AN EXAMPLE OF UNNEEDED LEGITIMIZATION TRADITION IN ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN REGION: EXPOSE TO WATER

Abstract

Many ancient civilizations glorified their kings, divine beings and heroes. In order to make them unreachable, ancient societies first of all separated the lives of these personas into two parts and created a turning point for them, and especially the first part of their lives was detailed with extraordinary events to make them the main theme of some mythological stories. The plot of these stories generally was related to the theme of the abandonment of a new-born or sometimes an adult to water in any object like basket, crate or closed box, and eventually his reaching to a vital position for society. The generally accepted view in the literature is that rulers, especially those who were not legitimately entitled, manipulated such mythological stories to legitimize their dominance in the public eye. Moreover, as far as it is concerned that divine characters and some heroes were legitimized in this way. Contrary to the generally accepted judgment, it is confirmed that the majority of the abandoned children had already had opportunities to come to the fore. The mounted arguments of this study have mostly been based on the antique sources, and it is aimed to reveal the fact that the individuals who were left on water in arks had already been prospective legitimate people on the domains of administration or religion.

Keywords

• Abandonment
• Prospective Personas
• Legitimacy
• Administration
• Deification

AN EXAMPLE OF UNNEEDED LEGITIMIZATION TRADITION IN ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN REGION: EXPOSE TO WATER

Abstract

Eskiçağ’daki birçok medeniyet krallarını, tanrısal varlıklarını ve kahramanlarını yüceltmişlerdir. Onların, ulaşılamaz bir konuma gelebilmesi için, özellikle yaşamlarının ilk bölümünü, olağanüstü olaylarla süsleyerek mitolojik hikayelerinin konusu yapmışlardır. Genel olarak bu hikayelerin konusu yeni doğan çocuğun veya bazen yetişkinlerin sepet, sandık veya bir kutu içerisinde suya veya suyla ilişkili yerlere terk edilmeleri ve sonunda da toplum için çok önemli bir konuma ulaşmaları ile ilişkili olmuştur. Genel olarak kabul edilen görüş meşru olarak yönetme yetkisi olmayan yöneticilerin halkın gözündeki üstün konumlarını meşrulaştırmak için bu tür mitolojik hikayeleri kullanmaları olmuştur. Tanrısal varlıklar ve kahramanların da bu yolla meşrulaştırıldıkları da düşünülmüştür. Literatürde genel olarak kabul edilen düşüncenin aksine suya terk edilmiş çocukların zaten ön plana çıkması güçlü ihtimal olan çocuklar olduğu görülmüştür. Bu çalışmada çeşitli sebeplerden dolayı su veya suyla ilişkili yerlere terk edilen çocukların büyük çoğunluğunun zaten meşru kişiler oldukları antikçağ yazarlarının verdikleri bilgiler ışığında ortaya çıkarılması amaçlanmıştır.

Keywords

• Bırakma
• Kutsanmış kişilikler
• Meşrulaştırma
• Yasallaştırma
• Yönetim
• İlahlaştırma.

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