Yazıtlar Işığında Kyzikos'ta Zeus Tapınımı

Özet

Işık, aydınlık, gök ve yıldırımlar tanrısı olan Zeus, Yunan Pantheonu’nda olduğu kadar bir Anadolu kenti olan Kyzikos’ta da sevilmiş ve kültleri oluşturulmuştur. Buradan ele geçen adak stellerinden tanrı Zeus’un altı farklı epitet altında tapınım gördüğü anlaşılmaktadır. Aithrios epiteti ile “Berrak Göğün Zeus’u” olan tanrı, her şeyi görür ve işitir. Bu özelliğinden dolayı işlenen hiçbir suç gözünden kaçmaz. Dağ tanrısı olan “Olbios ve Zeus Bronton ile ilişkili olan Brontaios kültü altında ise tanrı, “Tarımın Koruyucusu” olarak tapınım görmüştür. Megistos ve Hypsistos epitetleri ile Zeus’un, “Ulu ve En Yüce Tanrı” kimliği, “Soteros” epiteti ile de “Kurtarıcı” özelliği vurgulanmıştır. Kyzikos antik kentinde tapınım gören Hypsistos kültünde tanrı için yapılan ritüellerde dans ve müziğin önemli bir yeri olduğu görülürken kurban kesme eylemi yoktur. Diğer beş kültte ise, tanrı için yapılan ritüelde kurban kesme eyleminin var olduğu adak stelleri üzerinde tasvir edilen kabartmalardan anlaşılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada Kyzikos’un inanç sistemine damgasını vuran Zeus ve onun çeşitli isimler altında oluşturulan kültleri yazılı belgeler ışığında tanıtılmaya çalışılacaktır.

Abstract

Zeus, the god of light, sky, and thunder, was liked and cults were created in an Anatolian city, Cyzicus, as much as in Greek world. The fact that Zeus who was the chief god of the Pagan belief in the ancient world, was liked and his cults were created in Cyzicus where Mother Goddess cult is important, is directly related to Cyzicus being a Miletus colony as well as the establishment of this city’s cultural and commercial relationships with important centers in the Aegean world. As a result of these commercial and cultural relationships, people of Cyzicus were influenced by religious beliefs of societies they encountered, and embraced their gods and included these gods in their own world of gods. As they did this, they synthesized these gods into their own belief systems and created a syncretic structure. The best example to illustrate this is Zeus. This god is believed to be Macedonian and is associated with the supreme god, Hypsistos – mountain god- which led to the worship of Zeus Hypsistos in Cyzicus. According to the inscriptions on offering stelae found in Cyzicus and dated between 3rd century B.C.E. and 3rd century C.E., Zeus was worshipped under six different epithets. Generally, these epithets are related to god’s functions of wealth, richness, savior and protector such as Brontaios, Olbios and Soter. The reason for this is that the people of Cyzicus took refuge with and asked for help from this god for their products to be fruitful and not affected by bad weather conditions because Zeus was accepted by people who lived there as one of the most important gods that could resolve these problems and provide productivity. The purpose of this study is to identify the place of Zeus in Cyzicus, worship of him under different epithets and his cults through the inscriptions. Additionally, Zeus cult here will be evaluated as a whole with Zeus cults seen in Anatolia over all.