Sayı 11- Ocak/Mart 2013 - Antalya Rehberler Odası

Aspendos - Part 4T. M. P. DUGGANDue to the revealing nature ofthe female figure depicted inthis relief, the suggestion cancertainly be made that at thisheight in the western part of thispalace building, separated bythe Roman wall of the sceanaefrons from the eastern sectionthat contained the palacemosque until its destruction inthe 1930’s “restoration”, theremay well have been locatedthe private quarters of the palace- the harem, with this reliefon the interior west facing walland with the rooms extendingout westwards over the palacepavement constructed overthe infill on top of the Romanorchestra pavement.Unfortunately the complete removalin “cleaning work” in the1960’s of the then still in situSeljuk palace floor that overlaythe Roman orchestra floor, andthe complete lack of records ofthis “cleaning work” that shouldhave detailed these markings,mean that the footings cut inthe Seljuk palace floor, thatwould almost certainly haverevealed the width and the extentof the west facing Seljukadditions extending out fromthe sceanae frons, perhapsacross much of the orchestrahave been lost in the lasthalf century; as was also thecase at Bosra in Syria, the earlierAyyubid precedent for theconversion of a Roman theatreinto a Muslim palace, withthe Ayyubid palace destroyedduring the “restoration” of theBosra theatre from the 1940’sonwards, during the Frenchoccupation of Syria.The suggested choice ofthis subject by Sultan Giyathsed-DinKeyhüsrev IIfor the private quarters–haremof the Belkis palaceFotoğraf: Halil Arıkanmay reflect not only aninterest in his namesakeKhüsrev, and a real interestin Nizami’s work “Khüsrevand Shirin”, but can also berelated directly to his ownlife, to his long intendedbride, the Lady from Georgia(Gürcü hatun) comingfrom the Caucasus, his“Shirin from the Caucasus”.Further, it can be suggestedthat the choice of subject ofthe palace exterior relief work,described in Part I of this article,may also reflect Nizami’s“Khüsrev and Shirin”, as lionsand one deer are depicted inthese band of exterior reliefsand Nizami describes Khüsrevas playing the lion and Shirinthe deer, with the lovers representedby these two creatures,an allusion that was almostcertainly picked upon as asignificant symbolic motif and