The Valley of Patara by John Johnson, 1843
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire slowly but steadily took over Anatolia and the Greek islands still owned by Venice and Genoa. There was not much resistance. The exception were the Knights of Saint John, who established themselves in Rhodes and built castles in Bodrum, Kastellorizo and Fethiye. But by 1522, the Ottomans were in full control. The Lycian coast descended into a beauty sleep for several hundred years.
Tomb in the Water, Telmessos (Fethiye) from 1845
With the east-west trading business gone that transited through these places for millennia, Lycia lost most of its people. The nomadic Turks settled inland with their herds of cows, sheep and goats. The valleys once dominated by large Greek and Roman towns, became sedimented and swampy. Mosquitos were a big issue. The coastal region was generally avoided. Scarcity of food and deadly mosquitos were an unwelcome combination.
Yurook Chief in Xanthos, 1843
The upside of these developments was that the Lycian-Roman sites were largely untouched. Occasionally, an Ottoman nobleman used stones and columns from the ancient sites for a summer palace. But there were neither large military fortifications nor big towns built. Lycia remained in its beauty-sleep from 1522 (conquest of Rhodes by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent) to the 1970s when western tourism started to discover the Turkish Riviera.
Turkoman Hut, 1843
There was one exception though. Nobles from Great Brittain, mostly young men but occasionally also young women, started to explore Lycia. Thanks to international trade and early industrialization, a wealthy upper class had emerged in the United Kingdom which could afford to send their children on the Grand Tour – as part of their education. These kids usually went to Paris, the Cote d’Azur and then toured Italy. Some were braver and went to Greece and Constantinople. The really brave ones went to Anatolia, the Levant and Egypt.
Turkish Mill Chikaey on the River Mage, 1843
The young teenagers were basically the first archeologists, historians and painters who came to this part of Turkey. Their letters, books and paintings give us a good impression how people lived here in the 19th century and how the ancient sites looked like before they were excavated. Not having photography yet – it was only invented at the end of the 19th century – they painted what they saw and brought these paintings home. Many of them are today in the British or the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and tell the story of a very modest life which has been lost. These paintings are today’s blog picturers. I let them speak for themselves.
Head of a Cingari in Xanthus, 1843
We are on the way to Kaunas today – one of the best-preserved Lycian towns. Am going to add a bit more text later.
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