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Batman is a city in Southeastern Anatolia. It has little to offer visitors, but I couldn’t help seeing a city that shares a name with a certain superhero.
Introduction to Batman
Batman was little more than a village until April 20, 1940, when oil was discovered nearby. An influx of workers brought rapid development that started in the 1950s and continued for over 50 years. The population has since multiplied to 150 times its original size, and multi-story buildings have replaced the modest one-story homes. In addition to oil, the city is a major manufacturing center.
Batman is a Kurdish majority city. It’s modern and friendly but as previously mentioned there’s very little to see. We stayed overnight in the city and took the time to explore the few attractions in the morning before heading to Hasankeyf.
Getting to Batman
Batman Airport (Batman Havalimanı) has regularly scheduled flights to both airports in Istanbul as well as Ankara (as of September 2024). It’s also well connected to other cities in the region by bus.
Where to Stay in Batman
Thanks to the proximity of the oil fields and frequent business travelers, there are some decent choices for accommodation.
Bozooğulları Hotel
We spent the night at the Bozooğulları Hotel, which is in the heart of the city center. It’s got large comfortable rooms, a friendly staff, and free garage parking. There’s a nice buffet breakfast on the terrace. The air conditioning wasn’t the best in my room, but I survived.
Where to Eat in Batman
There are some decent choices in town but we opted for fast food. We had a long day before arriving so we wanted to keep it simple.
Ercan Burger
We stopped into the Worldmar shopping mall across the street from our hotel and settled on Ercan Burger. They have a decent selection of reasonably priced burgers. The service is a little slow but the burgers were fine. Nothing special, though.
Atatürk Park
Atatürk Park (Atatürk Parkı) is a huge green space at the heart of the city. Named for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), it’s full of shaded paths, benches, small ponds, and monuments. It’s not exactly a family park but it’s a nice place to sit and relax.
In the center of the park is an open space with a monument to the oil industry in the center. There are a few other sculptures around it as well as a fountain.
Batman Museum
The best cultural attraction in town is the Batman Museum (Batman Müzesi), which is located on the northeast corner of the city. It’s open daily and admission is free (as of September 2024). The museum is very nicely presented and doesn’t take a long time to go through.
Indoor Section
The first section of the museum is indoors where there are three exhibition halls. They display roughly 500 artifacts from the Paleolithic Age through the Middle Ages. There’s also a short documentary film about excavations carried out by the museum.
Paleolithic-Neolithic Hall
First is the Paleolithic-Neolithic Hall, which contains artifacts unearthed from several mounds in the region. The most interesting piece is a game set discovered in a burial at Başur Mound dated to the 3rd millennium BC. It consists of 39 pieces of various colors and types of stone, and was played by two people. It may be the oldest game set ever discovered in the Near East, and proves the early existence of games based on logic and mathematics.
Ilısu Hall
Further along is the Ilısu Hall, which contains finds from seven different sites flooded by the Ilısu Dam Reservoir in Batman and Siirt provinces. They include burial offerings, terracotta jugs and vessels, and bronze weapons. They were discovered at Başur Mound, Gre Amer Mound, Kuriki Mound, and Çemi Alo Ridge, among others.
Hasankeyf Hall
Finally is the Hasankeyf Hall, which features finds from the historic city of Hasankeyf. It was one of the most important cities in the region from the 10th through the 17th century. Artifacts include Iznik porcelain, unglazed ceramics, chamber pots, and jewelry. Most of them date to the Middle Ages.
In the same room is a necklace depicting the ancient Egyptian god Bes and a few artifacts from Çattepe, or Tell Fafan, which is now submerged. Tell Fafan was an important port on the Tigris River during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Goods were transferred from the port through Mosul to Baghdad. It was burned down and the people were slaughtered in 915-916. After this event, Hasankeyf became the capital of the region.
Garden
The garden of the Batman Museum contains a collection of models of living spaces and burial mounds. It’s one of the first projects of its kind in Turkey. It also includes an excavation area to educate children and students on the process of archaeological excavations. Practical excavations are overseen by archaeologists.
Examples of Homes and Burials
First is a model of a home from Gusir Mound. The families would live with their loved ones buried underneath their homes, ensuring their memories would stay close.
Next are examples of burials from Gre Amer and Çemi Alo. The Gre Amer cemetery dates to the 5th century BC and consists of cist graves lined with flat rectangular stones and covered by large slabs. In Çemi Alo, the dead were laid on their right side and buried in pithoi, or jars with a wide mouth and flat base. Nearby is a large version of the game set from Başur Mound seen in the museum.
Continuing along the path is an example of a Gre Amer house, dating between 750 to 600 BC. Gre Amer homes were made of stone and consisted of a rectangular room with a terrace in front. They probably had an upper floor made of mud brick. The main room had an earthen floor and a large stone in the middle, likely to hold a timber column to support the roof. The roof was covered with earth supported by timber beams and branches or reeds.
Nearby is an example of a mud brick house. They were used in Mesopotamia as early as the 9th millennium BC. Straw was often added to a mixture of mud and water to make the bricks stronger. The mixture was then poured and pressed into wooden molds and left to dry in the sun.
Hasankeyf Section
The final section in the garden is the Hasankeyf section, which is an ethnographic exhibit on life in Hasankeyf. The section is entered through a replica of the Second Gate of Hasankeyf Castle. It was one of five gates around the citadel and featured a lion figure thought to date to the Artuqid period. The gate collapsed after a storm in 1992 but was photographed in detail by English traveler Gertrude Bell (1868-1926).
The section includes examples of different tools residents of Hasankeyf would use for agriculture, including grinding stones, and an esfand processor. Esfand is a plant with white flowers and seeds used for folk medicine, incense, and ornaments. It’s believed to help prevent the evil eye.
Also included is a vertical weaving loom with a design dating back to 2000 BC as well as pottery kilns. Hasankeyf kilns were constructed with two levels. They’re oval shaped with an underground fireplace and a domed firing area above. The kilns were found both outdoors and within buildings.
Finally, you’ll find some examples of Hasankeyf graves. Many graves feature inscriptions and stones at the head and feet decorated with flower engravings.
