Erkmen Senan's Writings: Tatta – Tatta Lacus – Attaia – Salt Lake

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NOTE: The text and pictures are copied verbatim from the blog page of Ahmet Erkmen Senan, a painter, teacher, archaeology lover, blogger, traveler, resident of Karşıyaka, academician, revolutionary, activist, actor, joker, comrade, friend, relative, lover, sibling, child… who passed away on March 27, 2013 .

Our goal in directly copying the article is to respect Erkmen Senan's work and to ensure that his excellent content reaches a wider audience. Since we were unable to find anyone to obtain permission for the author's content, we felt it our duty to post this announcement here. You can find related images on the site below.

Source: https://erkmensenan.blogspot.com/

Its name in ancient records is Ancient Tatta/Attaia… Atta, there are many ancient place names in Anatolia starting with Ta. Attaliea/Antalya, Attaea/Dikili, Bahçeliköy, Attoudda/Denizli/Hisarköy, abbreviations like Teos/Sığacık, Seferihisar, Teion/Hisarönü. In Luwian and subsequent languages, it is a name emphasizing Baba and the Pagan Priest, Kam. Tatta/Attaia; But the Salt Lake that has now dried up. Strabo of Amasya, the author of Geographica, says about Tatta/Salt Lake; Tatta Lake is a natural salt pool; The water freezes so quickly around anything that is put into it that the people here put rings made of rope into it and after a short while they take them out in the form of wreaths of salt and because of the precipitation of the salt, the birds that touch the water with their wings immediately fall there and are caught in this way. Friedrich SARRE's book, THE ASIA MINOR TRAVEL (SUMMER 1895), touches upon SALT LAKE at length with a very effective translation by Ms. DARA ÇOLAKOĞLU. He says, "Then, accompanied by a police officer, we went to the lakeshore about half an hour away. The dried-up lake had receded by about a meter. To reach the actual lake water, we first walked for about 20 minutes on a clayey surface covered with a layer of salt, and then for five minutes on a hard layer of salt. Here we encountered an astonishing sight. At the bottom of the pristine, clear water, a snow-white crystalline floor was visible. The endless surface of the water stretched before us, motionless, with no clear boundaries to the north or southeast. Only the silhouette of a distant mountain range was faintly discernible to the east, but here too, the water's end line was indistinguishable. And when we turned back, the lakeshore had disappeared, and a darker shoreline hung suspended above a boundless snow slope. The cloudless, clear, deep blue sky hung over this strange landscape, and the dazzling rays of the already-risen sun shone dazzlingly on the crystalline water surface and the white border surrounding it. As far as the eye could see, No birds were to be seen anywhere, and everything living in nature seemed to have died. According to the zaptiye who accompanied us, the average depth of the lake was knee-deep, and at its deepest point, it rose only to the hips. Some bushes we found looked as if they were covered with granulated sugar; we also found a bird, a snail, and a few insects. Because the animals were covered with a crystalline coating, they lay perfectly still on the ground. The zaptiye anxiously kept watch to ensure we would not take even a large piece of salt and thus not harm the regime. The oval-shaped Great Salt Lake, called "TATUS LACUS" by the Romans, extends from northwest to southeast. Its bed is said to cover 1,700 square kilometers. The Great Salt Lake is where many rivers from all directions meet, the most important of which is the Beyaz Su (White Water), which flows southeast, near Aksaray. This lake, like all outletless basins, is salty. The rivers that flow into the lake carry salty substances with them, and when the amount of water evaporates, the salt remains. Over time, so much salt accumulates that the lake water reaches full saturation and crystallization begins. According to recent research, the lake's salt content is 32.2%, and this density is higher than the salt density seen in all other inland seas; for example, this ratio is only 21.7.” To be continued. SOURCES: ASIA MINOR TRAVEL: FRİEDRİCH SARRE (1895 Summer) Translated by: DARA ÇOLAKOĞLU Pera Publications-1998 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ANATOLIA: VELİ SEVİN-TURKISH HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Publications-2003 HISTORICAL NAMES IN TURKEY: BİLGE UMAR-İNKİLAP PUBLICATIONS-1993 GEOGRAPHİKA/ANCIENT ANATOLIAN GEOGRAPHY: STRABO-ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART PUBLICATIONS-2000

The photographs belong to my esteemed photographer friend Arman İspiroğlu. I would like to thank him very much.