Midyat’taki Mor Filoksenos Kilisesi ve Yapı Topluluğu

Abstract

The Tur Abdin plateau/region, which consists of a limestone massif in the Northern Mesopotamia region, is bordered by the Tigris River from the east and north. Although the region was named “Kasiere” and “Masius” in various periods, it was called Tur’Abdin in the sixth century. The region was influenced by the religious architectural traditions of the cities of Diyarbakır (Amida), Şanlıurfa (Edessa), Dara (Anastasiopolis), Nusaybin (Nisibis) in the Early Christian period. Even thought the religious structures of the earliest period of Christiantyin these citiesbegan to appear in the third and fourth centurie, the earlist structures in Tur’Abdin region are dated back to the end of fifth century and the beginning of the sixth century. The Mor Philoxenos Church, which is the main subject of the thesis, is one of the architectural structures of the Early Christian period in Midyat, the center of the Tur’Abdin region. In this study, previous scientific researches on the church and its affiliated structures were evaluated, the church was examined on site, its current architectural drawing was made, documented, dated, and a monograph of the church was created. Within the scope of the thesis, the church was evaluated in terms of its own structural features, and similar and different features were tried to be determined with the help of architectural elements such as plan type, architectural decoration, materials-techniques in Northern Mesopotamian architecture and surrounding cultures.

Keywords Mesopotamia, Tur’Abdin, Christian, Syriac Orthodoxy, Architecture, Restoration, Restitution.