Lydians, which is among the ancient civilizations of Anatolia, lived in the region between the Gediz (Hermos) and Küçük Menderes (Kaistos) rivers in Antiquity.. Lydians, who lived first under Hittite and then Phrygian rule, are known as the first civilization in the world to use money..
Of course, my first purpose here was not to tell about the Lydians, but to talk about the book of İskender Pala, named Karun ve Anarchist, that I read.. As a person who is only interested in history and mythology, when I found myself researching the history of Lydia, I wanted to talk about the Lydian State (Kingdom, empire or civilization) and the Lydians..
Kingdom of Lydia
The Lydians dominated the region after the destruction of the Phrygians and established an independent state. (B.C. 487) Its capital is Sard, located near Salihli.. Lydian lands, which reached their first independence in the time of King Giges, extended to the region between Antalya in the south, Çanakkale and İzmir in the west, and Samsun in the north..
Civilization had its heyday during the time of their last king, Croesus (Lion King).. The Lion King, titled Croesus, was not successful in his struggle with the Persians, and the Kingdom of Lydia was destroyed by the Persians. civilization is the Lydians. Historian Herodotus wrote that he used silver and gold coins for the first time.. Lydians, who named money as coins, produced the first coins with mixtures of metal alloys such as gold and silver.. The coin, the symbol of the kingdom, the lion, has abolished the exchange method and trade has developed.. The free market, which we can call the first stock market, was established by the Lydians in Sfrad.. The trade route, which starts from Ephesus, known as the royal road, and extends to Persepolis, points to the Lydian period..
Belief and Life in Lydia
The Lydians believed in Greek Mythology and their gods. Belief in Artemis, Zeus and Greek gods was dominant in the region. They buried their dead in hills with secret chambers called tumulus.. Using a 26 letter alphabet, the Lydians were advanced in architecture.. In addition to the perfect stonework, jewelery also advanced in this region..
Greek Mythology’ mentions the first king Giges. Kandaulis, the last king of Heracles, the pre-Lydian civilization, loved his wife so much that his bodyguard insisted Gigis to appreciate her beauty and asked her to hide in her room at night.. Gigis did not accept this, but could not stand the insistence and hid in her room.. However, later he noticed his wife Gigis and threatened to kill the king instead of killing the king or you would die yourself.. Gigis killed the King and later succeeded him, establishing the Kingdom of Lydia..
The Karun and the Anarchist
The book written by Iskender Pala tells the story of three friends who lived in the last period of the Lydian State, falling in love with a girl named Edusa.. Based on the concept that history repeats itself, the author, who says “history is a mirror”, writes “a painful contradiction covering the mirror”..
As we start the book and scroll through the pages of Lydian history, the author takes us to the investigation of a murder that took place in 1979.. Together with Sadullah, Ethem, Asude and Ufuk, he tells the story of Keriman Hodja. From 1979 BC. 5. We are transitioning to the century and reading about the repetition of different stories.
However, as someone who has read many of the author’s books, I interpreted it as one of his weakest works.. Sorry if I’m giving spoilers here, which are called spoilers..
Producing Halludas from Sadullah, Edusa from Asude and Atakan from Nakata must be a great creativity. Actually, the book starts very well, especially if you are interested in ancient history, look at the map at the end of the book and say where is this place and where is Sfard? you learn, and you greet the history of Lydia. However, I did not find the ending of the book and the connections with recent history successful. Fortunately, this is not a very important detail since we conquered Tabriz, Babylon, and Spain from the pen of the master who conquered hearts.
Information and Quotations
Here are a few things I got from the book in the section. I want to share quotes and information. Those were the points I underlined..
- “As loving beauty is a divine blessing, it will be so divine to express beauty through art”.
- “Between laughing and crying is the picture of innocence, my lion”
- “I still have a cause to die for, yes, but I have never had a cause to kill for, it cannot be”…
- “ Happiness was something everyone wanted but few could find.”
- “Anger is a fire kindled.. The fire is extinguished only by mastering it.. Do not let him go so that you will not be the first to burn!”
- “If a person is left at the mercy of others, what else could he be but a monument of sadness, cold not only with his body but also with his heart?”
- “ How can the lover sleep if the love is so close to the loved one and he can hear the lover’s breathing just two inches under his hammock and hear the beating of his heart?”
- “Wealth and splendor cannot be considered enough for happiness.. I’ve known many people who lived in poverty, they were more fortunate than those who ruled gold.. I’ve known many people who were as rich as in fairy tales, but they died unhappy.”
- “However, we all understood that loving the country or reacting to injustice is not possible by shooting in the streets, shooting each other, and writing slogans on the walls.. They just made us ‘damn militants’. It is necessary to study our universities like a man and take them forward in science, art, economy and technology.. Leaving the country back by going to conflict instead of going to university and making the revolution in science, putting the ideal on art, placing the religion in religious spirits, was nothing but a pawn in a global game.. We wasted everything along with our youth because we fought ourselves instead of clashing our different opinions to catch the truth.”
- The last ruler of Lydia, Croesus, who is the crowned king, is known for his wealth.. Due to his wealth, he was judged. However, the real Karun was Hz.. lived in the time of Moses. The chapter of al-Qasas in the Quran tells about the real Qarun.
I liked Qarun and the Anarchist despite my negative comments. It must be an important task to keep our cultural assets on the agenda by making them novel, to make them important, to remember and to teach them.. Ahmet Ümit, like İskender Pala, is one of our writers who do this well.. good luck. If you want to buy the book titled Karun and the Anarchist : Buy the Karun and the Anarchist
The Karun’s Treasure
The Karun’s Treasure, mostly 5 BC. These are the artifacts belonging to the 16th century and dated to the period of the Lydian King named Croesus, smuggled to the USA in 1960 and returned to Turkey after a long legal struggle in 1993.. The number of works is more than 400.
The story is tragicomic since the sale of the stolen treasure is less than the cost of bringing it.. As a result of illegal excavations in Toptepe, İkiztepe and Aktepe, burial treasures were found in 1965-1966 and 1968.. The pieces in the Toptepe tumulus in 1965 were sold for 65,000 TL with the money of that period, the pieces in the İkiztepe Tumulus in 1966 were sold for 160,000 TL, the pieces in Aktepe were sold for 40,000 TL.. A lawsuit was subsequently filed for the return of the works, and the litigation costs, which lasted for 6 years, amounted to $40 million..
Let’s visit the Uşak Museum with Treasures step by step: Uşak Museum Virtual Tour
Winged Seahorse Brooch (hippocampus)
The Winged Seahorse Brooch that comes to mind when it comes to Karun’s Treasure is abroad His story did not end with the story I told above.. Unfortunately, it was replaced with a fake in 2006 as a result of a series of events, and it was 6 years later it appeared in Germany.
The work of art Istanbul, which was mediated by Kazım Akbıyıkoğlu, the museum director of the period, to be replaced with a fake. He disappeared while trying to be sold for 1.5 million dollars and the museum director was sentenced to 18 years in prison.. Interestingly, the artifact that was abducted in 2006 was found after 6 years and returned to the country after 6 years. What is going on with the mighty Zeus Rumors still continue about whether the Seahorse Brooch, which is among the works exhibited in the Uşak Museum, is original or not.. 2500-year-old film story
Maybe in the coming years, we’ll see a movie & TV series project showing the Lydians, the Croesus Treasure and the curse.. Even if the script is ready. Isn’t it nice?
Below is a nice post of the capital Sardis taken with a drone. You can open the subtitles by clicking on the settings.. I would be glad if you follow me on social media and subscription below. thanks .
Note: This article has been re-edited and published on ntv & brandlifemag travel pages. You can watch the news about the treasure hunter who found the treasures below..
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