Early History in Turkey

In the beginning, Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat, or so recovered fossilized wood and boatlike support beams might indicate. Actually, the beginning in Turkey was much earlier; archaeological findings in central Anatolia indicate the presence of cave dwellers as early as 10,000 B.C. The oldest documented tribe in Anatolia was the Hatti, a nameless, faceless civilization that seems to have established small city kingdoms in central Anatolia and ruled there for about 500 years. Cuneiform tablets discovered in the regions to the east of Kayseri provide evidence of a thriving trade between these indigenous settlers and Assyrian merchants, who appear on the scene around 2000 B.C. With the arrival of the Hittites, an ancient tribe of uncertain mixed Indo-European origins, all evidence of the Hatti seems to dissolve, while commerce between the Assyrian merchants and now-ruling Hittites continues.

The Hittites (2000-1100 B.C.)

Who were these "Indo-European" people who subdued the indigenous Hatti kingdoms and appropriated their language, customs, and women? No one really knows (thus the hedgy term "Indo-European"). Whoever they were, the Hittites assumed Hatti names -- even the term "Hittite" derives from the Hittite expression for "people in the land of the Hatti."

The Hittites built an empire of city-states in this manner, and by the mid-13th century B.C., the Hittites had taken control of a large part of Anatolia. Under Suppiluliumas I, the Hittite borders were extended to the south and east, but persistent invasions by Hittite successors created border tensions with Egypt, leading to the historic battle of Kadesh (ca. 1300 B.C.) between Hittite Emperor Muwattalis and Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. The Hittites are famed for their military prowess, and their revolutionary deployment of the three-wheeled chariot probably gave them a huge advantage. Although historical accounts of the battle are contradictory (both sides claimed victory), the Hittites continued their hold on Syria. Later, and for the first time in the history of mankind, a written treaty between the two countries was concluded, between Hattusilis III, Muwattalis's successor, and Ramses II (ca. 1284 B.C.), who eventually married two of Hattusilis's daughters to seal the pact. A copy of the treaty is in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. The Hittite Empire soon fell into decline and was finally destroyed by the invasion of a "Sea People."

Gordius, from Pauper to Prince -- Legend has it that the Phrygian elders, seeking a leader to mediate quarrels and to gain status with their neighbors, consulted a local oracle for advice on how to select a king. The oracle responded that the next person to pass his shrine riding in a cart should be king, and soon enough, a farmer named Gordius rode by in his oxcart on the way to market. Gordius was proclaimed king, and the capital (near present-day Ankara) assumed his name, Gordion.

The expression "Gordion knot," which refers to a highly complex problem, takes its name from Gordius as well. Apparently, Gordius was quite proud of the fittings on his oxcart -- particularly of the unusual knot he used to tie the cart's pole to the axle. He challenged all potential passersby to untie it, but the knot remained intact long after his death. When Alexander the Great arrived in Gordion more than 500 years later, he carefully studied the knot and then decisively severed it in two with his sword, before continuing on to more challenging conquests.

The Hellenic Age

The period following the destruction of the Hittite Empire saw the immigration of and invasion by a number of civilizations. In Anatolia, what was left of the Hittite Empire fractured into independent principalities. The Phrygians, who were probably the "Sea People," or migrants from Thrace responsible for the destruction of the Hittite Empire, became the dominant Anatolian power in the 8th and 9th centuries B.C.

The Phrygians prospered up until the reign of King Midas, the last Phrygian king (and of the Golden Touch of mythology fame). He succumbed to invasions by the Cimmerian nomadic people around 725 B.C. The Hurrians, a native Anatolian mountain people, gave way to the Urartians, who, up until around 850 B.C., occupied the eastern region around Lake Van; they constructed walled citadels and an elaborate system of escape tunnels for their own defense. The Lycians, probably survivors of a nation of sailors or pirates -- and possibly one of the "Sea Peoples" who caused the fall of the Hittite Empire -- settled along the southwest coast.

At about the same time the Phrygians rose to power, several Hellenistic tribes were fleeing Greece to escape the invading Dorians. This group, the Ionians, migrated to the Aegean islands and into the central west coast of Anatolia (although the term Ionia often refers to the entire west coast). Ephesus, Miletus, and Priene are among the settlements formed during this migration; around 850 B.C., Smyrna (now Izmir) was established as their center. Originally an agricultural civilization, Ionia developed an advanced artistic and literary tradition, taking its influences from other, more advanced groups in Anatolia as well as from contact with Egyptians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians. Miletus became a vibrant center for the exchange of scientific ideas, and here you find a foundation for modern-day mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and philosophy.

Around the 7th century B.C., the Lydians appeared on the coast, establishing their capital at Sardis and inhabiting the inland district of western Anatolia. The Lydians were the first to coin modern money, mixing gold from the rich Pactolos Valley with silver and thus immortalizing the (apparently very rich) King Croesus. The Lydians also claim to have invented the game of dice.

Under that very rich Croesus, Lydia conquered and incorporated Ionia into its kingdom, but in 546 B.C., it was defeated and captured by Cyrus the Great of Persia, who was consolidating Persian power in Asia Minor. Cyrus the Great's successor, Darius I, crossed the Bosphorus and incorporated Thrace and Macedonia into the Persian Empire.

The Carians, mostly known as mercenaries, settled along the southwestern coast, having been chased off the Aegean islands by invading Greeks. They established, among other cities, Halicarnassus. In the 6th century B.C., Caria was incorporated into the Lydian kingdom, but later it, too, succumbed to the Persian Empire. Carian kings continued to rule as subjects of Cyrus the Great, maintaining some degree of autonomy. But 200 years of Persian domination created feelings of resentment toward Eastern ways. Many Ionians, including most of the philosophers and artists, migrated back to either Athens or Italy. The remaining Ionians regained their freedom by joining the Delian League, a federation of Greek city-states formed in 478 B.C. as security against the renewal of Persian aggression.

In the summer of 334 B.C., Alexander the Great began his war on the Persian Empire, retaking Thrace, crossing the Dardanelles, and confronting the Persian armies near Troy. He succeeded in annexing all of Anatolia under Macedonian/Greco rule. Alexander's untimely death in 323 B.C. was the catalyst for internal conflict among his generals, resulting in generations of clashes over the division of his territories.

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., several independent Greek states emerged in western Anatolia. The city of Pergamum was established and, under Eumenes II, enjoyed its greatest period of prosperity, earning itself a privileged position with Rome.

Rome & the Eastern Provinces

When Attalus III, the last of the ruling Attalid dynasty of Pergamum, died without a successor in 133 B.C., the Romans interpreted his ambiguous bequest in their favor and claimed the city, beginning the Roman Empire's mass penetration into Asia Minor. The Romans claimed Pergamum and effectively absorbed the independent states of Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Pontus. Except for sporadic conflict -- most notably with Mithridates of Pontus, who between 88 and 63 B.C. massacred over 80,000 Romans at Ephesus -- the Asian Provinces enjoyed a relatively long and prosperous period of peace. It was during the 1st century A.D. that St. Paul, advocate of the Christian faith, began his missionary travels through Anatolia.

In A.D. 284, Emperor Diocletian instituted a doomed system of governmental reform, dividing the empire into two administrative units, both to be ruled by an emperor (an Augustus) and a designated heir (or Caesar). It was a system destined to collapse into civil war; but the long-term effect was a more theological schism, as Christianity grew and took hold. In the wake of Diocletian reform, Constantine emerged to establish his capital at the Greek town of Byzantium, rebuilding the city to equal, if not surpass, the splendor of Rome. Six years later, in 330, its architectural eminence realized, the city was baptized "New Rome," then renamed Constantinopolis (or Constantinople, now Istanbul) in honor of the emperor.

By the time Constantine had established imperial Roman power in Constantinople, his acceptance of Christianity was complete, having publicly espoused the faith in the Edict of Milan in 313, which mandated the tolerance of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Under Theodosius, paganism was outlawed and Christianity, by this time already widespread, was made the official religion of the state. By Theodosius's death in 395, the eastern and western provinces had grown apart ideologically, and the Roman Empire was divided in two. When Rome fell in 476, Constantinople emerged as the dominant capital of the empire.

The Age of Byzantium

The reign of Emperor Justinian and his Queen Theodora (527-565) inaugurated a period of great prosperity in Anatolia. Justinian reconquered the West, and eventually regained North Africa and Italy. His construction of the incomparable Ayasofya (Church of Holy Wisdom) established Constantinople as the spiritual center of Christendom. Justinian commissioned new buildings and conducted restorations all across the empire -- an undertaking so vast that it thrust the empire into economic crisis after his death. His primary legacy was the Justinian Code -- his attempt to codify and organize the ancient system of Roman laws -- that ultimately became the foundation for many modern Western legal systems.

Around the end of the 9th century, a rivalry emerged between the Orthodox Church and the Papacy over the veneration of icons. The worship of idols was first condemned by Emperor Leo III in 726 and then reiterated by successive emperors. In 1054, over this and other theological disagreements, the pope severed any ties that had united Byzantium with the West.

Distracted by religious and bureaucratic disputes, the Byzantines were unprepared for the arrival of nomadic Turkish warriors raiding lands to the east. The Turks (from the Chinese "Tu-Kiu") were tribes originating on the Mongolian steppes. Migrations southwestward in the 7th or 8th century put them in touch with Arab tribes centered around Baghdad, home of the caliphate, where they assimilated Islamic practices. By the 10th century, the bulk of Turks -- still nomads and warriors by nature -- had accepted Islam as their religion, although some Turks, such as the Selçuks, subscribed to the orthodox Sunni form, while others, such as the Turkomans, accepted the splinter Shiite sect.

These gazi tribes, or "warriors of the faith," marched north from Baghdad, conquering lands in the name of Islam and penetrating deep into the heart of Anatolia. The Selçuks marched northwest in a campaign to expand their territory and a desire to control the Turkoman tribes. An accidental encounter with the Byzantine army resulted in a Selçuk victory in the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, opening the floodgates to a mass Turkish migration into Anatolia.

In response to the growing Turkish presence, Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus turned to the Christians of western Europe for aid against their increasing threat. The first Crusade saw the recapturing of Jerusalem and the regaining of control of most of Anatolia.

The Selçuk Turks triumphed over the second Crusade in 1147 and eventually set up the Sultanate of Rum, centered around Konya, where they presided over significant cultural growth and territorial expansion. They also revived the classical Islamic system of education, attracting philosophers, poets, and craftsmen to the court. One of the most influential arrivals was the scholar Celaleddin Rumi, who founded the Order of the Mevlevi (or "Whirling") Dervishes. The Selçuks laid the foundation for modern-day Middle Eastern government with the implementation of a bureaucratic hierarchical system. They are also credited with the development of a system of way stations, called kervansarays (caravansaries), designed to meet the needs of merchants traveling on behalf of the state, and established insurance for the loss of tradesmen.

But the Crusades were by no means a cure-all. Tensions arose because the Crusaders had no specific mandate from the pope, little sympathy toward the Greek Orthodox religion, and no agreement on the nature of their association with the Byzantine Empire. Allied with Venetian merchants who had an eye on the riches of the East, the Crusaders sacked and plundered Constantinople in 1204 in the fourth Crusade, creating the Latin Empire of Constantinople and widening the schism between the churches of the East and West. Driven from Constantinople, the Byzantines established a small empire in exile at Nicaea (now Bursa), creating a balance of power with the flourishing Selçuk Sultanate of Rum.

Michael VIII Palaeologus, ruler of the empire in exile, succeeded in reclaiming the city of Constantinople in 1261. Though their territory was drastically reduced, subsequent Byzantine emperors repeatedly tried to reunite the Orthodox and Catholic churches against the threat of invading Turks. This proved futile, and in 1453, the Ottoman Turks conquered what little remained of the Byzantine Empire and made Constantinople their capital.

Selçuk Sultans -- The Rum Line

Tugrul I Beg 1037-63

Alp Arslan 1063-73

Malik Shah I 1073-92 (battle for throne)

Süleyman I ibn Qutalmïsh 1078-86 (battle for throne)

Kiliç Arslan I 1092-1107

Malik Shah II 1107-16

Mesud I 1116-56

Kiliç Arslan II 1156-92

Giyaseddin Keyküsrev I 1192-96

Süleyman II 1196-1204

Kiliç Arslan III 1204 (child)

Giyaseddin Keyküsrev I 1204-10

Kaykavus I 1210-20

Alaaeddin Keykubat I 1220-37

Giyaseddin Keyküsrev II 1237-46

(Selçuks conquered by Mongols in 1243 and become vassals; a fight for succession of the sultanate ensued.)

Kaykavus II 1246-57

Kiliç Arslan IV 1248-65

Keykubat II 1249-57

Kekusrev III 1265-82

(Mesud II and Keykubat III clash for control of throne 1282-1307 until Mesud II is deposed by Mongols in 1307.)