Yenikapı 12

hurriyetdailynews.com

As a writer, it's good practice to experience the things I write about, whenever possible. Research only takes a mind so far.

I never sailed in a wooden ship, but there is one scene in Burnt Amber where Sybil takes a very neo-byzantine ship up a river.

I did lots of research on the ship style, and left a lot up to the imagination of the reader. There weren't any Byzantine replicas at my disposal, but recently, I heard about Yenikapi 12.

A bit of history for you:

Istanbul is busting at the seams, population-wise. Ferries, buses, and trams crisscross the city to get pedestrians around, and two suspension bridges barely cope with the car traffic. The metro system needs an upgrade. New tunnels are being dug, left and right.

Tangent: If you travel by rail to Istanbul, you must get out, cross the strait by car or boat, and go to another train station on the other side. (Sirkeci, or HaydarPasa, depending on which way you're going.) The Marmaray tunnel project crosses underneath the Bosphoros Strait, connecting rail traffic from both sides of the city for the first time ever.

While workers were digging the metro station at Yenikapi, they ran into an unexpected archaeological boon: the world's largest shipwreck find.

Scholars are going to replicate one of the numerous wrecks found there, the Yenikapi 12. The plan is to learn about ship construction and materials of the Middle Ages. Hopefully, the ship will be seaworthy. Project leaders plan to test the Yenikapi 12 in the strait sometime in 2013, after which the ship will be put on display as a museum piece.

*Jumps up and down*
I want a ride! I want a ride!

Or at least I want to go see the ship, where ever it finds a home. I want to touch it, smell it, take it all in...get some new descriptors for my writing.

Who's coming with?


Replica of Byzantine ship to sail next year in Turkey

http://www.thepolisblog.org/2009/09/hyper-extensions-marmaray-project.html

Alahan Monastery

via recepmemik @ Flickr.com

While Alahan Monastery is too old for me to use in my circa 11th century inspired MS, it is worth taking note of the beautiful architecture. The 5th century building was made by Isaurian stonemasons and is a key structure of early Byzantine architecture.

Technically, I should use the monastery of Trazarg, except I haven't found a trace of it anywhere. Anyone know anything about Trazarg? When I Google it, a bunch of images from my own site pop up. Hmm...

Alahan Monastery is in Mersin's backyard and worth the day trip. Sigh. This is where I shoot the tour guide (Sorry honey, I'm still mad at you.) for skipping it. Did you notice the list of things I did not see in my own neighborhood is getting longer the more I research? Probably not good for my marriage. Again: Hmm..

Anyway, lovely arches don't you agree? Wait till you see the view from the outside. Who cares if you have to walk (an hour?) from Alahan to get there. It's amazing and how many views are there like this? OK - DH objects. There are lots of places in Turkey with an amazing view -that you can drive to- but I wanted to see this one. :(

via kaliteliresimler.com

It's even a UNESCO World Heritage,Tentative Site. See? I'm not the only one who wants to head off the beaten path to find cool stuff. Who's coming with me?

And....last week in my rush to go on vacation, I totally forgot to post the contest results for Tracy Marchini's new e-book: PUB SPEAK: A WRITER’S DICTIONARY OF PUBLISHING TERMS. So without further ado, the winner is......


Jules!

I loved the all answers about what to do with the exquisite corpse, morticians and ebay auctions alike, but here's the official answer from Tracy's book:

exquisite corpse – A technique for creating art where several collaborators create a piece, but can only see so much of the previous contributor‟s work. For example, one author writes a chapter and gives it to the next. The second author writes a chapter and gives only the second chapter to the third author, who gives only the third chapter to the fourth author, etc.

Now, iff you've got a few minutes, check out this clip of Alahan.


Alahan Monastry Mut-Mersin-Türkiye from umut cor on Vimeo.

Romaiika - Byzantine Greek in Trabzon Today



via wikipedia


I knew about exctinct languages - nobody speaks Latin anymore - and endangered languages? Any small ethnic population deals with that problem - but endangered extinct languages are a new thing to me. I was blogging around the blogs, looking for interesting Byzantine stuff and I came across Romaiika. It's classical, Byzantine-style Greek....and you find it on the coast on the Black sea near Trabzon, Turkey. (Empire of Trebizond on the map at right. Do you see New Armenia? That's the Cilicia of my MS.)

Originally a Byzantine successor state, Trebizond was eventually cut off from the rest of the Greek speaking world. Somehow a small muslim population in the mountains, exempted from Turkish/Greek population exchanges, has preserved the centuries old dialect of Romaiika. So Byzantine Greek is extinct, but it's not...it's endangered. This video explains the unique situation of Romaiika best:




Isn't that amazing? Did any of you think that Turkey could be so green? Did you know that Trabzon was probably part of the story of Jason and the Argonauts?

And hey! I'm joining a blog platform building Crusade over at Rach Writes. (You know I love Crusades, right?) There are tons of great bloggers out there, and some you have my back, but thought I'd add a few more to my little circle of commiserators, ya know...maybe learn a little more about my craft and the publishing world, etc.

Related articles

• Pontic Greek Survives? (rogueclassicism.com)
• Jason and the argot: land where Greek's ancient language survives (independent.co.uk)

What's in a Name?

Image via Wikipedia

Somebody named Will once said that "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  That's true, but how about I call you Bob for the rest of the week? Bet Bob doesn't mind that, but the rest of you might get a little annoyed.

New York hasn't been New Amsterdam since 1667. Thailand hasn't been Siam since 1939. Istanbul is not Constantinople. Since 1453.

Not since an extremely weakened (by the the 4th Crusade) Eastern Roman Empire was taken over by the Ottomans.

You'll notice 1453 is before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and before cartographer Amerigo Vespucci took the prize of naming my fine homeland.
 
This is my first opinion piece ever on this blog. I can't apologize to people who don't agree, but I believe certain historic sites belong to all of us and it's our duty to preserve them the best way we know how. Endangering the status quo of neutralized places is in no way beneficial. Neutral is good for a historic building.

Example:

The iconic model for mosques around the world, Hagia Sophia, is also the best example of Byzantine architecture. It is now a museum.  A move designed by the secular Turkish government to protect and preserve it for future generations unscathed. Work is constantly being done to uncover breathtaking mosaics in the building, which was once a church and then a mosque. Religious services, by anyone, are prohibited. Seems the best middle ground any logical person could come up with.

There are lots of amazing places in Turkey which fall into this grey area. Once one thing, then another, sometimes even repurposed again. It's part of a long and complex history. So while Turkish people are proud of the heritage and architecture left behind by the many different societies that once called Thrace home, Istanbul is distinctly their city.  It is not Constantinople.

Heck, there's even a song about it!


They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) from They Might Be Giants on Vimeo.

Related articles

• Turkey may bar Greek Orthodox mass at Hagia Sophia (reuters.com)
• Sultanahmet- A Historical Treasure Chest (mydestinationinfo.com)