Azra Erhat (4 June 1915 â 6 September 1982) was a Turkish author, archaeologist, academic, classical philologist, and translator. A pioneer of Turkish Humanism, Azra Erhat is especially well known for her published works, including many translations into Turkish from the classical literature of Ancient Greece.
Azra Erhat was born on 4 June 1915 in à Âià Âli, Istanbul. Her parents were Tevfik Bey and Nasibe Hanñm. Nakibe and her sister, Mukbile, were the children of Fatma Hanñm and Fadñl Bey. Fadñl Bey (1857-1938) was born in Salonica (modern-day Thessaloniki), today in Greece, where she completed his primary and secondary education before traveling to Istanbul, where he graduated from law school. Working as a lawyer while splitting his time between Istanbul and Salonica, Fadñl and his wife, Fatma, eventually settled down in Büyükada Island, Istanbul Province, in 1923.
The period of Azra ErhatâÂÂs birth was a time of upheaval, coinciding with the occupation of Constantinople by British, French, and Italian forces. She moved with her parents to ðzmir in 1922 and to Vienna, Austria in 1924, when her father's work was transferred there. Erhat received two years of primary education in Volksschule, Vienna, before her father's work necessitated another move, this time to Brussels, Belgium. There she completed primary school and then attended Emile Jacqmain High School () where she gained a strong interest in literature while studying French, Flemish, Latin, and Ancient Greek. When Erhat's father died in 1932, Azra stayed in Brussels at a friend's home to complete high school while her family moved back to Istanbul. Finishing with the highest achievement level ('), she then rejoined her family in Istanbul. In 1934 Azra entered the Istanbul University Faculty of Arts degree, where her most influential instructor was the Austrian romance philologist and prolific literary critic, Leo Spitzer. Introducing Erhat to Professor George Rodhe of Ankara University in 1936, Spitzer recommended Azra for a student-assistant position translating Rodhe's lessons from French, German, Latin, and Greek content into Turkish. On September 1, 1936, Erhat accepted the offer and transferred to the newly inaugurated Department of Classical Philology of the Faculty of Languages, History, and Geography at Ankara University. Working as a student-translator-assistant up to and beyond graduation in 1939, she continued as an assistant in the University's Department of Classical Philology and became an associate professor in 1946. During this same period, Azra also worked in the Translation Office established by Minister of Education Hasan Ali Yücel with fellow Turkish Humanism pioneers Sabahattin EyüboÃÂlu, Vedat Günyol (), Orhan Burian (), and Saffet Korkut, establishing close friendships with them. In 1945, separately and together with Orhan Veli, she translated and published many works from Homer, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Plato.
With the departure of Hasan Ali Yücel as TurkeyâÂÂs minister of education following the 1946 elections, the political atmosphere began changing in the Department of Education. In 1948, during a cleansing of left-leaning thinkers, Erhat and fellow faculty members, including Pertev Naili Boratav, Behice Boran, Adnan Cemgil (), and Niyazi Berkes, were dismissed from Ankara University. Returning to Istanbul, Erhat continued working from 1949 to 1955 as a translator, an art critic, and news reporter, when she received a position with the Turkish daily newspaper, Vatan, where she worked until 1956. From 1956 until her retirement in 1975, Erhat worked in the library of the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) Near and Middle East Center. In 1971, Erhat, Sabahattin EyüboÃÂlu, and Vedat Günyol were arrested and charged with violating Article 141 of the Turkish Criminal Code (establishing a secret communist organization) during the coup dâÂÂetat of March 12 1971 Turkish military memorandum. Detained for 4 months in the Maltepe Military Prison, Erhat and her companions were released in the first legal session. While she was unable to work throughout the one and a half years until her lawsuit was finally closed, the ILO supported Erhat and protected her staff.
The years between 1956 and 1982 are considered Erhat's most prominent period, with the publication of many literary works during this time. Individual works and others she collaborated on with Sabahattin EyüboÃÂlu were published in New Horizons Magazine ('). In collaboration with Ibrahim Abdulkadir Mericboyu, alias/pen-name A. Kadir, Erhat translated Homer's Iliad, winning the Habib Törehan Science Award in 1959 for Volume 1, and the Turkish Language Association Translation Award in 1961 for Volume 3. Erhat's translation of Homer's Odyssey was published in 1970, her Dictionary of Mythology (') was published in 1972, and her Ph.D. thesis provided the material published in collaboration with Cengiz Bektaà  in 1978 entitled, Conversations and Poetry on Sappho ('). Azra Erhat also occasionally wrote under the pseudonym Ayà Âe Nur.
On September 6, 1982, after unsuccessful treatment in London for cancer, Azra Erhat died in Istanbul at age 67. Her body was buried at the Bülbüldere Cemetery in ÃÂsküdar, Istanbul.
Following ErhatâÂÂs death, her books were endowed to Anadolu University, with a collection created in her memory. In 1983, in honor of ErhatâÂÂs significant contribution to Classical Literature translations, Yazko a Turkish journal of translation, began offering a literary award in her name.
Erhat's Turkish translations of HomerâÂÂs Iliad and Odyssey remain influential in the study of classical literature in Turkey. Scholars have noted that her writing style focuses on accessibility for readers unable to access the original Greek texts. Her work is also recognized for integrating Anatolian cultural identity into the translation of Western epics.
In the Introduction to her ðà Âte ðnsan (Ecce Homo), Azra writes in Turkish:<blockquote>Büyük tuttum bu ià Âi: dört yñllñk düà Âüncemi, yaà Âantñmñ bir kitaba sñÃÂdñrmak isterdim. Homeros'ta insan dedim yola çñktñm, beden ruh ikiliÃÂi dikildi karà Âñma, aldñm inceledim; derken Platon'un insan anlayñà Âñ, toplum görüà Âü çeldi aklñmñ, onu da kavrayayñm derken açñldñm uçsuz bucaksñz bir düà Âünce alanñna. ÃÂzgürlük, mutluluk, insancñlñk... Sorunlar, saçlarñ altñn tellerle örülmÃ¼à  Ã¶cüler gibi çekti sürükledi beni oradan oraya. (...) Bir desteÃÂim vardñ: Yaà Âantñya olan güvenim. ðnsanñ mñ konu edindim: insan gibi yaà Âayayñm kendimi vere vere, dolu dizgin, coà Âkunca yaà Âayayñm ki insanñ anlayayñm, insanñ söyleyebileyim. (...) Sevgiyi ahlak edindim kendime. ðnsancñlñÃÂñ yalnñz sevgide gördüm ve sevgiden bekledim, kitabñmñ satñr satñr yazdñrsñn bana. Yanñlmadñm da: Ecce Homo'yu bana sevgi yazdñrdñ.</blockquote><blockquote>(From the same webpage translated to English by Google Translate:) I've kept this great job: four years of thought, I want to fit my life in a book. In Homer, I went on the road, body soul duality was erected, and I looked at it; Plato's human understanding, society, the wisdom of my mind, I understand it, I opened up to an immense field of thought. Freedom, happiness, humanity ... Problems, hairs woven with gold wires attracted the dangers pulled me from there. (...) I had a support: I have confidence in life. I've made a human being: I live like a human, I want to live a full, full of enthusiasm, let me understand the human, I can say human. I saw humanity in love alone and waited for love, let me print my book in line by line. I wasn't mistaken: Ecce Homo wrote me with love.</blockquote>
Strongly connected with her activities as a writer and translator, ErhatâÂÂs recreational activities likewise significantly impacted the rising trend of Westernization in Kemal AtatürkâÂÂs newly-formed Republic of Turkey. Together with fellow authors Cevat à Âakir KabaaÃÂaçlñ, alias/pen-name The Fisherman of Halicarnassus ('), and Sabahattin EyüboÃÂlu, Azra Erhat is considered an originator of the literary and touristic term, Blue Cruise ('). Used in Turkey's tourism industry, the name Blue Cruise (or Blue Voyage) is the title of ErhatâÂÂs travelogue, Mavi Yolculuk, originally published in 1962 and republished in 2005.
Cevat à Âakir KabaaÃÂaçlñ, sentenced in 1925 to a 3-year exile to Bodrum found this sleepy fishing village known in antiquity as Halicarnassus so charming that, long after his exile ended, he returned to settle down there. Convincing his closest friends and fellow members of the Turkish intelligentsia of the unspoiled beauties of the shoreline and rural environment of Bodrum, authors Sabahattin EyüboÃÂlu, Azra Erhat, and others soon joined Cevat, who had renamed himself Halikarnas Balñkçñsñ (the Fisherman of Halicarnassus). In the coming decades, the close friends would enjoy many long sailing trips together in the local sponge divers' sailing boats, called gulets. Finding herself immersed in a lush natural landscape seemingly unchanged since antiquity, Erhat viewed her surroundings as âÂÂthe scenes of historical and mythological events.â Expressing her strong belief that Anatolia gave birth to Western civilization, Erhat charmed her companions (and soon her readers) with detailed discussions from Classical Literature on Halicarnassus, Troy, Pergamum, Ephesus, and other famous Anatolian sites of Ancient Greece.
Especially with the 1962 release of ErhatâÂÂs popular travel book, Mavi Yolculuk (Blue Cruise), and articles written by Erhat and her colleagues at New Horizons Magazine ('), the Turkish reading public began flocking to this region. Guidebooks were published in both Turkish and German and soon the Turquoise Coast became an international tourist destination that is still famous today for Blue Cruises.
Enduring until the end of their lives, the relationship between Azra Erhat and the Fisherman of Halicarnassus (') blossomed into a love story regularly nourished by Blue Cruises when they were together and thousands of letters written to each other when they were apart. After Halikarnas Balñkçñsñ died in 1972, with his prior permission, Erhat published a collection of his letters in her 1976 book, Letters of the Fisherman of Halicarnassus (').
Azra Erhat has written 104 works in 307 publications in 2 languages and 633 library holdings, according to WorldCat Identities. Among her more popular books, WorldCat notes, Mektuplarñyle Halikarnas Balñkçñsñ (Letters of the Halicarnassus Fisherman), has had âÂÂ15 editions published between 1976 and 2002 in Turkish and held by 43 WorldCat member libraries worldwide,â and Mitoloji sözlüÃÂü (English: Dictionary of Mythology), with âÂÂ20 editions published between 1972 and 2011 in Turkish and âÂÂundeterminedâ and held by 40 WorldCat member libraries worldwide.âÂÂ