Explore Ancient Anatolia

When Alexander the Great passed through with his armies in 333 BC and nearly met his death here after a bath in the Cydnus. Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, poets and linguists. The schools of Tarsus rivaled those of Athens and Alexandria. At this time the library of Tarsus held 200,000 books, including a huge collection of scientific works.

Early Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey dated to 11000 years ago: Göbekli Tepe, Urfa New settlement discovered in Konya, Turkey, dating back 11,000 years Etruscans: Anatolian Italians? A recent DNA-based survey suggests the roots of Etruscans, a pre-Roman civilization in Italy, lie in Anatolia.

Assos is an Aegean-coast seaside retreat amid ancient ruins continue to be excavated, today known as Behramkale or for short Behram, is a small historically rich town in the Ayvacık district of the Çanakkale Province, Turkey.

"We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization" . National Geographic, June 2011 13000 Years Ago! Göbekli Tepe is the oldest human-made place of worship yet discovered. Until excavations began, a complex on this scale was not thought possible for a community so ancient. The massive sequence of stratification layers suggests several millennia of activity, perhaps reaching back to the Mesolithic. The oldest occupation layer (stratum III) contains monolithic pillars linked by coarsely built walls to form circular or oval structures. So far, four such buildings, with diameters between 10–30 metres (33–98 ft) have been uncovered. Geophysical surveys indicate the existence of 16 additional structures.

Saint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey, lived between 270 - 6 December 346. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.

In Greek mythology, Midas is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold: the Midas touch. In alchemy, the transmutation of an object into gold is known as chrysopoeia. Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and who by some accounts was the goddess-mother of Midas himself. Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion In Mygdonia Midas was known for his garden of roses: Herodotus remarks on the settlement of the ancient kings of Macedon on the slopes of Mount Bermion "the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenos was taken captive." According to Iliad (v.860), he had one son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men; but in some variations of the myth he had a daughter, Zoë or ...

Gold has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and arts since the beginning of recorded history. It has been a symbol of wealth and a store. Gold standards have provided a basis for monetary policies. Gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova, a stellar explosion.

The Hattian mythology deals with the myths and stories of the Hatti gods, as they were handed down by the Hittites. They can be captured quite well by the source position, in contrast to Hattian cults, rituals and religious beliefs that can not be separated satisfactorily from Hittite and other elements.

The Sea Peoples are thought to have been a confederacy of seafaring raiders who could have possibly originated from either western Anatolia or southern Europe, specifically a region of the Aegean Sea, who sailed around the eastern Mediterranean. They invaded and destroyed Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age. However, the actual identity of the Sea Peoples has remained enigmatic and modern scholars have only the scattered records of ancient civilizations and archaeological analysis to inform them.

The Bronze Age collapse was a transition in the Aegean Region, Southwestern Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age that historians believe was violent, sudden and culturally disruptive. The palace economy of the Aegean Region and Anatolia which characterised the Late Bronze Age was replaced, after a hiatus, by the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages.

Juliopolis was a titular see in the province of Bithynia Secunda, suffragan of Nicaea. The city was founded under the Emperor Augustus by a robber chieftain named Cleon, who was a native of the region; previously it had been called Gordoucome. Its ruins are about six miles SSE of Çayırhan, and about three miles north of the Sangarius River (Sakarya) near Ankara. According to ancient authors (Herodotus, Xenophon, Strabo, etc.), the Bithynians were an immigrant Thracian tribe. The existence of a tribe called Thyni in Thrace is well established, and the two cognate tribes of the Thyni and Bithyni appear to have settled simultaneously in the adjoining parts of Asia, where they expelled or subdued the Mysians, Caucones and other minor tribes, the Mariandyni maintaining themselves in the northeast. Herodotus mentions that the tribe Thyni and Bithyni as existing side by side; but ultimately the latter must have become the more important, as they gave their name to the country. They were inc...

Sacred Tree of Life at late Hittite fortress and open air museum in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey. The concept of a tree of life has been used in science, religion, philosophy, and mythology. A tree of life is a common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies. It alludes to the interconnection of all life on our planet and serves as a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense. The term tree of life may also be used as a synonym for sacred tree.

Suppiluliuma I was king of the Hittites, ca. 1344–1322 BC. He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. Suppiluliuma then took advantage of the tumultuous reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and seized control of Egyptian territory in Syria, inciting many Egyptian vassals to revolt. The Deeds of Suppiluliuma, compiled after his death by his son Mursili, is an important primary source for the king's reign. One of Suppiluliuma's letters, addressed to Akhenaten, was preserved in the Amarna letters (EA 41) archive at Akhetaten. It expresses his hope that the good relations which existed between Egypt and Hatti under Akhenaten's father Amenhotep III would continue into Akhenaten's new reign.

Purushanda (also variously Purushkanda, Purushhattum or Burushattum) was an ancient city-state in central Anatolia, lying south of the Kızılırmak River in what is now modern Turkey. Its site has yet to be discovered. It may have been situated south-east of Lake Tuz, possibly on the mound of Acemhöyük approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-west of the city of Aksaray. Another possible location is the mound of Karahöyük near Konya.

Altar of Zeus on 275m hill watching Adramyttian Gulf and Lesbos Island at land of Troy. It is a stone structure with stairs upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place. High places and elevated areas on which altars have been erected for worship in the belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and valleys, they are more favourable places for prayer.

On Nov. 16, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrates the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, an international treaty that set out to preserve important cultural and natural sites.

Hasankeyf is a city located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province of southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is an ancient city, with roots going back 10,000 years. (Greek: Kiphas; Latin: Cepha; Aramaic and Arabic: Hisn Kayfa) It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. With its history that spans nine civilizations, the archaeological and religious significance of Hasankeyf is considerable. Some of the city's historical treasures will be inundated if construction of the Ilısu Dam — is completed. These include ornate mosques, Islamic tombs and cave churches.

The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci. The ancient Greeks' word for them was Tyrrhenoi, or Tyrrsenoi. The Etruscans themselves used the term Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna.

The Antioch mosaics are a grouping of over 300 mosaic floors created around the 3rd century AD, and discovered during archaeological excavations of Antioch between 1932 and 1939 by a consortium of five museums and institutions. About half of the mosaics are housed at the Antakya Archaeological Museum, with others currently residing at the Worcester Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Baltimore Museum of Art, Harvard University and Princeton University Art Museum among others. The mosaics range in design from realistic imagery and scenes, to purely geometric patterns.

Inside the Roman Tomb, originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.blogspot.com .