanctuaries with this underlying role. Of all the chosen poleis a hill-top or a hill-side is preffered. Except Ephesus, all the acropolis hills of the cities are home to a cult practice. In addition, at Kalabaktepe, Kaletepe, and Zeytintepe at Miletus sanctuaries have been identified. At Miletus, Sardeis, Atarneus, and Larisa the acropolis hill is also the seat of an absolute ruler. Emporio is one of the earliest examples of this spatial connection to be identified. All the chosen settlements are surrounded by a city-wall in the 6th century BC at the very latest. Until the late Archaic, houses or cult places were used for production. In bigger centres, sometimes a part of the settlement might be defined for particular production. Gold workshops of Sardeis and ceramic workshops of Miletus are as such. In the 7th century BC the apsidal house plan is replaced by rectilinear house plan. By the circuit of city-centres with town-walls, courtyard houses start to emerge. Oval and quadriletaral houses are observed in Miletus, Sardeis and in Ephesus. Parallel to the examples of the Greek mainland, necropoleis of the western Anatolia cities are situated outside the city-walls. Earliest necropoleis of Sardeis and Assos are dated to the 7th century BC. In Miletus, Ephesus, Cyme, Larisa and in Atarneus necropoleis are dated to the 6th century BC. Necropolis areas of a city outside the city-walls might be located on more then one site around the city-wall. Prominent grave type of the earlier necropoleis is the tumuli. Evaluation of the chosen examples of western Anatolia on the same scale enables to compare the sizes of these. While Assos, Atarneus and Larisa have quite small acropoleis Miletus, and Samos in accordance with their importance have bigger acropolis areas. In Miletus, Ephesus and Larisa defence and cult areas are created on the hills around. In other terms, a broad area of a couple kilometresquares -though not inhabitated extensively- is assessed in the polis scheme. Economical, political, and social aspects of poleis of the western Anatolia seems to be defined by its own status to a degree. Recent and on-going research at Clazomenaian centre and chora brought new contributions to the polis scheme based on the Greek mainland examples. The main result on the physical environment of the polis is that, the scheme of the western Anatolia settlements overlap the data based on mainland Greek cities to a certain degree.