Ship graffiti in Nikaia Hagia Sophia Church

Nikaia / İznik is city that has preserved the importance of its geographical position from past to the present times. The ship graffiti depicted on the walls of Hagia Sophia Church / Ayasofya (Orhan) Mosque, located in the center of this city, were chosen as the subject of this thesis with the idea of providing an insight into the commercial, political, religious, economic or similar themes from the perspective of the maritime. After the graffiti were examined and identified, they were photographed, drawn and documented. Afterwards, the literature sources were searched and the samples were compared with their similars and the possible samples were classified and dated. In this thesis, which also presents brief information about the structure where graffiti found and the types of ship graffiti, their functions and periods are tried to be transmitted to the reader, and their connection with İznik and the lake were mentioned.