Abstract This article investigates the political history of the Pergamene theatre with respect to developments in Greek theatre architecture and performance during the Hellenistic Age. Pergamon’s late Hellenistic theatre presents two distinctive features: a semicircular orkhēstra prefiguring Roman design, and a two-story wooden proskēnion that could be dismantled after performances. The article contextualises these features within broader Greek theatrical developments from the fifth to the second century BCE. By reconstructing various theatrical events – from dithyrambs to dramas and assembly meetings – the paper analyses how different scenic layouts articulated power relationships among actors, kings and audiences. The analysis reveals how scenic configurations were progressively refined from the Classical to the Hellenistic age in favour of individual actors and political leaders over the khoros and community representatives. The paper examines how Pergamon’s distinctive scenic layout embodied the socio-political dynamics of the Attalid autocracy while maintaining connections to Greek democratic theatrical traditions.
Abstract Eight architectural terracotta fragments uncovered during the 2021 excavations at Sinop are the focus of this study. These fragments, comprising lateral simae with revetment plaques and raking simae, are of importance, as they provide new insights into Archaic-period architecture and workshop practices in the city. The painted L-shaped lateral simae, with revetment plaques decorated with triangles, rectangles, bead-and-reel moulding and tongue pattern, and the probably painted raking simae, adorned with triangles and rectangles, exhibit close typological and functional parallels with architectural terracottas from Larisa in the Aeolis region. This suggests that the architectural terracottas used in a building constructed at Sinope may have been produced by a workshop based in the Aeolian region. These fragments, which can be dated to the last quarter of the sixth century BC, make it possible to form an idea of the appearance of the earliest roof of Sinope decorated with architectural terracotta elements identified to date.
Abstract The worldwide reception of Alexander the Great is remarkable, although the Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox population of the Ottoman Empire is critically understudied in this context. This article addresses this shortfall by looking into a publication in Karamanlidika from 1843. It also analyses the largely unexplored Karamanli print culture in the first half of the 19th century. Published in Constantinople, this 336-page book is a translation into Karamanlidika of the Greek Phyllada tou Megalexandrou , translated by Agapios Papazoglou. Over 1,000 copies were pre-ordered by subscribers, with most of his audience being from Cappacodia and having Karamanli names. A few subscribers came from present-day Bulgaria and had mostly Slavic names and a handful from Cappadocia had Armenian names.Women and Muslims/Turks are manifestly absent from the list. This article employs historical methods, as well as textual and intertextual tools of research to investigate a book that falls within the worldwide legacy of Alexander the Great, and that was translated and published with a view to enlightening its audience, imbuing it with the virtues of logic and morality intended to make them better people and better Christians.
Abstract Urartian red glossy ceramics and Ottoman Tophane pipes share a striking similarity in colour and surface gloss. Yet the question of whether this resemblance has a common basis has remained unresolved. This article explores the origins of this similarity. It appears to have its origins in the looting of Toprakkale and the subsequent transfer of artefacts to Istanbul. The looting of Toprakkale (Van) – the royal residence of the Urartian Kingdom in the seventh century BCE – began in earnest in the 1800s, during which numerous archaeological artefacts were illicitly transported to Istanbul and subsequently dispersed to museums worldwide. Among these artefacts, the distinctively bright red pottery of Urartu attracted the attention of Istanbul’s elite and, it appears, eventually came to the notice of the craftsmen producing Tophane pipes. The Tophane craftsmen apparently studied these pieces – remarkable for their colour and luminosity – and ultimately sourced comparable raw materials from the Lake Van region. In doing so, the Tophane workshops developed a distinctive ceramic style inspired by Urartu, employing a slip preparation closely analogous to Urartian production methods, and catering to the tastes of the Ottoman elite.
Abstract This article examines the process that led to the establishment of the French Archaeological Institute in Istanbul in 1930, situating it within the broader context of French cultural diplomacy and inter-imperial competition in the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic, as well as the scientific curiosity towards Anatolian and Turkish Islamic antiquities. The article argues that the creation of the institute was not a predetermined outcome but rather the product of a protracted negotiation involving French and Ottoman/Turkish governmental, diplomatic and scholarly actors. These negotiations were shaped by shifting political contexts, conflicting institutional agendas and the broader redefinition of Franco-Turkish relations following World War I and the Allied occupation of Constantinople. By tracing the evolving proposals for the establishment of an institute from the late 19th century through the 1920s, and by focusing on key figures such as Albert Gabriel, the study highlights how scholarly interests and cultural diplomacy were entangled with political sovereignty and national identity. The institutional negotiations examined here reveal not only the challenges of maintaining cultural influence in a changing geopolitical landscape but also provide a window into the broader dynamics of scholarly diplomacy, negotiation and institutional formation in the early 20th century.
