Roma dönemi nikomedia sikkelerinde tapınak betimleri
Representations of temples on roman period coins from 
nicomedia
Yazar: NİHAT TEKDEMİR
Danışman: PROF. DR. ZEYNEP KUBAN TOKGÖZ
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Mimarlık Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimarlık Tarihi Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2016
Konu: Arkeoloji = Archeology ; Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
Küçük Asya'da hüküm süren Hellenistik kralların en büyük başarılarından biri,
gittikçe büyüyen ve bir dünya gücüne dönüşen Roma İmparatorluğu ile yürüttükleri
politika ve müzakerenin niteliğidir. Pergamonlu Attalos Hanedanlığı, Roma'nın
önlenemez güçlenişini çok önceden fark edip onların müttefikleri olmayı tercih etmiş
ve böylece ilişkilerini sağlam temeller üzerinde kurmayı başarmıştır. Pergamon'un
ardından MÖ 74 yılında Bithynia kralı IV. Nikomedes, krallığını Roma'ya vasiyet
ettiğini açıklayarak Pergamonlular ile aynı ileri görüşlülüğü göstermiş ve Nikomedia
tarihinde Roma İmparatorluğu ile uzun yıllar sürecek politik ve idari iyi ilişkilerin
temelini atmıştır. MÖ 29 yılında Roma'nın Anadolu coğrafyasındaki iki büyük
eyaleti olan Asia ve Bithynia eyaletlerine mensup Pergamon ve Nikomedia kentleri,
bu iyi ilişkilerin devamı olarak İmparator Augustus tarafından tapınak muhafızlığı
(neokorosluk) unvanıyla ödüllendirilmiştir.
Roma İmparatorluğu'nda sistemli olarak mimari tasvirlerin sikkeler ve diğer görsel
materyaller üzerinde kullanılmasına, İmparator Augustus döneminde başlanmıştır.
Bu dönem aynı zamanda Küçük Asya'da neokorosluk uygulamasının başlangıcına
denk gelmektedir. Buna paralel olarak da Hadrian döneminden itibaren Nikomedia
antik kentinde darp edilen sikkelerde neokorosluk unvanıyla ilişkili tapınak tasvirleri
kullanılmaya başlanmıştır.
Bu yüksek lisans tezinin özünü, Nikomedia antik kentinin Roma Dönemi'nde darp
edilen sikkeleri üzerinde betimlenen ve çoğunun neokorosluk unvanıyla ilişkili
olduğu görülen tapınak tasvirleri oluşturmaktadır.
Tezin ikinci bölümünde Nikomedia kentinin Hellenistik, Roma ve Bizans
dönemlerini içeren, siyasi tarihi ve coğrafyasına dair bilgiler sunulmuş, kenti Küçük
Asya'nın diğer kentlerinden farklı kılan ve ön plana çıkaran jeopolitik avantajına ve
kentin tarihsel önemine değinilmiştir.
Çalışmanın üçüncü bölümünde Nikomedia kentinde yapılan kazı ve yüzey
araştırmaları ile bu araştırmalarda elde edilen sonuçlar paylaşılmıştır. Günümüzde
sanayileşme ve yerleşim birimleri nedeniyle yeterli araştırmanın yapılamadığı kente,
18. yüzyılda Avrupalı gezginlerin yaptığı seyahatlerinden aktardıklarına, 1897'de P.
D. Pogodin ve D. F. Wulff'un yaptıkları çalışmaya, 1938 yılında SEKA kağıt
fabrikasının inşaa edileceği alanda Alman Arkeoloji Enstitüsü ve İstanbul Arkeoloji
Müzeleri ortaklığında gerçekleştirilen kurtarma kazılarına, C. Foss'un (1996, 2002)
kentin sur duvarları üzerine yaptığı araştırmaya, K. Bittel (1939), A.M. Schneider ve
F. K. Dörner'in (1941, 1972) Seka arazisi kazı çalışmalarında elde edilen buluntular
üzerine yaptıkları yayınlara değinilmiştir.
Dördüncü bölümde Hellenistik portre geleneğine uygun olarak darp edilen Bithynia
Krallığı sikkeleri, ilk Bithynia Krallığı sikkesini darp eden I. Nikomedes'ten
krallığını Roma İmparatorluğuna vesayet yolu ile miras bırakan IV. Nikomedes
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dönemine kadar kronolojik olarak ele alınmıştır. Tez konusunu oluşturan Roma
Dönemi sikkeleri geniş yelpazade ele alınarak imparatorluğun hüküm sürdüğü geniş
coğrafyadaki sikke basım prensipleri incelenmiş; Küçük Asya sikke basım geleneği
eyalet sikkeleri, vassal krallık basımları, Koinon sikkeleri ve şehir sikkeleri olmak
üzere dört başlık altında Küçük Asya genelinde ve Nikomedia özelinde irdelenmiştir.
Araştırmaya konu olan Roma İmparatorluk Dönemi sikkeleri üzerindeki mimari
tasvirlerin hemen hepsinin tapınak tasvirlerini içermesi ve Nikomedia'nın Batı
Anadolu'da neokoros ünvanını alan ilk iki kentten biri olması nedeniyle, betimlenen
tapınakların imparator kültüyle ilişkili olduğu düşünülmektedir. Bu nedenle tezin
genelinde imparator tapınaklarına ve neokorosluk ünvanına sık sık vurgu yapılmıştır.
Roma mimarisi ve imparator tapınaklarının incelendiği beşinci ve altıncı bölümde,
neokorosluk ünvanı ve buna bağlı olarak gelişen imparator tapınakları detaylı bir
şekilde incelenmiş, mimari betimlemelerin, sikkeler üzerindeki temsiliyetinin ardında
yatan amaç ve motivasyon hakkında görüşler ortaya konmuştur. Sikke üzerindeki
betimleri hazırlayan sanatçıların perspektif ve derinlik denemeleri, Roma duvar
resimleri ile karşılaştırılarak sanatkarların sınırlı çalışma alanında yaptıkları
minimalist üç boyut denemeleri netleştirilmeye çalışılmış, bu konuda gelecekte
yapılacak çalışmalara yeni bir bakış açısı getirecek önermeler sunulmuştur.
Son olarak 93 adet sikkenin yer verildiği tez ekindeki katalog bölümünde, imparator
kültünün ilk kez uygulamaya konulduğu Roma İmparatorluk Dönemi'ne
odaklanılmış, imparatorlar üzerinden kronolojik olarak Hadrianus sikkelerinden
başlayıp Gallianus dönemine kadar Nikomedia neokoros sikkelerine, sikkeler
üzerindeki betim ve lejantlara yer verilmiştir.

Abstract:
Diplomatic relations with the new world power, the Roman Empire, was one of the
most significant political successes of Anatolian dynasties during the Hellenistic era.
Foreseeing their rise, the Attalos dynasty of Pergamon decided to ally with the new
empire and succeeded on building their relations on a solid basis. Having a similar
political vision with the Attalos dynasty, Nikomedes IV, the ruler of Bithynia,
bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Empire in 74 BC. As a result, political and
cultural connections lasted for many years between Nicomedia and Rome.
Subsequently, Pergamon and Nicomedia, capitals of the two great provinces of the
Roman Empire, Asia and Bithynia, in Anatolia, were honoured by Augustus, as
temple wardens (neocorate) in 29 BC.
The control mechanism that the Roman Empire employed in order to establish its
authority from its smallest settlements to the largest provinces was based on religion
and propaganda. The religious structure built by Augustus, the founder of the Roman
Empire, was mostly put together with imperial propaganda and religious politics.
Since the Emperor was well aware of religion's power, its ability to make people
unite and to make them obey, he easily established his strict authority through
religion and propaganda in the capital, Rome. From 29 BC onwards, in order to
tighten his grip over cities in Asia Minor and affirm Roman presence in the
consciousness of the public, he put into action an effective propaganda mechanism,
the combination of religion and monumental architecture.
The resulting religious indoctrination system was transformed into government
policy. The permission directly given by Augustus to the cities of Pergamon and
Nicomedia in Asia Minor for constructing temples in his name is an important
development for his exact purpose. Cities of Asia Minor which constructed temples
in the name of Roman emperors depicted these temples on their coins. This may
seem as Roman sanction and the result of Roman state policy; however, these cities
were previously shaped by the ruler cults of the Hellenistic Period and their effort to
depict these temples on their coins seems to originate in their acceptance of the new
order without any resistance. This transformation of religion and architecture spurred
the propaganda machine of the Roman Empire and the imperial cult spread easily
throughout Asia Minor.
In this period, systematic architectural depictions on coins and other visual materials
begin to appear. However, in Nicomedia depictions of temples on coins in context of
the neokoros appear with Emperor Hadrian. Hadrianus, who became Roman
Emperor after Traianus in 117, in contrast to his predecessor regularly travelled the
lands of the Empire. During these travels Hadrianus visited Nicomedia twice. During
his second visit in 123, he supported the restoration efforts and reconstruction in the
city which had suffered great destruction in the earthquake of 120. This was
commemorated on coins depicting the city goddess kneeling down in front of the
Emperor and Hadrianus holding her hand to help her get up again. Written on one of
these coins, we encounter the legend of "Restitutor Nikomediae" ("the restorator of
the city"). This thesis studies 93 coins associated with 19 emperors, of which
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Hadrianus is the emperor with the most coins depicting temples: 23 of these coins, or
24,7% belong to Hadrianus.
The main focus of this master thesis is the temple figures depicted and assumed to be
mostly related to the rank of Neocorate, on the ancient Nicomedian coins from the
Roman Period.
The second chapter of the thesis deals with the history including the Hellenistic,
Roman and Byzantine periods, the geography of the city and its geopolitical
importance while featuring it among other cities of Asia Minor.
The third chapter deals with the archaeological excavations, surveys and their results.
At present, because of the dense settlement on site, not enough archaeological
research has been carried out. Therefore, observations of some 18th century European
travellers, the research of P. D. Pogodin & D. F. Wulff in 1897, the rescue
excavations conducted by the German Archaeological Institute and Istanbul
Archaeological Museum in 1938 before the construction of the SEKA Paper Factory,
the works of K. Bittel (1939), A.M. Schneider and F. K. Dörner (1941, 1972) on the
archaeological remains found in the SEKA zone, the survey of C. Foss (1996, 2002)
on the city walls, information on Nicomedia's layout and on its architecture obtained
by a team under the supervision of Ayşe Çalık Ross in 2005 as part of the
"Archaeological Survey of Kocaeli Province and Districts" are used in this chapter.
The fourth chapter deals with the chronology of the Bithynian coins starting from the
earliest ones depicting Hellenistic portraits minted by Nikomedes I. to the ones by
Nikomedes IV., who bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Empire. Being the main
issue of the thesis, the coins minted in the Roman Era are studied within a
perspective that includes the principle of coinage in Asia Minor with the coins of the
provinces, vassal kingdoms, cities and Koinon in there and Nicomedia. On almost all
the coins analyzed within this thesis, are representations of temple structures. The
temples represented on the coins are presumed to be associated with the emperor cult
as the result of Nicomedia, one of the first two cities with the rank of neokoros.
Therefore, the rank of neocorate and the temples dedicated to the emperors are
mentioned in the thesis frequently.
The fifth chapter studies Roman architecture and the emperor temples. In addition to
the earliest depiction of architecture on a coin dating to the Persian era, this chapter
also examines architectural representations on coins minted in central Rome –parallel
to Anatolia– and the social and political reasoning behind them in two separate
subsections: The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The chapter investigates
the emergence of emperor-temples in the cities of Asia Minor in relation to the title
of neokoros given by the emperor himself during the Roman Empire, and provides a
commentary on the objective and motivation of architectural depictions and their
appearance on coins. In comparison to Roman mural art, an attempt at clarifying the
experimentation of depth and perspective, minimalist and three dimensional efforts
on such a limited space by the artists who prepared these coins, is made. Other,
contemporary cities of Asia Minor are compared to Nicomedia, in the hope of
providing new viewpoints for future studies in this field.
The sixth chapter discusses the suggestion for the plan of Nicomedia's forum by
Clemens Bosch who, by studying the temple depictions on Nicomedian coins and
various other ancient sources, published his findings in an article "Die
kleinasiatischen Münzen der römischen Kaiserzeit". Its accuracy is examined in light
of the latest surveys and data obtained by archaeological excavations. This same
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chapter studies the temple depictions on coins from Nicomedia and their details.
Three subsections analyse the octastyle and tetrastyle emperor temples, tetrastyle and
distyle Demeter temple, and the tetrastyle Homonoia temple respectively.
As the assessment section explains, an organic relation between coins and surviving
architectural remains could not be determined as a consequence of insufficient
scientific excavations and investigations in Nicomedia due to modern construction,
industrialisation and increasing population in the city. In light of limited epigraphic,
numismatic and archaeological evidence, arguments are presented about the
architectural layout of the city by means of comparing Nicomedia's plan,
architectural arrangement and temple details to other contemporary cities of Asia
Minor.
Since Nicomedia's own coins from the Roman Period, (just as the coins from the
Hellenistic Period) have not yet been studied and typologically classified, the
quantity of coins minted during the Roman Period and the obverse-reverse side
illustrative details of coin moulds have not been clarified as yet. However, the total
number of coins depicting temples covered in this present study and their statistical
analysis suggest that after Hadrianus, coins depicting temples were minted the most
during the periods of Kommodos, Septimius Severus and Severus Alexander. The
introduction chapter presents a table visualising the ratio of coins depicting temples
and emperors; the assessment chapter discusses the social and political elements that
may have contributed to this variance.
Finally, the catalogue of this thesis consisting of 93 coins, includes coins dating to
the era of the Roman Empire, when the Emperor Cult started emerging, and focuses
on Nicomedian coins from Emperor Hadrianus onwards, when temple depictions on
coins first started appearing in Nicomedia, until the reign of Gallienus. The coins are
chronologically sorted according to emperors and organised according to the number
of columns on the temple facade, starting with temples depicted with eight columns
and continuing with six columned temples, four columned temples and two
columned temples. Secondary depictions on coins include people, ships or eagles and
legends.