Sarcophagus found in Eskişehir belongs to Nasreddin Hodja

ESKİŞEHİR

A sarcophagus found in the excavation works in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir once belonged to satirist Nasreddin Hodja, an expert has found out.

The marble sarcophagus found during the restoration of the Ulu Mosque in Eskişehir’s Sivrihisar district in 2014 was thought to belong to the son of Nasreddin Hodja, a unique and entertaining character from Turkish folklore.

With the initiatives of Sivrihisar Mayor Hamid Yüzgüllü, the sarcophagus was examined again.

As a result of his philological study on the marble sarcophagus, Mehmet Mahur Tulum, a professor from Anadolu University, determined that the sarcophagus belonged to Nasreddin Hodja, who died in Sivrihisar in 1284, and it reads the names of him and his father, Şemseddin.

The sarcophagus was delivered to the Sivrihisar Municipality.

Noting that there are Arabic inscriptions on the sarcophagus in the style used in the Seljuk period, Tulum said, “This stone also gives us the name of Nasreddin Hodja’s father.”

Last week, Türkiye announced the inclusion of the tradition of telling jokes by Seljuk satirist Nasreddin Hodja on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The number of Türkiye’s cultural elements inscribed on the list has reached 25, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We will continue to cherish and carry our rich oral traditions and expressions into the future and promote our socially-embedded cultural elements, which have a strong and deep-rooted tradition,” it added.