Köylüleri ve Güçlüleri (Dynatoi) ile Bizans Kırsalı: Kappadokia-Soğanlı Vadisi Örneği

Year 2023, Volume: 87 Issue: 309, 385 - 413, 08.08.2023

H. Ceylan Karaca

https://doi.org/10.37879/belleten.2023.385

Abstract

Soğanlı Vadisi Niğde-Kayseri kentlerini bağlayan ana yolun üzerinde bulunmaktadır. Vadi içerisine kurulan yerleşimin verimli arazisi, kalabalık bir nüfusu barındırmış olması gereken kayaya oyma konutları ve köy kullanımına ait olduğu açık bir 10. yüzyıl yapı kompleksi, yerleşimin bir Bizans köyü olduğunu da gösterir. Vadinin, geç Antik dönem için nadir bir örnek olan kagir kilisesi de, erken Hristiyanlık döneminden beri buranın sahip olduğu ayrıcalıklı konumu örneklemekte, Orta Çağda da devam edecek önemini göstermektedir. Önemli rütbedeki askerlerin 11. yüzyılda vadideki varlığı yazıtlardan anlaşılmaktadır. Görünen o ki, Soğanlı orta Bizans döneminde önemli bir rotanın güvenliğini sağlayan askerî liderlerin yerleşimi olarak planlanmış, onların mülkü haline gelmiştir. Dolayısıyla, 11. yüzyılda doğu sınırına yakın önemli bir yola yerleştirilen askerlerin hem yolu kontrol etmeleri hem de ekonomik refahlarını buradan sağlamaları hedeflenmiş olmalıdır. Bu yaklaşım, Soğanlı Vadisi’nin bir Bizans kırsalı olarak iki önemli işlevini ortaya çıkarır: Vadi, Bizans İmparatorluğu’nun özellikle Orta Çağ Kappadokiası’nda oluşturmaya çalıştığı savunma stratejisinin önemli direnç noktalarından biridir; aynı zamanda, rütbeli askerlere (strategos, domestikos) ve köylülere ait yazıt ve portreler ile farklı işlevlere sahip yapılarıyla vadi orta Bizans dönemine ilişkin önemli arkeolojik, epigrafik ve sanatsal veriler barındırır. Soğanlı ve bir dönemki ‘güçlüleri’, Malazgirt Savaşı sonrasında Türklerin özellikle de Danişmendlilerin kontrolündeki yeni devlet sistemi içerisinde de varlığını sürdürmüştür. Bu çalışma, vadinin özellikle 10. yüzyıl içindeki ‘köy’ kimliğini, buraya yerleştirilen rütbeli askerlerin bölge ve İmparatorluk içindeki etkinlik ve sürekliliğini tartışmayı hedefler. Bu amaçla dö nemin askerî, tarihî ve toprak kanun metinleri ile yerleşimdeki mimari ve arkeolojik veriler kullanılacaktır.

Keywords

Kappadokia, Soğanlı Vadisi, Bizans köyü, dynatoslar, Skepidesailesi

Byzantine Countryside with its Villagers and Dynatoi: the Example of the Soğanlı Valley, Cappadocia

Abstract

The Soğanlı Valley is on the main route that connects Niğde and Kayseri. Its arable land, rock-cut dwellings that housed a large population and an openly parochial complex from the tenth century indicate that the settlement contained a Byzantine village. Its masonry church, a rare element from late antiquity, exemplifies the special status of the settlement in early Christianity and foreshadows its ongoing importance in the Middle Ages. The eleventh-century inscriptions are the indicators of the middle and high-ranking soldiers in the settlement. Apparently, Soğanlı was one of the settlements chosen for the military leaders of the century and became a piece of land held by them. The powerful (dynatoi) who settled near this crucial route must have been meant not only to control that route but also to maintain their economic welfare from the territory. Thus, Soğanlı had a twofold prominence as a Byzantine countryside: It was a part of the defence strategy the empire attempted to formulate in medieval Cappadocia; furthermore, it housed important archaeological, epigraphical and art historical data on the medieval period of the region with its monuments of various functions and inscriptions. Soğanlı and its ‘dynatoi’ endured within the new administrative system after Manzikert. The study aims to examine the ‘village’ identity of the settlement especially in the tenth century, and to analyse the activity and continuity of the powerful in Soğanlı and the empire. Within this aim, the study uses the military, historical, legislative texts of the period, and architectural and archaeological data from the valley.

Keywords

Cappadocia, the Soğanlı Valley, Byzantine village, the dynatoi, the familyof Skepides

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