Sayı 11- Ocak/Mart 2013 - Antalya Rehberler Odası

was employed in the design ofthis exterior palace relief-workat Aspendos.This interpretation of themeaning embodied in theSeljuk relief work in and onthe Belkis palace leads one tosuggest that the Belkis-Aspendospalace was designed andwas constructed for Sultan Giyathsed-DinKhüsrev’s love, adistant and long awaited love,like that described in the firstpart of “Khüsrev and Shirin” ,and that the palace at Aspendoswas probably constructedas a gift for his bride, for hisShirin, his Lady from Georgia,his consort, his Belkis, hencethe name Belkis given to boththe Seljuk and the modernsettlements at Aspendos. Thischoice of subjects chosenfrom “Khüsrev and Shirin” forelaboration through the reliefdecoration applied to areasof the enormous Belkis-Aspendospalace may not onlyreflect this Sultan’s interest inNizami’s “Khüsrev and Shirin”,but also his youthful romanticand extravagant, irresoluteand impulsive temperament,at odds with his father whodid not want his eldest son’ssuccession to the Sultanate,a temperament that wouldplay some small part in theloss of the independence andpower of the Rum Seljuk Sultanateduring his reign, butthen, only a romantic and trulyextravagant disposition couldhave envisaged, desired orapproved at the age of 17, theconversion of this vast Romanfactory-like abandoned theatrestructure at Aspendos into thewedding present of the BelkisPalace for his bride.The probable date of this13 th c. palace relief workGiven the length of time SultanAlaed-Din Keykubat I spent inthe Antalya region in winterand the possibilities for huntingand for wildfowling by themarsh-lake and along the riverbanks of the Köprü Çayı, whencombined with the absence ofSeljuk köşk structures alongthe route from Antalya to Alanya-Ala’iyyeuntil one reachesManavgat, some of the Seljukconversions of structures onthe Aspendos acropolis maydate from the reign of Alaed-Din Keykubat I and it seemsmost probable that he wouldalso have ordered the constructionof a bridge acrossthe river to connect the routefrom Antalya to his newly conqueredcity of Alanya.The importance of thecoastal route between Antalyaand Alanya followingthe conquest of the regionfrom Manavgat to Alanyain 1221, conquests extendedeastwards by 1225to Silifke, for the transit oftroops as well as possiblystate and trade caravans,means that a bridge wascertainly erected by Alaed-Din Keykubat I,and, although the remaininginscription on the SeljukFotoğraf: Halil Arıkan