INTRODUCTION (2) (Mukaddime)

In Modern English

"Karakaya," like "Çakallar," is a distinguished place for the pleasantness of its air and its heart-drawing view. Its violets and crocuses and its water are plentiful; its cherries are esteemed. The view here is superior to the flat places of Çakallar; each of its vineyards deserves to be called paradise for its joy-giving quality and cleanliness. "Kaya Paşa" and "Üçler Suyu," after circling these vineyards, water the houses of Amasya.

Eyler iki menba' buranın zevkini ikmâl
Gûyâ ki biri âb-ı zülâl ü biri selsâl
Bir menba'ı yapmış Kaya Paşa gibi mifzâl
Diğer Acem Ağa gibi mi'mâr-ı Amasya

(Two springs complete the delight of this place; as if one were clear, sweet water and the other water that flows easily from the gorge. One of the springs was made by a generous benefactor like Kaya Paşa, the other by one who made Amasya flourish like Acem Ağa.)

The famous waters flowing from this mountain are three springs; they are known by the names of their owners and differ from one another in lightness and sweetness. They are called "Kaya Paşa Suyu, Üçler Suyu, Acem Ali Suyu." The source of these three waters is in the "Çakallar" district. There is also the "Çırçır Suyu," whose source is in the "Karakaya" district. The best-known water in Amasya is the "Kaya Paşa and Acem Ali Waters." The "Üçler Suyu" is attached to the "Acem Ali Suyu"; the "Çırçır" is small both in quantity and in benefit. Although there are very many private springs besides these, the general need of the people is met most by these two springs. The other springs do not have as much fame or benefit to the people as these.

The "Kaya Paşa Suyu" wells up from the highland of "Ermiş Village," some three kilometers beyond "Çakallar," and flows into "Çakallar." This water has flowed since ancient times. Because "Torumtay Paşazâde Kaya Paşa," one of the emirs of Amasya, had its source cleaned and its channels repaired in 805 [1402-03], it was called "Kaya Paşa Suyu." Before this the water was called "Torumtay Suyu." The water had passed by inheritance from the said emir "Torumtay" to his grandson "Kaya Paşa" and kept its old name.

Because "Kaya Paşa" had his bathhouse and his school (mekteb) built in Amasya, established fountains in fifteen places, endowed the water in 805, brought and distributed the water to these fountains and to very many other houses, fixed the revenues of his waqf, and thus met the general need of the people, the water was called "Kaya Paşa Suyu." According to the condition of this waqf, from every house to which the water flows, fifteen Ottoman dirhams a year, that is, about thirty-three kuruş by the present rate, is collected; by the hand of a trustee (mütevelli) from the pasha's descendants, after the water channel and source are cleaned and the wage of the water-channel keeper is paid, the remaining revenue of the waqf is spent on his school in the "Kazancı Quarter."

The entire revenue of his bathhouse near this school was also allotted to the school. While both bathhouse and school were kept up in the time of "Kaya Paşa's" descendants, when the administration of the waqf passed to the descendants of "Rahtuvân Mehmed Paşa," a relative of the pasha, both the bathhouse and the school vanished, and only the annual revenue of the waqf water came to be collected.

The "Acem Ali Suyu" wells up near "Zincirli Kaya," east of "Çakallar," above the famous stream, beneath the rock known as "Söğütlü Kaya," and it too flows into "Çakallar." This water too has flowed since ancient times. Because "Hoca el-Hâc Acem Ali Ağa" of Nishapur, one of the hâcegân of Amasya, that is, its merchants, had the water channel built in 873 [1468-69], revived the fountains in thirteen places in Amasya, endowed the water and brought it to very many houses, it was called "Acem Ali Suyu."

This water was formerly in the hands of the "Üçler"; later it passed to "Acem Ali Ağa" by purchase from "el-Hâc Mahmûd Çelebi," and he endowed the water to his school built in the "Acem Ali Quarter" and to the general need of the people. Although the "Üçler Suyu," which flows through his own quarter and the other quarters around it, was called "Acem Ali Suyu," the water that flows to the "Üçler Quarter" has been able to keep its old name. Yet this "Üçler Suyu" too is the waqf of "Acem Ali Ağa." The history of this school will be told in the account of its own quarter, and who the "Üçler" were in the account of the "Üçler Quarter," God willing.

While the school and other charitable works of the said person were well administered at the time when "Acem Alizâde Bâlî Bey" and after him his descendants were trustees of this endowed water, later those who took over the administration of the waqf, claiming to be relatives, collected the revenues of the waqf but did not look after the charitable works, so that these works were left in need of the help of benefactors.

The "Çırçır Suyu" wells up from the foot of Mount Ferhad and flows to Karakaya. This too is a water that has flowed since ancient times; a water channel was built by "Emîr Alâeddîn Alîşîr et-Türkmânî" around 625 [1227-28], and it was made to flow to the "Gökmedrese Quarter" and the quarters around it. Although the records write that it was at first called "Alişîr Suyu," the reason it was later called "Çırçır Suyu" could not be understood. That the word "Çırçır" is a corruption of the word "Alişîr" is the strongest possibility. This water is counted superior to all the waters of Amasya in taste and sweetness. Since it is exceedingly suited to tea, most tea addicts use this water. Because its channel has not been cleaned for a long time, it flows very little.

Cennât-ı cihânın burası sanki ecelli
Şehzâdelere olmuş idi sayd mahalli
Enzâra olur Köşklü Kayadan bu da belli
Bir merkez-i sultân iken aktâr-ı Amasya

(This place is as if the loftiest of the paradises of the world; it had been a hunting ground for the princes. When the lands of Amasya were a seat of a sultan, this is also clear to the eyes of those who look from Köşklü Kaya.)

Since this Karakaya was a lofty place known for the beauty of its view, the abundance of its waters and the cleanness of its air, its east side had come among the sultanic properties belonging to the "House of the Exalted Ottoman Sultanate." For this reason, while the Ottoman princes resided in Amasya, this east side became a hunting ground ("Saydgâh") for the princes. However, judging from the fact that on the Karakaya side there were properties of notables and emirs, it is understood that the side that was a hunting ground was only "Çakallar." "His Majesty Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han," while reigning in Amasya, had a lofty pavilion built on "Köşklü Kaya," today known as "Köşk Kayası"; it has been deduced from the examination of very many private manuscripts that in the time of Prince "Sultan Ahmed" these "Köşklü Kaya Entertainments" never left the tongues of the poets of the age and became an epic on the lips of all the people. The remains and old ruins of this pavilion are still seen today. The pavilion kept its former prosperity in the time of "Prince Sultan Mustafa"; upon the sudden death of the said prince it was subjected to partition and even its name changed.

En sonra Çakalzâdelere kısmet-i evfer
Oldu buradan hîn-i teferrukda müyesser
Şimdi orası bunların adı ile eşher
Etdi bunu tahkîk perestâr-ı Amasya

(In the end, at the time of its division and dispersal, the greatest share from here fell to the Çakalzâdes; now that place is best known by their name. The servant of Amasya investigated and set this forth.)

When the east side of this high mountain passed by inheritance to "His Majesty Sultan Süleyman Han I," the sultan's prince "Sultan Mustafa" came as governor of Amasya, and while he had a summer pavilion ("Sayfiyye") built here and resided in it, among the famous scholars "Seyrek Muhyiddîn Efendi," then Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi of Merzifon and after him the famous "Sürûrî Efendi" were in the service of tutor; among the famous men of letters, poets such as "Hamdî, Zamânî, Edâyî," together with the beys "Rüstem Beyzâde Gonca Keyvân," "Lala Beyzâde Benefşe Ahmed" and "Gâzi Beyzâde Çiğdem Ali," and young lads such as "Çakalzâde Gül Sinan Çelebi," were in the service of boon companion (nedim).

The said prince bestowed on the beys "Gonca" and "Çiğdem," on "Çakalzâde Lâle Ali Çelebi" and "Gül Çelebi," and on his lala (tutor) "Hamza Bey" a piece each of vineyard as property. It is understood that the place today called "Hamza Düzü" fell to the lala "Hamza Bey," and the place known as "Goncalık," lying east of "Hamza Düzü," to "Gonca Bey." The places of "Gül and Lâle Çelebis" are thought to be the west and south sides of "Hamza Düzü." Knowing that in these times the way to enter the circle of the said prince was to write and present odes with the refrain (redif) of violet, rosebud, rose and tulip, very many of the poets wrote and presented odes and ghazals in this vein. Some of these are included in the "Müntahabât-ı Eş'âr" (selected poems) anthologies.

When Prince "Sultan Bâyezîd," who as governor of Amasya in 967 [1559-60] fell victim to the trick of "Kara Mustafa Paşa" and passed to the eternal world, died, and the whole of this "Princes' Hunting Ground" was sold to emirs, great men of state and notables, a large part fell to the Çakalzâdes "Gül Sinan and Lâle Ali Çelebis"; later the share of "Lâle Ali Çelebi" passed to his son "Lâlezâde Mehmed Çelebi," and then this share to "Sinan Çelebi."

Later, when the said "Çakalzâde Sinan Paşa," dismissed from the governorship of Sivas, died in 1005 [1596-97], this place passed to his sons the pashas "Mahmûd, Yûsuf, Mehmed" and to his daughters. When "Mahmûd Paşa" died childless, his share was sold; when "Mehmed Paşa" died, his son "Ahmed Bey" and the sons of Yûsuf Paşa, "Ahmed Paşa" and "Mehmed Bey," came to hold the shares. When "Ahmed Paşa" died in 1076 [1665-66], his share passed to his daughters the ladies "Münevvere" and "Fâtıma"; when "Mehmed Bey's" son "Ahmed Bey" died childless in 1091 [1680], his share passed to female children and others. These were investigated by this humble author, the voluntary servant of the history of Amasya, and drawn out from the registers of the sharia court.

Formerly these places were called "Çakaloğulları Bağları" (Vineyards of the Çakaloğulları) because most of them belonged to that family. Later, shortened, they were called "Çakallar Bağları." That the name "Çakallar" in our Turkish is shortened from the word "Çakaloğulları" is proved by many similar examples: it is known that the Topaloğulları are called "Topallar," the Ortakoğulları "Ortaklar," and the Saloğulları "Sallar."

Garbında bunun kûh-ı celî şöhre-i Ferhâd
Gûyâ eser-i aşk ile vermiş ana bünyâd
Rûmîler onun dâmenine Veng demiş ad
Lâkin budur u'cûbe-i ahbâr-ı Amasya

(To the west of this is the lofty mountain that bears Ferhad's fame; as if Ferhad had founded it as a work of love. The Rum gave its foot the name Veng; but this is the strangest of the reports of Amasya.)

The high and steep rock to the southwest of Karakaya is called "Ferhad Kayası" (Ferhad's Rock), and the ridge of this rock extending eastward "Ferhad Dağı" (Mount Ferhad). This mountain is counted as the western beginning of the "Pont" mountain range and runs as far as "Erzurum." From there it enters "Iran," meets "Mount Bîsütun" near "Gilan," and ends there. Because the beginning of the Pontic mountains is "Ferhad" and their end "Mount Bîsütun," it has been seen in some Arabic geography books that these mountains are called in general "Mount Bîsütun."

Because "Ferhad Kayası" lies above the southwest gorge of Amasya, the places the rock faces are called "Ferhad Arası." The height of the rock above the ground is roughly three hundred meters. Its west face is steep and its top flat; while its north foot is vineyard and melon garden, its southwest foot consists of black stone. The east sides of its flat places extend to pleasant highlands and to well-watered, airy villages. At the foot of the rock, which faces wholly west, about three meters above the ground, an arch-shaped hollow is seen.

This hollow is roughly six qadams (feet) wide and about two and a half meters deep; that it stands fresh, as if carved yesterday, leaves onlookers amazed. Starting from the name of the rock, from this hollow, and from the extension of the water channel as far as "Ahur Önü," some superstitions have been invented, and the following strange account has taken hold on the people's tongue:

Supposedly "Ferhad," the well-known lover of "Şîrin," while making that great and long water channel in thirty-nine days (!) for the sake of reaching his beloved, pierced (!) this rock that stood before him out of love, and so it was called "Ferhad Kayası" (!). To give strength to this tale, the grave five meters long and some two and a half meters wide, famous today on top of "Ferhad Kayası," has been attributed to "Âşık Ferhad" (Ferhad the lover), and it is shown that the people of ancient times were tall in stature.

Although the historian of Amasya "Kara Müftüzâde Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi," in examining and settling this "Ferhad Kayası" question in his history, gives the fatwa "Answer: Ferhad, who loved Şîrin, pierced it," he is probably mistaken in this view. For if this "hollow" in "Ferhad Arası" is followed and examined from both sides, it is understood that it begins in front of "Şâhin Kayası," in the south, roughly fifteen kilometers from Amasya; that, one meter wide and two meters deep, it passes through "Ferhad Arası" and in front of "Memi Dede," goes round the quarters of "Gökmedrese, Şâmîce, Receb, Çeribaşı, Acem Ali, Uzun Mustafa, Gümüşlüzâde, Mehmed Paşa and Sevâdiye," and ends in a square-shaped hole carved about four meters across on a rock south of the "Kibrithane" in the "Bâyezîd Quarter"; that is, that it is a water channel.

This water channel was made in its time exceedingly regular and in masonry, and by this reckoning its total length is about eighteen kilometers. That this channel collected the waters of the streams at the foot of "Şâhin Kayası" and flowed to the city of Amasya for hundreds of years is understood from the ten-centimeter-thick lime deposits and dry moss seen inside the channels.

These channels are built in the same style from in front of "Şâhin Kayası" to the city and are seen to grow larger as they enter the city. For example, the part corresponding to the "Şamlıca Quarter" is large, and in the part corresponding to the "Mehmed Paşa Quarter" the waters are seen still to exist and flow, to increase in spring days and decrease in hot days. If one examines their increase and decrease with the flow of the waters and that the channels are ruined and dry on entering the city, it emerges that after entering the city water from other sources is mixed into these channels.

Now if one considers at what expense and in how many years such great works could come into being, it cannot be doubted that a single Ferhad could not have done this in thirty-nine years, let alone thirty-nine days. Even the lime spent on great water channels built over a distance of three hours could not be burned in thirty-nine days. And there can be no greater naivety than to attribute to one man the great works cut as tunnels into the rocks in four or five places. In any case it is beyond doubt that those who had these great water channels built possessed, and must have possessed, very great political and financial power.

If one compares the great water channels and great buildings said in the Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm to have been built at "Zile" by "Mithridates," one of the "Pontic" rulers who reigned in Amasya, with the old monuments of this kind seen in Amasya, both in the fortress and inside and outside the city, it can be surmised that the builder of these water channels too was the said ruler "Mithridates" or his ancestors. The German, French and English travelers who have visited Amasya examine these old monuments and attribute them to the "Pontic" rulers.

The first of the causes that led to the invention of the tale relayed above is that this rock is famous by the name "Ferhad Kayası" and the mountain by the name "Ferhad Dağı." The tale of "Ferhad and Şîrin" is in any case an imaginary romance. The love of "Kisrâ and Şîrin," the subject of this romance, was altered and called "Ferhad and Şîrin." The literary work "Nizâmî-i Gencevî" wrote to tell the love of "Kisrâ and Şîrin" is very famous and admired. "Kisrâ" is the Shah of Iran "Hüsrev Pervîz"; "Şîrin" is "Marya," daughter of the Byzantine emperor "Moris" (Mauricius). Their images are carved on "Mount Bîsütun" in Iran.

The translation of the Arabic passage written in the books Ahbârü'l-İbâd and Tarîku'r-Reşâd is this: "Mount Bîsütun is famous in Persian Iraq, in the land of Gilan. It is impossible to climb to the top of that mountain. One face is perfectly flat from top to bottom. Behind it, in a cave, there is a spring and, above it, the images of 'Kisrâ and Şîrin.'"

Considerations such as that the word "Bîsütun" is a corruption of the word "Pontus" and that Amasya lies at the foot of the "Pontus" mountain range must have given rise to this strange account. Even supposing this account is true, it is a very distant, very weak possibility, historically, that the known Ferhad made these water channels. For although the story of "Kisrâ and Şîrin" is thirty years before the hijra, these water channels existed seven hundred years before the hijra. In that case what is the reason this rock was called "Ferhad Kayası"?

According to what is told in a history compilation whose author and date of writing are unknown, "when the Shah of Iran Hüsrev Pervîz invaded Asia Minor and occupied Amasya, he appointed Ferhâd son of Efrûhte, one of his emirs, as governor of Amasya and its surroundings, and it is reported that the rock was called 'Ferhad Kayası' because the governor of Amasya, Ferhad, had repaired the said water channels."

According to what is told in the Mir'âtü'l-İber, "Hüsrev Pervîz son of Hürmüz-i Tâcdâr son of Nûşîrevân-ı Âdil" sat on the throne of Iran thirty-one years before the hijra and was killed in the seventh year of the hijra. Enraged that the Rum had deposed and executed the Byzantine emperor "Moris," his father-in-law, he attacked with the Iranian army as far as Istanbul and occupied Asia Minor; the "province of Pontus" remained under the administration of the Iranian government for some seven or eight years.

Although the truth of this invasion makes the repair and naming put forward plausible, that "Ferhâd son of Efrûhte" was governor of Amasya and repaired the said water channels is historically doubtful. Even if it were true, after this invasion Amasya returned to Rum rule and remained in their hands for some four hundred and seventy years; how the name of an Iranian commander, a mortal enemy of the Rum, was preserved and handed down until the exalted Islamic conquest is a subject worth examining.

According to what is told in the Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend, when "Melik Ahmed Dânişmend Gâzi" besieged "Harcene" (Amasya) around 467 [1074-75], it was thought fit that the emir "Ferhâd Gâzi," setting out from in front of the "Helvacı Pınarı," should cross the "Fon" (Pont) mountain and descend on Amasya from the qibla (south) side. Although the said emir "Ferhâd Gâzi" climbed "Fon Dağı" with the Islamic braves, he fell a martyr in battle and was buried there.

Judging by this record, it is understood that the strange grave seen on this mountain is the grave of this "Ferhâd Gâzi" Bey, one of the Danishmendid emirs, and that the name of the said emir later remained as a special name for this mountain. It can only be surmised that the grave was later made large and attributed to Âşık Ferhad. In any case it is beyond doubt that these water channels were built two thousand years ago and flowed for very many years. The south foot of this "Ferhad Kayası" is called "Helvacı Pınarı" and its north foot "Veng"; both are on the highway.

"Helvacı Pınarı" is at the easternmost end of the gorge. It was called "Helvacı Pınarı" because "Helvacı Mehmed Ağa," a former mütesellim of Amasya who died in 1064 [1653-54], had a fountain built there. Later "el-Hâc İbrâhim Ağa," one of the notables of Amasya, repaired this spring in 1210 [1795-96], cleaned the water channel and made its water flow, and had a few shops built and endowed them. Besides this fountain there is another fountain in Ferhad Arası called "Bey Pınarı," which "el-Hâc Osman Bey," a former sanjak governor of Egypt, had built in 1164 [1750-51], made its water flow and arranged its endowments. Today both are in ruins.

"Veng" is a proper name on the pattern of "deng." It is the name of a ridge located on the left side of the highway going to Tokat, at the end of the "Memi Dede Önü Cemetery," above the "Hacılar Meydanı." On both sides are cemeteries of Greek and Armenian Christians. There are two roofs and a lean-to there; between the two is an open path. At the end of this path there is a mass of earth made of gypsum soil in the form of a rock; water drips ceaselessly from its holes. Its surroundings are barren.

To collect the drops there is a small basin of black stone beneath the rock. The dripping waters collect in this basin. Although its water is very bright, it is tasteless and heavy. This is a place held in respect among all Christians. Every Sunday the Christians gather here, eat and drink and make merry, and on returning they rub its barren earth on their faces and foreheads as "jewel" (cevher).

Although this place has been a Christian cemetery since ancient times, it is seen that until about 1300 [1882-83] the Greeks and Armenians rarely went here except to visit the cemetery; while it was abandoned, unused and in ruins, after this date it became a Sunday gathering place first of the Armenians, then of the Greeks. After this date some strange accounts arose between the two nations, and they wished to explain that their continuing to come here arose from religious feeling.

The Greeks say: "'Yovannis,' a disciple of 'Batras' (Peter), famous by the name 'Piyer' among the apostles, was charged with calling the people of Amasya to the religion, came and settled there, and because he made water flow from the stone as proof that Christianity is true, these places became famous by the name 'Yovannis,' later shortened to 'Veng.'"

The Armenians say: "The apostle 'Ohannis' settled in the city of 'Eçmiyazin' within 'Revan' and called the Armenians to the religion; as needed, when he came to Amasya on the way to 'Kayseri,' he hid there to escape the pursuit of enemies; a few days later he became thirsty and, by commanding the stone against which he leaned his back, made the waters flow, so these places were given the name 'Ohannis,' later shortened to 'Veng.'"

If these two accounts are examined, it is understood that both come from one source. It is seen that they agree in the name "Veng" and its shortening, and differ in the original source. If the histories of the Romans and of Christianity are read, it is seen that this name "Veng" has no connection, in pronunciation or meaning, with either "Yovannis" or "Ohannis." It is known that the famous tyrant Roman emperor "Nero" had "Batras," who spread Christianity in Rome, and his disciples killed 562 years before the hijra, that is, in the second century of the Common Era, and inflicted very cruel tortures on Christians.

If one considers that Christianity appeared in Amasya only at the beginning of the fourth century of the Common Era, that it spread among the Armenians in the third century, and that until 300 years before the hijra there was no oppression and violence that the Christians did not suffer from the notables of the Roman state, then the spreading of religion and hiding in Amasya by priests named "Yovannis" and "Ohannis" in the first and second centuries of the Common Era is nothing but an illusion.

As understood from the Greek inscriptions seen carved on some of the stones of the Torumtay Mosque and Tomb and the Halifet Gazi Madrasa and Tomb, the ruins seen on the spot prove that on the east side of the place called "Veng" there was formerly a church and patriarchate. These fell into ruin after the exalted Islamic conquest, and a madrasa, mosque and tomb were built from their debris.

According to what is told in the Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend, when "Kâyrılus," who was the patriarch of Amasya until 467 [1074-75], died during the siege, "Vengliyus" became patriarch of Amasya; when "Melik Ahmed Dânişmend Gâzi" entered Amasya as conqueror, the said patriarch "Vengliyus" stayed for a long time in this church and patriarchate with permission.

In the "Halifet Gazi Waqf Deed," confirmed with the signature of "Takiyyeddîn Osman bin Ali," chief judge of Amasya in 622 [1225], and in some boundary documents, the name "Vengiyüs" is seen to have been given to those places. According to these old documents, the said patriarch "Vengliyus's" staying there for a time was the cause of the naming; it is quite clear that first the letter "lâm" was dropped to give "Vengiyus," and then the word "yus" too was left off, giving "Veng."

"Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi" says in his history: "In Veng there was a great church. In Rûmiyye-i Suğrâ (Amasya) this church was the center of all the churches of Anatolia. While the patriarch of Amasya, 'Dağatur,' was staying in this church, when His Excellency the Companion 'Dıhye bin Halîfe' (may God be pleased with him), the envoy of the Prophet, delivered the exalted letter of our Prophet to the Rum emperor 'Herakl' (Heraclius), the emperor sent him to this 'Dağatur' to investigate the contents of the letter; when the said Companion came to Amasya and reported the matter, 'Dağatur' gathered the Rum in this church and read the letter, and when he himself confirmed it and bore witness, the Rum fell upon him and martyred 'Dağatur.'"

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• letâfet-i hevâ: pleasantness, delicacy of the air
• mebzûl: abundant
• fâik: superior
• sîrâb etmek: to water, to slake with water
• menba' / menâbi': spring / springs
• hıffet ve halâvet: lightness and sweetness (of water)
• nebe'ân etmek: to well up, to come out of the ground
• mecrâ / mecârî: water channel / water channels
• tathîr: cleaning
• bi-tarîki'l-verâse: by inheritance
• hafîd: grandson
• mütevelli / tevliyet: waqf administrator / waqf administration
• zevi'l-erhâm: relatives by blood
• cibâyet: collecting taxes or revenue
• hâcegân: great merchants
• şirâ'en: by purchase
• saydgâh: hunting ground
• emlâk-i hümâyûn: properties belonging to the sultan
• nevresîde: newly grown young person
• redif: the word repeated in each couplet after the rhyme in poetry
• mütesellim: the administrator in a sanjak who was the governor's deputy
• mîrlivâ: sanjak governor
• söngüt: (here) the lime deposit that builds up in a water channel
• vesâik-i atîka: old documents

The Endowed Waters of Amasya

The first half of the section is a short history of the waters that descend from the southern slopes of Amasya and for centuries flowed to the city's houses and fountains. Hüsameddin here relates who made each water flow, who endowed it, and how the waqf was later spoiled; the narrative shows plainly that in the Ottoman city water was both a charitable work and an institution demanding constant upkeep. That in the Kaya Paşa waqf an annual fee was taken from every house to which the water flowed, that this money was first spent on the channel and the channel keeper and the remainder allotted to the school, shows that the endowed water functioned like an early counterpart of today's municipal water administration. That Amasya stood out in its region in this respect is also understood from eighteenth-century records; a study examining the complaint registers of that century established that the strong waqfs in Sivas and Amasya acted more effectively than other places in owning waters and providing fountain service.

Some of the persons named in the text are also confirmed by other records. In the list of buildings compiled by Selim Özcan, who studied Amasya in the period of the princes, the Kaya Paşa Mosque appears with the date 1402; this agrees with the 805 [1402-03] that Hüsameddin gives as the year the water was endowed. That the same list also mentions the mosque of a pasha "of the descendants of Torumtay" shows that the Torumtay line continued to exist in Amasya in the Ottoman period too. But one must be careful about Hüsameddin's presenting Kaya Paşa as Torumtay's "hafîd," that is, grandson: the tomb of Seyfeddin Torumtay was built in 1278 after his death; the span of more than a hundred and twenty years in between suggests that Kaya Paşa was not Torumtay's direct grandson but one of his descendants. The Gökmedrese that Torumtay had built in 1266-67 and his tomb opposite it stand today; the "Gökmedrese Quarter," through which the Çırçır Suyu flows, takes its name from this complex.

The information given for the Acem Ali Suyu also finds correspondence in other studies. It is known that the Nishapuri merchant Hoca Acem Ali had a fountain built in front of his house in the quarter bearing his name; the date 1465 is given for this fountain. The date 873 [1468-69] Hüsameddin gives for the building of the water channel falls a few years after this; it is possible that the fountain and the water channel bear separate dates. A confusion must also be pointed out here: there is another person known by the name "Acem Ali" in Ottoman architectural history. Alâeddin Ali b. Abdullah, who served as chief palace architect before Mimar Sinan, is also called by this nickname; it is suggested that he may have worked in Amasya in the time of Bayezid II and then been brought to Istanbul. But this architect's professional life falls between 1503 and 1539. The merchant Hoca Acem Ali, who had a water channel built and endowed it in the second half of the fifteenth century, and this chief architect are different persons. The "mi'mâr" in the ode's phrase "Acem Ağa gibi mi'mâr-ı Amasya" likewise denotes not architecture as a profession but the benefactor who made the city flourish.

Whether the "el-Hâc Mahmûd Çelebi" from whom the Üçler Suyu was sold to Acem Ali and the founder of the "Hâcı Mahmûd Çelebi Zâviyesi," said in a footnote to be trustee of the Çakalzâdes, are the same person, Hüsameddin does not state. Nor was information found in other sources on "Emîr Alâeddîn Alîşîr et-Türkmânî," who made the Çırçır Suyu flow around 625 [1227-28]. The author's regarding the name "Çırçır" as a corruption of "Alişîr" is his own conjecture and is presented as such.

Çakallar, the Princes and the Çakalzâdes

Çakallar is still known today as a quarter and viewing place in the south of Amasya, some three kilometers from the city center; the widespread knowledge that in the Ottoman period this was the princes' hunting ground and that the summer pavilions of the princes and of some Amasya pashas stood in this area rests largely on these pages of Hüsameddin. What he says about Prince Mustafa's circle in Amasya, however, is supported by independent sources. Mustafa, the eldest son of Süleyman the Magnificent, was sent to Amasya in 948 [1541] after Manisa (in some studies this appointment is given as 1538) and stayed in this sanjak until his death in 1553. It is known that the prince, who wrote poetry under the pen name "Muhlisî," had a broad literary circle especially in Amasya; Şikârî, Senâyî, Sürûrî, Kara Fazlî, Zârî and Zamânî are among the poets mentioned in this circle. Zamânî and Sürûrî in Hüsameddin's list are confirmed by these records.

What is known about Sürûrî is the soundest evidence that the prince's court in Amasya was a cultural center. Gelibolulu Muslihuddin Mustafa Sürûrî was called in 955 [1548] by an imperial rescript (hatt-ı hümayun) to be tutor to Prince Mustafa, and completed in Amasya, while with the prince, on 11 Safer 956 [11 March 1549], the Bahrü'l-maârif, regarded as the first systematic book of rhetoric in Turkish literature. He wrote his commentary on Sa'dî's Bostan during this tutorship, and wrote the Gülistan commentary for the students in Amasya. A confidant of the prince, Sürûrî withdrew again into seclusion when he was killed on 6 October 1553, and because of this reaction was deprived of official income.

The custom of young boon companions with the nicknames Gonca, Benefşe, Çiğdem, Gül and Lâle, and of approaching the prince with odes with flower refrains, is a narrative based on the poetry anthologies Hüsameddin examined; these names were not found in other sources.

The dates in the sentence on Prince Bayezid need to be corrected. Bayezid was appointed to Amasya on 6 September 1558 so as to be separated from his brother Selim, regarded this appointment as being sent "from paradise to hell," and arrived in Amasya on 21 December 1558. When he was defeated by Selim near Konya at the end of May 1559 he returned to Amasya, and on 7 July 1559 he left the city with his sons and took refuge in Iran. After being held for a time by Shah Tahmasb, he was strangled together with his sons in Qazvin on 23 July 1562. The year 967 [1559-60] that Hüsameddin gives corresponds to the period when Bayezid left Amasya and crossed to Iran; the prince's death is in 969 [1562]. The sale of the princely property at Çakallar must have taken place after Bayezid's final departure from Amasya. Information on the role in this event of "Kara Mustafa Paşa," whom Hüsameddin mentions, was not found in the sources we examined.

On Çakalzâde Sinan Paşa, the reader's attention must be drawn to a similarity of names. In Ottoman history there is a far better-known "Cağalazâde (Cigalazâde) Yûsuf Sinan Paşa": the son of a family from Messina, who was taken captive at the Battle of Djerba in 1560 and raised in the palace, became grand vizier in 1596, and died in Diyarbekir in the last days of Ramadan 1014 (February 1606); this pasha's name lives today in the Cağaloğlu district of Istanbul. A son of his, named Mahmud, also served as vizier. The Çakalzâde Sinan Paşa Hüsameddin describes, on the other hand, is the head of a local family descended from the Amasya native "Çakal Kadı" Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi, who died in 1005 [1596-97] after being dismissed from the governorship of Sivas and whose inheritance can be traced in the sharia registers. In their dates of death, origins and life stories these are separate persons; the similarity of names should not lead to the two pashas being confused. The chain of inheritance Hüsameddin gives here on the basis of his own archival work cannot be compared today with another source.

The Ferhat Water Canal

The most valuable part of the section is Hüsameddin's following the hollow in "Ferhad Kayası" and showing that it is an ancient water channel. Contemporary research on this structure, today a registered monument under the name "Ferhat Water Canal," confirms most of the author's observations. The canal was built in the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period to meet the water needs of the ancient settlement on the south bank of the Yeşilırmak, by carving rocks, opening tunnels and in places laying masonry. The cultural inventory gives the first century BCE as its date of construction; the date Hüsameddin gives as "seven hundred years before the hijra" falls roughly in this century. Gediz Urak and Işık Aksulu, who prepared a conservation project in 1997-1998 for the exposed section of the canal, note that the canal's construction technique resembles that of the Amasya royal rock tombs dated to the second century BCE and that it was therefore most probably built in the Hellenistic period. The author's attributing the water channel to the kings of Pontus is accurate in this respect.

Urak and Aksulu's study uses Hüsameddin's description directly as a source and relays his route. The length the author gives as eighteen kilometers is given today as 20-25 kilometers. The start of the canal is shown as the spring at the Kırkgöz locality of Meşeli Çiftliği Village, its end as the Mehmet Paşa Quarter; the route Hüsameddin starts in front of "Şâhin Kayası" and ends at the Kibrithane roughly coincides with this information. Most of the six-kilometer section of the canal from the Helvacı locality in the west to the old industrial district Kibrithane in the east passes today beneath the city as a tunnel. The open section of about 675 meters, extending on the eastern foot of Mount Ferhat parallel to the Amasya-Tokat road, was registered in 1975 and can still be seen today at the Ferhat Arası locality.

Excavation and cleaning work also supports details that Hüsameddin established with his own eyes. The canal was carved into limestone with iron chisels by hand; cross-chisel marks two centimeters deep on the side faces can still be made out today. In the sections carved into rock the width is between 87 and 94 centimeters; where streams are crossed, rubble-stone walls and vaults were built and the inner faces covered with horasan plaster. Settling basins were also found in the sections carved into rock. A three-line Greek inscription found in the wall of the Yörgüç Paşa Mosque reports that the channels were repaired in the third century CE. Terracotta vessels of the eleventh and twelfth centuries recovered in excavations suggest that the canal lost its function in the late Byzantine period and that the area around it was settled. Hüsameddin's saying that in the Mehmed Paşa Quarter section the water was still flowing shows that some sections of the canal within the city continued to carry water until the author's time, perhaps fed by other sources; the author noticed this too and noted it.

The Story of Ferhad and Şirin and Hüsameddin's Explanations

The detail Hüsameddin mocks as "thirty-nine days" comes from the folk form of the story. In the folk tale "Ferhad and Şirin" told in Anatolia and Azerbaijan, the event begins in Khorasan and continues developing in Amasya. Ferhad says that to make water flow before Şirin's pavilion he can pierce Mount Bîsütun and bring the spring's water in forty days, and finishes the job in thirty-nine days. At one point in the story the ruler of Amasya, Hürmüz Shah, appears; Ferhad agrees to bring the water beyond the mountain to the city within forty days to be able to reach Şirin, and just as he is about to succeed, he takes his own life at the old woman's lie "Şirin is dead." In its form in the Karagöz shadow play the name of the mountain Ferhad pierces is "Elmadağı in Amasya"; a text of the play translated into German in 1906 bears the title Die Liebenden von Amasia (The Lovers of Amasya). Accounts of Ferhad and Şirin live on to this day in Anatolia, attached to place names, especially in Amasya and Erzurum.

Hüsameddin is right to look for the source of the story in Nizâmî-i Gencevî's masnavi. The story is taken from the life of the Sasanian ruler Hüsrev Pervîz, acquired its classical form in Nizâmî's Hüsrev ü Şîrîn, and the independent "Ferhâd ü Şîrîn," in which Ferhad comes to the fore, was first written in 1484 by Ali Şîr Nevâî. Here there is a detail that Hüsameddin did not see but that strengthens his explanation: in Nizâmî, Ferhad is introduced as "a master architect and engineer famous for building water channels in the land of Rum"; his opening a water channel through steep rocks for Şirin is also the first test in the story. The attribution of an ancient water canal carved into rocks in Anatolia to this legendary water-channel builder may easily have arisen from this characteristic in the literary tradition.

The author's equating Şirin with Maria, daughter of the Byzantine emperor Mauricius, does not agree with present knowledge. In the sources, Maria, daughter of Mauricius, and Şirin are mentioned as separate wives of Hüsrev. Şirin is recorded as a Christian woman of Khuzestan who was influential at the Sasanian court; Maria does not appear at all in Byzantine sources and appears only in Syriac, Arabic and Persian sources. Accounts that count the two women as the same person are limited to very few sources such as the Siirt Vakayinamesi. The dates Hüsameddin gives for Hüsrev Pervîz, however, are correct: Hüsrev came to the throne in 590-591 and was killed in February 628; this corresponds to the statement "came to the throne thirty-one years before the hijra, was killed in the seventh year of the hijra." During the Byzantine-Sasanian war that began after Mauricius was killed in 602, the Persians took the greater part of Anatolia, advanced as far as Chalcedon in 608 and 615, and took Ankara in 620 or 622; Heraclius's counterattack in 622 cleared Anatolia of the Persians, and the emperor wintered his army in Pontus. The Persian invasion Hüsameddin mentions is in this respect a historical event; however, no record showing that the province of Pontus remained seven or eight years under Iranian rule, or showing the existence of an Amasya governor called "Ferhâd son of Efrûhte," was found in the sources we examined. Hüsameddin too finds this account doubtful.

The information given on Bîsütun also needs correction. Mount Bîsütun (Behistun) is in the region the Arab geographers called "Persian Iraq," near the city of Kermanshah in present-day Iran; it is not in Gilan. The famous relief and inscription on the mountain's steep face is the trilingual monument that the Achaemenid ruler Darius I had made in 520-518 BCE. The reliefs showing the coronation and hunting scenes of Hüsrev Pervîz are found at Taq-e Bostan, just northeast of Kermanshah. Among the people, attributing these reliefs to Hüsrev, Şirin and Ferhad is an old tradition; there are also miniatures showing Bîsütun with carvings of Hüsrev, Şirin and Ferhad. The idea that the name is corrupted from "Pontus" does not hold: the Old Persian name of Bîsütun is Bagastana, that is, "the place of the god." Hüsameddin himself presents this explanation as a supposition and uses it to refute the account.

The explanation that links the mountain's name to the Danishmendid emir "Ferhâd Gâzi" rests on the Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend, which Hüsameddin often relies on and which is not available today. The Danishmend epic that tells of the conquest of Amasya is known: in the Dânişmendnâme, Melik Dânişmend Gazi, after taking the fortresses in the Yeşilırmak basin, takes the Harşana (Amasya) Fortress last. But information on a "Ferhâd Gâzi" who fell a martyr in this siege was not found in the sources we examined; this explanation put forward for the mountain's name remains the author's conjecture.

Veng, Halifet Gazi and the Dağatur Account

The material evidence on which Hüsameddin relies in explaining the name "Veng," that the stones of an old church were reused in Seljuk buildings, is supported by present research. The Halifet Gazi (in popular speech Hilfet Gazi) Madrasa and Tomb is located today in the Şamice Quarter, on Torumtay Street. Spolia is seen to have been used in the madrasa's wall adjoining the tomb; according to the Dânişmendnâme the building was converted from a church into a madrasa, and Albert Gabriel is of the same opinion. Metin Sözen suggests that the arched section may be the facade of an old Byzantine building. The marble sarcophagus inside the tomb is a Roman-period woman's sarcophagus decorated with Erotes, winged Medusa heads and a depiction of a sleeping woman. The Halifet Gazi Waqf Deed of 622 [1225] that Hüsameddin mentions is also a document available today. Halifet Gazi entered Seljuk service after the Danishmendids, became governor of Amasya in 619 [1222], and fell a martyr in 1232 on campaign against the Georgians and was buried in this tomb.

The explanation that the name "Veng" comes from the patriarch "Vengliyus" is the author's own inference. No other source was found on this place where on Sundays the Greeks and Armenians gather and whose dripping water is held sacred. One point needs to be noted here: Hüsameddin says that Peter's disciples were killed "562 years before the hijra, that is, in the second century of the Common Era"; yet 562 years before the hijra corresponds to the year 60 CE, that is, the first century. This inconsistency in the author's own calculation does not change the grounds of his refutation of the account.

The Dağatur account relayed from Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi rests on an event known in Islamic sources, but its place is different. Dihye b. Halîfe el-Kelbî carried the letter the Prophet wrote to Heraclius in Muharram of the seventh year of the hijra (May 628). According to the sources, Heraclius sent Dihye to the Christian scholar Dagātır, a close friend of his; Dihye went to him in "Rûmiye," and when Dagātır accepted Islam and gathered the Rum in the church and invited them too, the Rum beat him to death. In Islamic sources the place where the event occurred is called "Rûmiye." That one of Amasya's epithets is "Rûmiyye-i Suğrâ" (Little Rome) seems to have led to the account being ascribed to Amasya; this is an interpretation by Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi or by the local tradition on which he relied. No independent record was found showing that Dagātır lived in Amasya.

No reliable source could be found on the present condition of the Helvacı Pınarı and Bey Pınarı fountains. But the name "Helvacı" lives on: the open section of the Ferhat Water Canal appears today in official records as Helvacı Quarter, Ferhat Arası locality.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1, p. 82–87. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Gediz Urak – Işık Aksulu, "Documentation for Preservation of the Ferhat Water Canal in Amasya", METU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture, 23/2, 2006, p. 93-112. https://open.metu.edu.tr/bitstream/handle/11511/50999/93_112.pdf
• Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 5. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/19685
• Zafer Karademir, "Osmanlı Sosyo-Ekonomik Yaşamında Su: 18. Yüzyıl Eyalet-i Rum Örneği", Tarih İncelemeleri Dergisi, XXIX/1, 2014, p. 189-211. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/58898
• "Acem Ali Kimdir? Osmanlı Dönemi Hassa Baş Mimarı Alaeddin Ali b. Abdullah'ın Kişiliği ve Mesleki Kimliği Üzerine Bir İnceleme", DergiPark. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/mjss/issue/53880/542527
• Mahmut H. Şakiroğlu, "Cigalazâde Sinan Paşa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 7, İstanbul 1993, p. 525-526. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/cigalazade-sinan-pasa
• İsmail Güleç, "Sürûrî, Muslihuddin Mustafa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 38, İstanbul 2010, p. 170-172. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sururi-muslihuddin-mustafa
• "Bayezid, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayezid-sehzade
• Nurettin Albayrak, "Ferhad ve Şirin", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 12, İstanbul 1995, p. 388-389. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ferhad-ve-sirin
• "Hüsrev ve Şîrin", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/husrev-ve-sirin
• "Dânişmendnâme", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/danismendname
• Aynur Durukan, "Hilfet Gazi Medresesi ve Türbesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, İstanbul 1998, p. 30-31. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hilfet-gazi-medresesi-ve-turbesi
• "Dihye b. Halîfe", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 9, İstanbul 1994, p. 294. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/dihye-b-halife

Official sources

• Kültür Portalı, "Ferhat Su Kanalı" (Kültür Envanteri). https://kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/kulturenvanteri/ferhat-su-kanali

Books

• "Muhlisî, Şehzâde Mustafâ b. Kânûnî Sultân Süleymân", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü. https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/muhlisi-sehzade-mustafa-kanuni

Other sources

• "Torumtay Türbesi", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torumtay_Türbesi
• "II. Hüsrev", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/II._Hüsrev
• "Maria (Mauricius'un kızı)", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_(Mauricius'un_kızı)
• "Bizans-Sasani Savaşı (602-628)", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizans-Sasani_Savaşı_(602-628)
• "Behistun Yazıtı", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_Yazıtı
• "Tak-ı Bostan", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tak-ı_Bostan
• "Amasya Çakallar Tepesi Tanıtımı", Turkey Outdoor. https://turkeyoutdoor.org/amasya-cakallar-tepesi-tanitimi/