• MAIN PAGE
  • LATEST NEWS
    • Lost Cities
    • Archaeology's Greatest Finds
    • Underwater Discoveries
    • Greatest Inventions
    • Studies
    • Blog
  • PHILOSOPHY
  • HISTORY
  • RELIGIONS
    • Africa
    • Anatolia
    • Arabian Peninsula
    • Balkan Region
    • China - East Asia
    • Europe
    • Eurasian Steppe
    • Levant
    • Mesopotamia
    • Oceania - SE Asia
    • Pre-Columbian Civilizations of America
    • Iranian Plateau - Central Asia
    • Indus Valley - South Asia
    • Japan
    • The Archaeologist Editor Group
    • Scientific Studies
    • Aegean Prehistory
    • Historical Period
    • Byzantine Middle Ages
    • Predynastic Period
    • Dynastic Period
    • Greco-Roman Egypt
  • Rome
  • PALEONTOLOGY
  • About us
Menu

The Archaeologist

  • MAIN PAGE
  • LATEST NEWS
  • DISCOVERIES
    • Lost Cities
    • Archaeology's Greatest Finds
    • Underwater Discoveries
    • Greatest Inventions
    • Studies
    • Blog
  • PHILOSOPHY
  • HISTORY
  • RELIGIONS
  • World Civilizations
    • Africa
    • Anatolia
    • Arabian Peninsula
    • Balkan Region
    • China - East Asia
    • Europe
    • Eurasian Steppe
    • Levant
    • Mesopotamia
    • Oceania - SE Asia
    • Pre-Columbian Civilizations of America
    • Iranian Plateau - Central Asia
    • Indus Valley - South Asia
    • Japan
    • The Archaeologist Editor Group
    • Scientific Studies
  • GREECE
    • Aegean Prehistory
    • Historical Period
    • Byzantine Middle Ages
  • Egypt
    • Predynastic Period
    • Dynastic Period
    • Greco-Roman Egypt
  • Rome
  • PALEONTOLOGY
  • About us

One of the first pictures of the hidden crypt

Mysterious Papyrus found inside a Hidden "Crypt" in Agia Sophia: What do they say?

December 4, 2021

The reason for identifying this special find was the observation of a Muslim believer who went to Hagia Sophia to pray (UNESCO condemned Turkey’s court decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque).

The Muslim saw that a stone about 10 cm long and 30 cm wide had come off a wall and notified the authorities.

Surprised, the police could not believe their eyes when they rushed to the spot, discovering five parchments with Hebrew writing (as they first estimated) hidden in a bag.

The first estimates for the parchments found in a crypt in Hagia Sophia were made by art historian Selçuk Eracun.

"The parchments are not written in Hebrew as originally written," Selçuk Eracun told CNN Turk, adding that "one is written in Romanian and one in runic writing."

"Some parchments contain wishes. The person who wrote the parchment in Romanian wishes good luck to his family. He also writes about his dream of living in America. "There are also the names of the children of his family," he said.

He continued: "The other parchment contains writing similar to the runic alphabet used in Scandinavia."

"As we can see, the parchments are not very old. Those who go to Hagia Sophia to pray, write wishes and leave them. It's a tradition," said the art historian.

"It is not uncommon to find parchments in crypts on the walls, as marble often falls," he concluded.

In Byzantine Middle Ages, Europe
← Kuwait's island of Failaka: Archaeologists have been uncovering a complex history extending back 4,000 years1,600-year-old Byzantine Steelyard Weight found in Turkey’s Ancient City of Hadrianopolis →
Featured
Στιγμιότυπο-οθόνης-2025-07-04-221552-1024x512.png
Jul 14, 2025
Atlantis: Archaeologist Claims to Have Found the Lost City Near Cádiz, Spain
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
download.jpg
Jul 14, 2025
The Forgotten Wonders of Ancient Greece
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
ancient-canoe-replica.jpg
Jul 14, 2025
Ancient Canoe Replica Tests 30,000-Year-Old Migration Theory Across Treacherous Seas
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
boomerang-found-in-pol-3.jpg
Jul 14, 2025
Boomerang Found in Polish Cave May Be the Oldest Ever Discovered – And It's Made from Mammoth Ivory
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
when-ideas-travel-furt.jpg
Jul 14, 2025
When Ideas Traveled Further Than People: New Study Reveals How Farming Spread Across Ancient Anatolia
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
first-hominin-fossils.jpg
Jul 14, 2025
First Hominin Fossils Recovered from Submerged Sundaland: A Game-Changer in Southeast Asia's Human Prehistory
Jul 14, 2025
Read More →
Jul 14, 2025
read more

Powered by The archaeologist