The flood disaster that affected Şanlıurfa on Wednesday, March 15, also hit Balıklıgöl. The flood caused by the heavy rain caused the historical Balıklıgöl to overflow. On the other hand, the story of Balıklıgöl became one of the topics of interest after this event. According to historical and scientific data, Balıklıgöl pools are ancient pagan temples built for the goddess Atargatis, who is half woman half fish. So, where is Balıklı Göl, in which province? Here is the information about the legend of Balıklıgöl…
Balıklıgöl (Ayn-i Zeliha and Halil-Ür Rahman Lakes), these two lakes located in the southwest of Şanlıurfa city center and believed to have been thrown into the fire by the Prophet Abraham, is one of the most visited places in Şanlıurfa with its mythologically sacred fish for the Islamic world and the historical artifacts around it. It is one of the historical places.
According to historical and scientific data, Balıklıgöl pools are ancient pagan (pagan) temples built for the goddess Atargatis, who is half woman half fish. It is estimated that it was built at an uncertain date between 1000-300 BC. Today, in Israel, Lebanon and Syria, there are fish ponds dedicated to the goddess Atargatis, where it is forbidden to touch and eat the fish.
Apart from Islamic mythology, there are also Jewish and Christian mythologies on the Balıklıgöl plateau.
While swimming and swimming competitions were held in the lakes until the 1970s, after the 1970s, the lake was given a sacred name and swimming in the lakes and eating their fish were prohibited. Today, many Islamic researchers have firmly accepted that the Islamic mythology of Balıklıgöl is a superstition and a fabrication, and that the pools belong to ancient pagan temples.
It is said among the people that the fish in it is sacred and those who eat the fish get sick. There is a species of mustachioed carp in the lake. Since the caviar of this species is poisonous, it is inconvenient for human health to be eaten.
It achieved its present appearance with the restoration of the 'Dergah and Balıklıgöl Landscaping Project' designed by Architect Merih Karaaslan under the consultancy of Architect Behruz Çinici. The project started in 1992 and most of it was completed in 2000. Today, it is undergoing partial restorations under the same project name.
The legend of Balıklıgöl and its known history!
When Prophet Abraham started to fight the cruel ruler of the time, Nemrut (Babylonian ruler) and the idols worshiped by his people, and defended the idea of one god, he was thrown into the fire by Nemrut from the hill where today's Urfa Castle is located. At this time, the command "O fire, be cool and safe for Abraham" is given to the fire by Allah. Upon this order, fire turns into water and wood turns into fish. İbrahim falls right into a rose garden. The place where Ibrahim fell is Halilü'r-Rahman Lake. According to the rumor, Zeliha, Nemrut's daughter, also believes in İbrahim and jumps after him. Ayn-i Zeliha Lake was formed where Zeliha fell.
There are no verses or hadiths about this event in the Quran and Hadith books. It is a narrative that emerged between 1900-1960 by the people of Urfa by making additions from Jewish mythology to Islamic mythology. Jewish mythology only says that Abraham survived the fire in Urfa. This event was experienced in Balıklıgöl by the Muslims of Urfa and castle columns (catapults), pool and fish were added to the mite. Additionally, he claims that İbrahim was born in a cave (İbrahim Cave) on the Balıklıgöl plateau. The narratives in Islamic mythology coincide with 5 different states on different dates and contain great historical contradictions.
scientific history
Şanlıurfa is a city with the oldest settlements in Anatolia. Ebla, Akkad, Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, Aramaic, Assyrian, Persian, Macedonian, Osroene, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbasid, Akkoyunlu and Ottoman states and empires ruled in the lands of Urfa, which has a history of 12.000 years.
The region called Balıklıgöl Plateau also has a history of 12.000 years. The oldest historical find about the plateau is the statue named Urfa Man, which was found in the excavations around Balıklıgöl. It has been determined that the statue dates back to 9.000 – 10.000 BC. The oldest structures on the plateau belong to the Osroene Kingdom, which ruled the region between 132 BC and 242 AD. There are temples, palaces and important structures belonging to the kingdom. After the Osroene Kingdom, the region remained under Roman and Byzantine rule for a long time. Important water structures were built in the region, which remained under Roman and Byzantine rule for about 600 years.
During the times of Roman and Byzantine rule, great floods were experienced in Şanlıurfa. The river beds that cause flooding are the river beds where Balıklıgöl is still fed today. These fluvial beds consist of Eocene limestones. Over time, these sources were turned into pools by ancient states as offerings to pagan religions.
In the 6th century AD, the waters collected from the heavy rains combined with the streams in the region and poured into the Balıklıgöl basin. As a result of the great flood in 525, the Balıklıgöl basin collected large amounts of water and destroyed the palaces and other structures on the plateau. It resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Sitting on the throne of the Byzantine Empire in 527, Justinian I sent engineers to Urfa, which was then called Edessa. These engineers built flood prevention structures that still exist today. By changing the direction of the water collected from the streams, the Balıklıgöl plateau was saved from large floods. The local people named the city Justinianopolis because of the help of Justinian I.
Until the 1970s, swimming in the ponds and swimming races were held. After the 1970s, ponds were given sacred ownership and swimming in the lake and eating their fish were prohibited. In a photograph belonging to Fenerbahçe football player Lefter, who visited Urfa in the 1950s, it is seen that the people are swimming in the ponds.
Construction date of the pools
Since the possibility of archaeological excavations and research on the Balıklıgöl plateau is limited, it is not known exactly which state and when the pools were built. When Alexander the Great took the present-day Urfa region from the Persians in 331 BC, Pagan religious belief centered on the Goddess Atargatis was widespread in the region. There were also fish-pond temples dedicated to Atargatis in northern Syria, Israel and Lebanon. In these places, the fish in the pond was sacred and forbidden to eat. After Alexander the Great conquered the city, the city was named Edessa, meaning 'Plenty of Water', by the commander of Alexander the Great, Seleukus I. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Osroene Kingdom was established in the Urfa region. Looking at the historical documents, it is seen that the Osroene Kingdom also continued the pagan religion centered on Atargatis.
5th century BC. According to two Roman and Syriac texts found in the 2nd and 300nd century AD, Pagan priests in Ancient Greece and Ancient Urfa regions worshiped the Goddess Atargatis, castrated themselves, and rendered religious services in the form of a fish-tailed woman. In the Syriac document found in XNUMX AD; After becoming a Christian, King Abgar V of Osroene ordered that men who castrated him cut off their hands. After the incident, the pagan priests stopped castrating themselves.
Goddess Atargatis
Balıklıgöl pools are ancient pagan temples built for the goddess Atargatis between 1000-300 BC. Atargatis was the chief goddess of Northern Syria in Classical Antiquity. He is the figure of a pagan religion that spread from ancient Syria to ancient Greece, thanks to traders. The Romans named the goddess Derketo, Dea Syria, Deasura. The wife of the goddess Atargatis is also an ancient god and her name is Hadad. The central temples of these two gods are in Manbij, present-day Northern Syria. Statues and coins dedicated to Atargatis have been found in many ancient states in Europe and the Middle East.
The mythological theme of Atargatis is the fertility of life in the water, love, sexuality and fertility. She is therefore a goddess identified with fish and pigeons. When the existing sculptures were examined, it was seen that they were mostly depicted in the form of Fish Goddess or Mermaid. The origin of the goddess goes back to the Bronze Age. It emerged in the ancient state of Ugarit and evolved into the religious culture of the later states.
According to historians Diodoros (1st century BC) and Ctesias (5th century BC), the legend of goddess Atargatis is as follows; Atargatis had a forbidden love and gave birth to a daughter. Atargatis was ashamed of this event and threw himself into a lake. Her body has turned into fish in the lake, she. Pigeons fed her daughter. In the book of the ancient Greek historian Athenaeus (2nd century AD), Syrians worship pigeons and do not eat fish. Because Atargatis has forbidden to eat fish.
There are ponds with fish in which it is forbidden to touch the fish in the historical Ashkelon, Syria, Manbij and Lebanon within the borders of today's Israel. Although Balıklıgöl is known for its fish ponds, there are also many pigeons in the courtyards of the mosques in the plateau. These pigeons are given as much sacred belonging as the fish. There are pools for these pigeons in the courtyards of the mosques and there are special sheltered areas for the pigeons to feed and drink water.
Culturally, pigeon breeding is still practiced in Urfa and Syria.