Asma ve üzüm (vine leaf and grape cluster)
Harvest and plenty: in the god’s hand at İvriz, on the cypress branch in İznik tiles.
What does it mean?
On the İvriz relief at Konya Ereğli (8th century BC), King Warpalawas of Tuwana prays before the storm god Tarhunzas; the god’s skirt is bordered with grape clusters, and he holds wheat ears rising from the ground in one hand and grape clusters in the other. Grain and vine stand for agricultural plenty, and the scene points to harvest time [1]. Some researchers write that it is the king who offers the wheat and grapes to the god [2]. In sixteenth-century İznik tiles, grapes appear as a single cluster hanging from a blossoming branch, in borders, and as a vine climbing a cypress; fruit imagery recalls the blessings of paradise [3].
Same theme
Sources
- Batın Seçilmiş, “Ereğli ve Çevresinin Hitit ve Geç Hitit Dönemlerindeki Dinî Kültürü”, bitig Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 4(8), 2024
- Semiha Altıer, “Anadolu Türk Kültüründe Buğday/Başak ve Görsel Dile Aktarımı”, Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi 12, 2022
- Aziz Doğanay, “XVI. Yüzyıl İznik Duvar Çinilerinde Meyve Tasvirleri”, M.Ü. İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 24, 2003
Drawing: Bitki Tabanı, interpreted from the traditional motif.