BIKE CLASSICAL: Alahan Monastery: 5C CE Christian Sanctuary, Hittite, Assyrian, Greek, Roman Remains?

Photos by Jack A. Waldron

Alahan is one of the more magnificent sites within ancient Isauria, which is an expansive rugged mountainous land inhabited by a tough mountain people, who fought off the invading Greeks, Romans, and all others who attempted to subjugate them.

I suspect that, this site was inhabited long before the 5C CE construction you will see in these photos, and that the Hittites, Assyrians, Armenians, Persians and others who travelled north/south along the Calycadnus River long before the arrival of Alexander the Great during the 4C BCE, were well aware of this citadel. Pictured below, the entrance to the colonnade that spans the length of the complex along the top of the ridge.

The Alahan Sanctuary sits over 900 meters above the Calycadnus valley, and over 1200 meters above sea level. The climb up to the site requires the maximum high bike gears, and it will take the average tour cyclist an hour, or more. That said, the road is paved, which makes the climb a lot easier, but going down this steep zigzag is very hard on the breaks, so they will run hot.

Pictured above and below, what looks like a gate to the site is actually the door to the nave or naps of the West Church. If I'm not mistaken, I am standing in the narthex of the church, as opposed to it being on the other side of this door.

The extremely ornate relief contains the Christian theme of evangelism, which in part identified the structure as a church. In the photo below, we can see what appears to be a bearded man surrounded by a wreath of laurel, and I wonder if this is a relief of Jesus? This church was built hundreds of years prior to the serious battles between the iconophiles and the iconclasts.

The door of the West Church also offers an example of Early-Byzantine architecture, and wonderfully I might add with its exquisite relief. Pictured below, the left of center underside of the door frame.

Both right and left undersides appear to display bovine (which may be a hangover from Roman motifs), birds with wings spread (perhaps domesticated Roman eagles), and shepherds (perhaps to direct the beasts and flocks to a submissive lifestyle under one god?). Pictured below, the right of center underside of the door frame.

The site began assuming a Christian identity within the cave complex just west of the west Church, which you can see in the photo below, as seen looking back at the church entrance from the apse.

Pictured above, we can see an image of a winged male on the inner right side frame post, which is accompanied by another winged male on the inner left side frame post (pictured below).

My suspicion is that these depict the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who can often be found adorning the doors of Early-Byzantine churches, and who represent the divine space or garden that exists beyond the entrance.

Moving to the right and left upper corners of the door facade, assuming the central figure is Christ, then I suspect the bust relief at the right corner is John the Baptist, who would have sat at Jesus' left (pictured above). The bust at the opposite corner is probably that of the Virgin Mary, who would have sat on Jesus' right (pictured below).

Sitting at the feet of the two frame posts are two spectacular examples of engaged Byzantine Corinthian column capitals (pictured below).

The flat sections of the capitals would have sat atop the engaged columns, which in other words means, these columns and capitals were embedded in the walls, and I suspect were members of narthex section of this church, either inside, or perhaps part of the facade of the building.

In an attempt to transform the pagan followers throughout the Roman Empire to the newish Christian Cult, it has been argued that sites such as Alahan Monastery were built to serve an economical, political, and social purpose toward this end. This is similar to the construction of Roman temples dedicated to the Augustus Imperial Cult throughout the Roman Empire between 27 BCE to 14 CE.

Construction of the complex having begun around 450 CE under the reign of Roman Emperor Leo I, he would not see it finished, so the second phase of construction during the later half of the 5C CE was supported by the Roman Emperor Zeno, who was himself an Isaurian native, and who took great interest in this area of the empire.

Pictured above, we are facing east, with the church having a slight tilt to the north. I am standing in the nave, or naos of the building, and we can see the central rounded apse at the other end. We can see straight aisles running the length of the church on either side of the nave, which are separated from the nave by two rows of columns.

Pictured above, we see the apse steps in the foreground, the semi-circular back wall of the apse with two window openings separated by a column, and a bench seat circumnavigating the altar, which can be seen at the center of the apse.

Missing is the apse dome, which would have been made of stone, while the rest of the structure would have had a wooden beam roof covered with tiles.

The curious piece pictured here may be the original altar for the West Church, regardless, it may have served a specific purpose, as it does appear to be a reconfiguration of a pagan altar, only with a new proselytizing message to convey to the incoming pagan visitors. The old gods embrace the new god?

Turning to the right side of the apse, we find an engaged Byzantine Corinthian column that would have supported the dome, and the right side aisle leading to the smaller aisle apse, then the outer wall with windows looking out over the Calycadnus valley.

The West Church is believed to have been built during the first phase of new or initial construction, preceded only by the Cave Church complex, which we will look at further down.

With the West Church measuring 36 meters by16 meters, this makes it the largest church at the site. Apparently, there are also elaborate mosaics in some sections of the West Church, but these unfortunately have been covered for preservation purposes.

I speculate that the site began its Christian affiliation with the construction of the cave complex that is located above the west end of the West Church. In the photos above and below, when looking back from church the apse toward the front of the West Church, we can see a large cave complex approximately 10 meters above the west end of the site.

I did not climb up to this three story cave complex, but the site map marks it as church with various rooms. This complex was probably built by early Christians, who in their attempts to practice the new young faith, came here to escape persecution. Such sites can be found in remote locations throughout the region.

In the photos above and below, we can see how the side of the mountain has been removed to accommodate not only the West Church, but the extent of the entire complex. I use the word 'removed', but it might be more accurate to say, that the rock and stone used to construct this complex has been 'quarried' from the mountain side.

Pictured above, we see the windows that face the valley, and open up on the Processional Way. We also see the rock face that nearly comes into contact with north facing wall.

Moving east along the Precessional Way, we first pass a two-story building (pictured above), and then we come to the Baptistery, which is extremely well preserved. In the photo below, I am looking out through the Processional Way entrance to the Baptistery. There is an open space between the outer and inner doors, and I think we can refer to this as the narthex.

In this 5C CE - 6C CE Bapistery, we see two apses side-by-side and separated by a shared semi-circular wall that extends out to an engaged Corinthian column that is simply decorated with acanthus leaves.

The two apses (and in some cases three apses) within the Baptistery are reflective of the 5C CE - 6C CE evolution in Byzantine architectural design, and were used as separate spaces, one for baptismal, and the other for communal clergical practices.

As can see more clearly in the photo below, the two spaces extend out from the domed area, and are also separated by a row of columns that continue out from the engaged column.

With the cross or crucifix shaped Baptismal Pool situated in front of the left side apse, we can clearly see which space was use for the purpose of administering the purification rites of baptism.

This Baptismal Pool was designed to fit the building and purpose, while at the Roman temple of Elaiussa Sebaste, we can see a probable baptismal pool that was made to fit within the pagan structure that surrounds it.

Continuing along the Processional Way, we come to the Necropolis. The area extending out from the rock face may have once had free-standing sarcophagi, unlike the two we see in these photos, which have been cut out into the rock.

The rock face is home to numerous tombs with rock cut sarcophagi, though their lids were long ago smashed and removed by robbers who desired the contents within.

In the top right of the photo above, we can see an inscription in the soft tuff stone. Pictured below, a close-up of the same inscription.

Pictured below is the same tomb as above, and interestingly, to the right of the tomb it almost looks like someone has chiseled a relief of Lucy from the Peanuts characters.

The Necropolis consists of the rock wall, the area in front of the wall, and the ridge above the wall. Unfortunately, I didn't explore the ridge above wall, because the site was due to be closed for the day, though the guard was kind enough to give me a little extra time.

The sarcophagus pictured below is decorated with Christian motifs, probably shields, which may be a remnant image of the Labarum, which was a fusion of the Christian symbol and Roman military symbols under Constantine the Great.

The tabula ansata on this sarcophagus is written in Ancient Greek, and if you (the reader) would like to take the time to translate this inscription, please share the English translation in the comments section at the bottom.

Back at the central point of the Processional Way, visitors come to what has been described as a shrine, and I guess we should be very thankful that through the past 1500 years, this was not converted into a fountain, or 'cesme' in Turkish (pictured below).

The view from Alahan is spectacular, and scenes such as these remind me why I decided from a young age to travel around the planet, but more importantly, not just see how many countries I notch in my belt, but to spend time deep diving into the ancient world.

Traveling and living in this manner versus racing from country to country, or city to city, is similar to the difference between cycling long distance versus motoring long distance.

The cyclist experiences life slowly, feeling nature, and experiences all the offerings Mother Earth has created. The motorist travels in a blur, muffled sounds, and barely notices the existence between A and B.

I couldn't find any inscription on the this shrine, but one is really not necessary, as the motif tells most of the story. For now, I leave the interpretation of the symbolism aside for a later deep dive, mostly because I am still trying to catch-up on my blog posts.

Let there be no doubt however, that the decorative elements in this shrine serve a purpose, and contain recurring themes, patterns, and concepts that reflect why Alahan existed.

This was a center built for the purpose of keeping Christianity safe, intact, and in a mode of evangelism. Baptism was central to pilgrimage to this sanctuary.

Perhaps I should have pointed out earlier, that the Procession Way was a colonnaded street with a roof that protected pedestrians from sun, rain, and snow.

In the photo below, we can see some columns and column bases spaced at intervals of approximately 1 meter.

Continuing along the Processional Way toward the East Church, more examples of the colonnade bases can be found (pictured below). I mention this because the sculptural reliefs displayed on these bases is very ornate, and deserve some focused attention.

Running along the full length of the colonnade is what appears to be a gutter, and I wonder if this was simply used for rain runoff, or was this an active channel for spring water? There is a water course above the site that runs along the bottom of the rock face for its entire length to the West Church, which is fed by three spring outlets, including a spring Well House and Baths complex located approximately 200 meters east of the East Church. You can almost see the Well House and Baths complex up on the ridge behind the East Church in the photo above.

The colonnade corner structure pictured below continues to showcase the relief motif used on the row of column bases. In the column base relief pictured below, we have a sea motif with sea shells and fish.

This motif may be a symbol of Jesus' walk along the shore of Galilee, when he asked four fishermen to become his disciples, they being Andrew, James, John, and Simon Peter.

In relation to Alahan being a recruitment center for Christianity, this motif would be a clear evangelical message: to leave everything behind, including your livelihoods (ie fishing nets), and families, in order to go out and spread the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ to all the non-believers, as Andrew, James, John, and Simon Peter did.

The word evangelical is derived from Koine Greek, which refers to the "Common Greek" that was spoken throughout the Mediterranean between the 3C BCE to the 8C CE, and it translates into English meaning "good news", and later "gospel".

Symbolic motifs of laurel wreaths adorn these column bases. Are they a symbol of victory over the pagan gods? Paradoxically, the laurel wreath and laurel chaplet are more ancient symbols of victory.

During one of my English lessons with my Italian students, I noticed a laurel chaplet hanging behind her, so I asked why she had it, and she told me that students in Italy wear them during their graduation ceremonies.

Pictured above, we see the extremely well preserved East Church, which is approximately 15 meters wide, and 23 meters in depth. Due to lack of roof debris, it's thought that the roof was most likely made of wood. Bases on the state of this building, if the wooden roof were to be replaced today, the church could function structurally.

The relieved components of the East Church facade are in the Byzantine style, and one can see aspects of Byzantine craftsmanship in them. However, I would argue that more apparent in these reliefs is the Early-Byzantine aesthetic.

So, I think this relief work was sculpted by the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of an artistic lineage that was directly handed down from the Late-Roman period, and this is what stands out.

A more detailed examination of the relief work and architectural components can be found in the book written by Michael Gough titled, Alahan: An Early Christian Monastery in Southern Turkey, ed. Mary Gough, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1985.

Another work that offers deep insight into the architecture and reliefs found at Alahan was written by A.C. Headlam, an English cleric who visited the site during the first half of the 19C CE, but I think the Michael Gough work is very well informed by that written by A.C. Headlam.

The site of the Alahan Monastery was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 25 February 2000, the recognition of which would make official that Alahan Monastery has cultural significance to world history.

Lacking a detail oriented eye when viewing the facade of the East Church is a grave mistake. In my opinion, the flat smooth stone face was perfectly intentioned to function as a canvas, with the ornately sculpted members and reliefs being the remnants of brush strokes.

Considering the remoteness of Alahan, and its on site quarry (because I assume that, the stone removed to create a flat area for the construction was the source of the building material used in these structures), it becomes clear that the monastery benefactors Emperor Leo I and Emperor Zeno spared no coin (within reason) in assuring this complex was a masterpiece.

When viewing masterpieces, we need to absorb the work, so there is really little I want to say other than, I hope the excellence on display in these photos shine through.

I think the truth is, god moved the hands of these sculptors, but that god is not some metaphysical being, but our human Being unleashed through a state of brain meditation that takes over the movements of an artists hand when involved in deep creation.

Pictured below, this is a view of the right side of the central door to the East Church. I will show the inner side of each of the three door frames that allow entrance into the church.