Between pragmatism and ideology: spolia and spoliation practices in Byzantine and Seljuk Ankara

Abstract

This thesis delves into the multifaceted phenomenon of spolia - the reuse of architectural elements from earlier structures into new premises - within the context of Ankara, Turkey. This work examines the possible practical and symbolic connotations embedded in the object and how people of the past perceived space, specifically between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Through an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on art history, archaeology, digital tools and a comparative methodology, this piece examines spolia integrated into the walls and gates of the Ankara Castle and two thirteenth-century Rum Seljuk mosques of Ankara, namely Aslanhane and Alaeddin. The careful selection of these cases stems from a research gap in existing research regarding the centralized focus of spolia use in Western civilizations. Therefore, this work also adopts a diachronic perspective, trying to understand the use of spolia for the civilizations of the so-called East. Considering all these, this work argues that reuse practices were complex and harmonized with both practical and symbolic attributes. This statement is called under scrutiny by utilizing literary and material sources.