Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The Saint Abercius inscription discovered in 1883 by Scottish archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay in Afyon Sandıklı is known as the oldest inscription that can be dated in the history of Christianity.This inscription was transferred to the Müze-i Hümayun (Imperial Museum) (currently Istanbul Archeology Museum) in Istanbul, and after a while, it was taken under protection, Patriarch Azarian, the leader of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate suggested that it is given as a present to Leo Pope XIII on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary in his profession.Subsequently, this inscription is dispatched to Rome on behalf of the museum as the decree of Sultan Abdülhamid II and the consent of Museum Director Osman Hamdi Bey (February 1893).The interesting thing is that at the same time, Louis Sabuncu, one of the imperial translators, submitted a report to Sultan Abdülhamid II through Monsignor Bonetti, the Pope's envoy in Istanbul, claiming that Patriarch Azarian and Osman Hamdi Bey were acting in collaboration to send the inscription to the Pope.This paper tries to reveal the intriguing case through the archival documents lately found.
Authors: Fatma ÜREKLİ, Kasım HIZLI
Institutions: Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Realtek (Taiwan)
Language: English
Topic: Historical Turkish Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3216262016