@article{article_334942, title={The First Temple in Minor Asia: Gobeklitepe}, journal={Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi}, volume={21}, pages={1107–1138}, year={2017}, DOI={10.18505/cuid.334942}, author={Kurt, Ali Osman and Göler, Mehmet Emin}, keywords={Religion,Temple,Gobeklitepe,Sanliurfa,Neolithic Period}, abstract={<p style="text-align:justify;"> <span lang="en-gb" style="line-height:107%;" xml:lang="en-gb"> <b>Abstract: </b>This article examines Gobeklitepe, the first temple built in Minor Asia,
dating back to Neolithic Period. This temple is one of the oldest temples of
mankind, according to the archaeologists. Gobeklitepe provides us with crucial
information about the religious beliefs of hunter-gatherers - lacking urban
life and agricultural production. This temple shows us that archaic people did
not lead a life away from religion and beliefs, instead it proved that they had
beliefs and constructed temples to observe their beliefs and employed rich
religious symbols. Gobeklitepe is a sign that people started to build a temple
first to meet their religious needs, even before adapting a settled life,
constructing houses, domesticating animals, and starting agricultural production.  </span> <span style="text-align:justify;">This article deals with Gobeklitepe,
the first temple built in Minor Asia, dating back to Neolithic Period. The
archaeological excavations, commenced in 1995 near Sanliurfa, have changed the
way we view history, offering us to validate the information we have about
history. Gobeklitepe showed that the information we have about the beliefs and
views of archaic people does not reflect the realities. People, thought to have
led their lives as hunter-gatherers, lacking religious and abstract thinking,
even not knowing how to make pottery, not having discovered agriculture and
settled life, have profoundly affected scientists with their ability to build
sophisticated and symbolically rich temples.  </span> <br /> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:140%;"> <span lang="en-gb" style="line-height:140%;" xml:lang="en-gb"> <b>Summary: </b>The
most interesting components of Gobeklitepe temples, which are the twenty
circular structures in total with the span of 10 to 30 meters, are the T-shaped
stone pillars with embossed abstract symbols and animals’ pictures.  In the centre of the circular structure are
two pillars encircled by ten to twelve T-shaped pillars, making up to about two
hundred in total.  When these T-shaped
pillars are analysed in detail, and when the religious beliefs and temple cults
of the ancient Minor Asian and Mesopotamian civilizations are studied, we can
see that these pillars symbolize gods. Gobeklitepe, encircled by the children
and smaller gods, centred by a couple gods – god and goddess – is the sacred
place for gods’ pantheon.  </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:140%;"> <span lang="en-gb" style="line-height:140%;" xml:lang="en-gb">Gobeklitepe,
as well as being a temple, stands as the most important representative of a
belief system waiting in the darkness. Gobeklitepe, dating back to the early
days of Neolithic Period, when no written resources existed and limited
archaeological data survived, shows us the world of belief and thoughts of
archaic people from that period.  The
structural features and forms of this megalithic construction prove that
archaic people were not that primitive, as commonly supposed. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:140%;"> <span lang="en-gb" style="line-height:140%;" xml:lang="en-gb">Gobeklitepe
presents us very important information about the birth and progress of
religion. It shows that the theories - based upon evolutionist and positivist
views claiming that religions originated from simple and groundless ideas like
wizardry, soul, fear and ancestor worshipping, and then were transformed into
complicated and organised belief systems – do not reflect the truth.
Researchers thought that religions were born as a result of the quest for the
solution to the problems in the new societies - raised by the transition from
hunter-gatherer societies to the settled life and agricultural production. In
other words, organised religions were viewed as the product of and consequence
of complex social life. However, Gobeklitepe showed that religious beliefs
could be traced back to former periods, and they could be more advanced and
organised as well despite the common belief. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:140%;"> <span lang="en-gb" style="line-height:140%;" xml:lang="en-gb">Gobeklitepe
is claimed to be the oldest and first temple yet known. This megalithic
structure, at least 5000 years older than known ancient temples, clearly
indicates how significant and influential religious beliefs could be in the
development of civilizations. Klaus Schmidt, leading the excavation for many
tears, stated that human’s need to believe is highly important and also
prioritized in their genes, by uttering these words, “… first temple was built, and then the city.” Gobeklitepe also
indicated tha}, number={2}, publisher={Sivas Cumhuriyet University}