Eastern Mediterranean Port Cities

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Introduction

   • Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu, Eyüp Özveren

   Pages 1-16

3. The Mediterranean Idea: From the Roman Mare Nostrum to the Book of the Sea by Naḥum Slouschz (1948)

   • Alisa Ginio

   Pages 17-28

4. Mediterranean as a Supra-Regional Interaction Sphere During Late Prehistory: An Overview on Problems and Prospects

   • Mehmet Özdoğan

   Pages 29-51

5. Settlements in the Hellenistic Period in Cilicia

   • Ümit Aydınoğlu

   Pages 53-62

6. Anthroscapes: A Robust Basis for Mapping Land Quality and Sustainable Land Use Patterns

   • Selim Kapur, Erhan Akça, Claudio Zucca, Suha Berberoğlu, Somayyeh Razzaghi Miavaghi

   Pages 63-77

7. Visible/Invisible: Sanctity, History and Topography in Tarsus

   • Oya Pancaroğlu

   Pages 79-91

8. Maronites in Mersin Through Its Process of Becoming an Important Port City (the Nineteenth and the Twentieth Century)

   • Şerife Yorulmaz

   Pages 93-109

9. The Greek-Orthodox Community of Mersin (Mid-Nineteenth Century to 1921)

   • Evangelia Balta

   Pages 111-125

10. Where Have All the Egyptian Fellahin Gone? Labor in Mersin and Çukurova (Second Half of the Nineteenth Century)

    • Ehud R. Toledano

    Pages 127-142

11. Why Did the German Levantine Cotton Company Settle in Cilicia?

    • A. Halis Akder

    Pages 143-153

12. The Port of Mersin from the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth Century

    • Tülin Selvi Ünlü, Melike Kayam

    Pages 155-177

13. Entrepreneurial Spirit and Modernization of a Port City: The Case of Mersin

    • Burak Beyhan

    Pages 179-203

14. Adana-Mersin Railway Station Buildings: A Cross-Section of the Nineteenth Century Ottoman Architecture

    • Mustafa Servet Akpolat

    Pages 205-219

15. Changes to Urban Form in Eastern Mediterranean Port Cities: Formation and Transformation of the Çamlıbel Neighborhood in Mersin

    • Tolga Ünlü

    Pages 221-239

16. The Denizens’ Turn

    • Tülin Selvi Ünlü

    Pages 241-259

This book surveys the historical development, current problems and likely prospects for Eastern Mediterranean port cities, providing contributions from scholars from various disciplines, such as archaeologists, historians, economists, urban planners and architects. By studying the city of Mersin and the surrounding area, it offers insights into the changing nature of Eastern Mediterranean port cities.


The first part of the book discusses the approaches to the Mediterranean World, from the late prehistory to the present, and questions the implications of the values inherited from the past for a sustainable future. The second part then examines the social structure of Eastern Mediterranean port cities presenting an in-depth study of different ethnic groups and communities. In the third part the changing physical structure of these cities is elucidated from the perspectives of archaeology, architecture, and urban planning. The last part focuses on urbanmemory through a detailed study based on live recordings of original accounts by the local people. 


The book benefits prospective researchers in the field of Mediterranean studies, archaeology, history, economic history, architecture and urban planning.

• Mediterranean World
• Eastern Mediterranean Port Cities
• Urban Memory
• Urban History
• Mersin
• landscape/regional and urban planning

• Vehbi Koç Ankara Studies Research Center, Koç University, Ankara, Turkey

  Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu

• Department of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

  Eyüp Özveren

• Center for Mediterranean Urban Studies, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey

  Tülin Selvi Ünlü

Dr. Filiz Yenişehiroğlu is a faculty member at the Department of Art History of Koç University. She also serves as director of Vehbi Koç Ankara Studies Research and Application Center in Ankara, Turkey. Her areas of specialty are Ottoman Art, Ottoman architecture, Ottoman ceramic art and popular culture.

Dr. Eyüp Özveren is Professor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (FEAS), Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey. His areas of specialty are economic history, history of economic thought, institutional economics, Mediterranean studies and political economy.

Dr. Tülin Selvi Ünlü is researcher at Mersin University-Center for Mediterranean Urban Studies, Turkey. Her areas of specialty are Eastern Mediterranean port cities and their urban development, urban history, urban memory and oral history.

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