Ottoman period ancient headstone in Izmir Beydağ

Beydağ is an old settlement located in the south east of Ödemiş, 30 km from Ödemiş and 130 km from İzmir, on the skirts of Aydın Mountains and in the upper Küçük Menderes basin. From the beginning of Turkish history to the present, the existence of the tradition of the dead and burial has continued with some changes and developments in the historical process. Inscriptions and ancient headstone, which started to gain the identity of works of art in the 18th and 19th centuries, developed together with other branches of art in the following periods. Within the scope of our thesis study, 228 Ottoman era ancient headstone were found and read in 19 neighborhoods of Beydağ district. Their gender could not be known, as 157 of them were male, 69 of them were female, and 2 of them had broken heads and ends.18. There are 42 ancient headstone from the 19th century, 122 from the 19th century, and 63 from the 20th century. After the title and serlevha, there are sometimes short life stories of the deceased, sometimes verse or prose statements about the cause of death, identity and personality. Of the 228 ancient headstones, 148 were written in celi thuluth, 64 in rik'a and 16 in ta'lik. All of the ancient headstones found in Beydağ and its neighborhoods are in the form of vertical rectangles. There are no cylindrical ancient headstones. Most of the male ancient headstones are in the form of headstones, while the footstones are in the form of vertical rectangles and triangles, like the head ones. The women's tombs are generally in the form of a vertical rectangle with a triangular end. Some of them have hills that are shaped according to vegetal decoration. Keywords: Ancient headstone, Ottoman Period, Izmir, Beydag, Inscription, Calligraphy