Cappadocia

Cappadocia

] It was not until Rome had deposed the Pontic and Armenian kings that the rule of Ariobarzanes was established (63 BC). In the civil wars Cappadocia was now for Pompey, now for Caesar, now for Antony, now against him. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end and a certain Archelaus reigned in its stead, by favour first of Antony and then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence until AD 17, when the emperor Tiberius, on Archelaus' death in disgrace, reduced Cappadocia at last to a Roman province. Much later it was a region of the Byzantine Empire.

Cappadocia contains several underground cities (see Kaymaklı Underground City), largely used by early Christians as hiding places before they became a legitimate religion. The Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century were integral to much of early Christian philosophy. It also produced, among other people, another Patriarch of Constantinople, John of Cappadocia, who held office 517–520. For most of the Byzantine era it remained relatively undisturbed by the conflicts in the area, first with the Sassanid Empire and later against the Islamic expansion led by Arabs.

Cappadocia shared an always changing relation with the neighbouring Armenia, by that time a region of the Empire. The Arab historian Abu Al Faraj purports the following about Armenian settlers in Sivas, during the 10th century: "Sivas, in Cappadocia, was dominated by the Armenians and their numbers became so many that they became vital members of the imperial armies. These Armenians were used as watch-posts in strong fortresses, taken from the Arabs. They distinguished themselves as experienced infantry soldiers in the imperial army and were constantly fighting with outstanding courage and success by the side of the Romans in other words Byzantine". [Schlumberger, Un Emperor byzantin au X siècle, Paris, Nicéphore Phocas, Paris, 1890, p. 251] As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward from Cilicia into the mountainous areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia. This immigration was increased further after the decline of the local imperial power and the establishment of the Crusader States following the 4th Crusade. Cappadocia became part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, a state formed in the 12th century by Armenian refugees fleeing the Seljuk invasion of Armenia and a close ally of the Crusaders.

Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, various Turkish clans under the leadership of the Seljuks began settling in Anatolia. With the rise of Turkish power in Anatolia, Cappadocia slowly became tributary to the Turkish states that were established to the east and to the west, and some of the population converted to Islam. By the end of the early 12th century, Anatolian Seljuks had established their sole dominance over the region. With the decline and the fall of the Konya-based Seljuks in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually replaced by the Karaman-based Beylik of Karamanoğlu, who themselves were gradually succeeded by the Ottoman Empire over the course of the 15th century. Cappadocia remained part of the Ottoman Empire for the centuries to come, and remains now part of the modern state of Turkey. A fundamental change occurred in between when a new urban center, Nevşehir, was founded in the early 18th century by a grand vizier who was a native of the locality (Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha), to serve as regional capital, a role the city continues to assume to this day.

In the meantime many former Cappadocians had shifted to a Turkish dialect (written in Greek alphabet, "Karamanlıca"), and where the Greek language was maintained (Sille, villages near Kayseri, Pharasa town and other nearby villages), it became heavily influenced by the surrounding Turkish. This dialect of Greek is known as "Cappadocian Greek". Following the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the language is now only spoken by a handful of the former population's descendants in modern Greece.

Modern tourism

The area is a famous and popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic and cultural features.

The region is southwest of the major city Kayseri, which has airline and railroad service to Ankara and Istanbul.

The Cappadocia region is largely underlain by sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately 9 to 3 million years ago (late Miocene to Pliocene epochs). The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. The volcanic deposits are soft rocks that the people of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out to form houses, churches, monasteries. Göreme became a monastic center between 300-1200 AD. First period settlement in Göreme reaches to the Roman period from Christianity. Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, houses and churches carved into rocks till to Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valley carries the mystical side of history today. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. It is a complex comprising more than 30 rock-carved churches and chapels containing some superb frescoes, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries.

Mesothelioma

In 1975 a study from three small villages in central Cappadocia—Tuzköy, Karain and Sarhdr—found that mesothelioma cases caused 50% of all deaths. Initially, this was attributed to erionite, a mineral with similar properties to asbestos, but detailed epidemiological investigation demonstrated that the substance causes the disease mostly in families with a genetic predisposition to mineral fiber carcinogenesis. The studies are being extended to other parts of the region. [

External links

* [http://www.livius.org/cao-caz/cappadocia/cappadocia.html Cappadocia on Livius]
* [http://www.aksaray.gov.tr/eng/index.html Aksaray Governor's Office]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • CAPPADOCIA — (Gr. Καπποδοκία), country in Asia Minor, which was made a Roman province by Tiberius in 17 C.E. The first known Jewish settlement there dates back to the second century B.C.E., when Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, was asked by the Romans to… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Cappadocia — Administration Pays  Italie Région …   Wikipédia en Français

  • CAPPADOCIA — Aliae regio ampla mari Euxino exposita, inter Galatiam ad occidemptem et. Armetniam minotem ad ortum contenta, introrsus in austrum usque ad Ciliciae sines Taurô monte dividente extensa, Plin. l. 6. c. 8. Strab. 1. 12. Huius praeses, Cl.… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

  • Cappadocia — bezeichnet: Cappadocia (L’Aquila), eine Gemeinde in der Provinz L’Aquila, Italien Cappadocia (Römische Provinz), eine römische Provinz im Gebiet Kappadokien in der heutigen Türkei Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrer …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cappadocia — ancient name for the region roughly corresponding to modern Turkey, from Gk. Kappadokía, perhaps ultimately from Pers. Hvaspadakhim land of fine horses. In ancient Athens, Cappadocians were notorious as knaves and cowards …   Etymology dictionary

  • Cappadocia — [kap΄ə dō′shē ə, kap΄ə dō′shə] ancient kingdom, later a Roman province, in E Asia Minor: fl. 3d cent. B.C. 1st cent. A.D …   English World dictionary

  • Cappadocia — Cappadocian, adj., n. /kap euh doh sheuh/, n. an ancient country in E Asia Minor: it became a Roman province in A.D. 17. * * * Ancient district, eastern Anatolia. It is a mountainous area located in modern day Turkey; its earliest records date… …   Universalium

  • Cappadocia —    Region of central Asia Minor (q.v.) famous for the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzos, and Gregory of Nyssa (qq.v.). Its strategic importance from the seventh century onward lay in its close proximity to frontier passes …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • Cappadocia — Original name in latin Cappadocia Name in other language State code IT Continent/City Europe/Rome longitude 42.00653 latitude 13.27999 altitude 1107 Population 519 Date 2012 02 15 …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Cappadocia (satrapy) — Cappadocia (from Old Persian Katpatuka ) was a satrapy (province) of the Achaemenid Empire used by the Achaemenids to administer the regions beyond the Taurus Mountains and the Euphrates river. The Satrapy belonged to the third tax district and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”