The Greek time period “ karyatides” means “maidens of Karyai,” which was an historic city on the Peloponnese in southern Greece. A “ caryatid” is a sculpted feminine determine that types an architectural help, normally carved from stone, to switch basic Greek help columns or pillars. Unarguably, probably the most well-known caryatids on the planet are the six across the roof of the false south porch of the fifth century Erechtheion, on the Athenian acropolis.

The acropolis of Athens is an interactive museum of historic Greece, and rarely will we learn of Ottoman historical past related to this website. Created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor,) the Ottoman Empire grew to become probably the most highly effective states on the planet throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Now, a researcher has flattened a preferred fantasy surrounding the six iconic caryatids, the Ottomans, and a harem.

It was these six caryatids supporting the roof of the false south porch of the fifth century Erechtheion, on the Athenian acropolis, which led seventeenth century English and French publishers to the creation of the Ottoman-harem-in-Athens propaganda fantasy. (No machine-readable creator supplied / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Zero Proof of Ottoman Erechtheion Harem

The Athens’s acropolis temple with the six caryatids was devoted to Athena, the goddess of knowledge, however within the medieval interval it was reused as a church. In keeping with standard myths, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Athens within the fifteenth century the temple website was repurposed once more right into a harem, which is alleged to have housed the Turkish fort warden’s wives.

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Professor Janric van Rookhuijzen, a classical archaeologist and postdoctoral analysis fellow on the College of Utrecht within the Netherlands, says historical past reveals zero proof of the Erechtheion harem fantasy. In a current article printed in The Conversation, van Rookhuijzen defined that he analysed all related historic sources in regards to the acropolis from the Ottoman interval, aiming to get to the supply of the story in regards to the Erechtheion turning into a harem. He even scoured via a number of understudied Turkish sources, but he discovered no point out of the harem story in any of those historic information.

A Spanish-inspired scene of an Ottoman Empire harem by Spanish painter Quintana Olleras, 1851–1919. (Olleras, Quintana Blas 1851-1919 / Public domain)

So, is the Athens’s Harem Story Only a Fashionable Fantasy?

Van Rookhuijzen concluded that the story of the Turkish harem in Athens originated within the seventeenth century. He went thus far in his analysis that he was capable of determine a French and English writer who had visited Greece, and later printed books with the story of the fort warden’s harem. The one reference to the constructing getting used within the Ottoman interval as a Turkish harem speaks of it being a palace.

The researcher states, “Again and again, guests to the Acropolis have given that means to the mysterious constructing primarily based on these sculptures.” He believes the six feminine caryatids in entrance of the constructing could have straight impressed the writer’s reference to a harem. Stepping apart from historic analysis, Van Rookhuijzen, creator of The Dialog article has a go at placing to relaxation “a long-lived western stereotype of the Turks as violent, sacrilegious barbarians.”

The Ottoman interval for Athens started in 1458 with the town’s peaceable occupation and resulted in 1821 with the proclamation of Greek independence. (Hellenic Foundation for Culture)

Not All Turks Are Violent, Sacrilegious Barbarians

The harem story is “deeply problematic,” says Van Rookhuijzen. In keeping with the author, the unfavourable stereotype given to Turks “originates within the many centuries of warfare between Christian European nations and the Muslim Ottoman Empire.”

He provides that the story of the temple of the caryatids turning into a harem “fitted proper into this unfavourable western sentiment in regards to the Turks.” And so unhealthy was anti-Turkish sentiment across the time the story was fabricated, that quickly after, the Turkish city on the acropolis was destroyed.

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The author warns that this symbolism [the harem] has “a darkish aspect” and he says “anti-eastern tales proceed to be informed on the expense of the Turks.”

High picture: The Erechtheion temple on the Athens acropolis with the six “mistaken” Ottoman harem caryatids on the precise aspect a bit again from the entrance of the temple. Supply: Jebulon / CC0

By Ashley Cowie