Saints and Tombs of Eskişehir

Şücâüddin Velî

A leading Kalenderî sheikh of the Abdalân-ı Rûm, active from the end of Bayezid I's reign through Mehmed I and Murad II (late 14th-early 15th c.). Also called 'Sultan Varlığı' and 'Şücâüddin Baba', he is greatly revered today among Alevi-Bektaşi communities. His tomb stands in Arslanbeyli (Aslanbey) village, 6 km from Seyitgazi, which bore his name until 1968; the octagonal domed tomb was built in 921 (1515) by Kasım Bey. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi; Eskişehir Provincial Directorate of Culture & Tourism.)

Üryan Baba

A scantily-clad (üryan) Kalenderî sheikh remembered within the Kalenderî-Bektaşi cult milieu of the Seyitgazi region; the person buried in the tomb is most probably Ahmed Üryan Baba, caliph of Sultan Şücâüddin. His exact identity and death date are not documented. The lodge and tomb are in Yazıdere village (formerly 'Üryan Baba'), 6-7 km northeast of Seyitgazi; the small complex of a square domed tomb and a soup-kitchen dates to the 16th century (c. 1511-1517). (Sources: D. Altınsapan et al., Journal of Turkish Culture & Hacı Bektaş Velî Research; Eskişehir Provincial Directorate / Cultural Inventory.)

Sheikh Şehâbeddin Sühreverdî (Odunpazarı)

A Sufi figure remembered as the founder/sheikh of the lodge (Salı Tekkesi) in Odunpazarı, Eskişehir, held to date from the Anatolian Seljuk period. His exact death date and identity are uncertain as no inscription survives. Only the tomb remains, containing two uninscribed cenotaphs attributed to Şeyh Şehâbeddin and his son Şeyh Muhiddin; it was repaired in 1984 and restored by the General Directorate of Foundations in 2009. (Note: this Odunpazarı tomb is distinct from the TDV-catalogued Şehâbeddin Sühreverdî complex in Konya Ereğli.) (Sources: Eskişehir Provincial Directorate of Culture & Tourism; Cultural Inventory, KE 192112.)

Sayyid Battal Ghazi

(may God be pleased with him)

A historical commander of the Umayyad-Byzantine wars who became, in the Turkish epic tradition, a warrior-saint . His real name was Abdullah . Battal is not a name but an epithet denoting his martial prowess. The sources differ about his patronymic and the origin of his family: some say he was of Arab descent; Ibn al-Athīr, on the other hand, holds that he descended from manumitted clients attached to the Umayyads. He was active in the eighth century under Umayyad rule, and particularly between 717 and 740 , in the Umayyad-Byzantine conflicts in Anatolia. He is likely to have taken part in the siege of Constantinople of 717 under the command of Maslama b. Abd al-Malik. His campaigns are concentrated on Caesarea, Afyon and Eskişehir and on the regions of al-Jazīra and Syria — that is, in the places where Byzantine-Muslim warfare actually occurred. He fell a martyr around 740 at Akroinon, near present-day Seyitgazi (Eskişehir), fighting against Byzantine forces. His Circle of Influence — Turkish sources, and particularly the Battalnâme , thought to have been composed between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, transformed this Arab commander into a classic Turkish epic hero . Kalenderî, Bektashi and Alevi circles venerated him as a warrior-saint . His Tomb and Complex — The "discovery" of his grave in the Seljuk period — attributed to a dream seen by the mother of Alâeddin Keykubad — set in motion the building of a shrine and a culture of pilgrimage, and in time the settlement of Seyitgazi grew up around this centre.