According toHerodotus, in the time of theIonian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from theTaurus Mountains to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea).[1] Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of mountains that separate it fromCilicia, to the east by the upperEuphrates, to the north by thePontus, and to the west byLycaonia and easternGalatia.[2]
The name, traditionally used inChristian sources throughout history, continues in use as an internationaltourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized byfairy chimneys,[3] in addition to its religious heritage of being a centre ofearly Christian learning, evidenced by hundreds of churches and monasteries (such as those ofGöreme andIhlara), as well as underground cities that were dug to offer protection duringperiods of persecution.[4][5]
Subsequent research suggests that the adverbkatta meaning 'down, below' is exclusivelyHittite, while its Luwian equivalent iszanta.[7] Therefore, the recent modification of this proposal operates with the Hittitekatta peda-, literally "place below" as a starting point for the development of thetoponym Cappadocia.[8]
The earlier derivation from IranianHu-apa-dahyu 'Land of good horses' can hardly be reconciled with the phonetic shape ofKat-patuka. Several other etymologies have also been offered in the past.[9]
Herodotus wrote that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by thePersians, while they were termed by theGreeks "White Syrians" (Leucosyri),[10] who were most probably descendants of theHittites.[11] One of the Cappadocian tribes he mentions is theMoschoi, associated byFlavius Josephus with the biblical figureMeshech, son ofJapheth: "and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians".AotJ I:6.[citation needed]
Cappadocia appears in thebiblical account given in the book ofActs 2:9. The Cappadocians were named as one group (among "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia")[12] hearing theGospel account fromGalileans in their own language on the day ofPentecost shortly after theresurrection ofJesus Christ.Acts 2:5 states "Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven," seeming to suggest that some of the Cappadocians wereJews, or part of the diaspora of Jews present in Jerusalem at the time.[12]
Under the later kings of the Persian Empire, the Cappadocians were divided into twosatrapies, or governments, with one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied byGreek geographers, while the other was calledPontus. This division had already come about before the time ofXenophon. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be separate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be the focus of this article.[14]
Cappadocia lies in easternAnatolia, in the heartland of what is now Turkey. The relief consists of a high plateau over 1,000 m in altitude that is pierced by volcanic peaks, withMount Erciyes (ancient Argaeus) nearKayseri (ancient Caesarea) being the tallest at3,916 m. The boundaries of historical Cappadocia are vague, particularly towards the west.[16]
To the south, the Taurus Mountains form the boundary withCilicia and separate Cappadocia from theMediterranean Sea. To the west, Cappadocia is bounded by the historical regions of Lycaonia to the southwest, andGalatia to the northwest. Due to its inland location and high altitude, Cappadocia has a markedly continental climate, with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters.[17] Rainfall is sparse and the region is largely semi-arid.[citation needed]
Cappadocia contained the source of theSarus andPyramus rivers, and the middle course of theHalys river, and the tributary of theEuphrates, later called Tokhma Su. As no one of these rivers was navigable or served to fertilize the lands along its course, none has much importance in the history of the province.[15]
In respect of the 'voluminous eruption deposits in a fluvio-lacustrine sequence with 'fairy-chimney' development produced by uplift and erosion', theInternational Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The Miocene Cappadocian ignimbrites sequence' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'[18]
Cappadocia was known asHatti in the lateBronze Age, and was the homeland of theHittite power centred atHattusa. After the fall of the Hittite Empire, with the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians (Mushki) after their defeat by theLydian kingCroesus in the 6th century BC, Cappadocia was ruled by a sort offeudal aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile condition, which later made them apt to foreign slavery. It was included in the thirdPersiansatrapy in the division established byDarius but continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributaries of theGreat King.[15][20]
After ending the Persian Empire,Alexander the Great tried to rule the area through one of his military commanders. ButAriarathes, previously satrap of the region, declared himself king of the Cappadocians. As Ariarathes I (332–322 BC), he was a successful ruler, and he extended the borders of the Cappadocian Kingdom as far as to theBlack Sea. The kingdom of Cappadocia lived in peace until the death of Alexander.[15]
The previous empire was then divided into many parts, and Cappadocia fell toEumenes. His claims were made good in 322 BC by the regentPerdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions which brought about Eumenes's death,Ariarathes II, the adopted son of Ariarathes I, recovered his inheritance and left it to a line of successors, who mostly bore the name of the founder of thedynasty.[15]
Persian colonists in the Cappadocian kingdom, cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper, continued to practiceZoroastrianism.Strabo, observing them in the first century BC, records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well asfire temples.[21]
Strabo relates, were "noteworthy enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning."[21] According to Strabo, who wrote during the time ofAugustus (r. 27 BC – AD 14), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, there remained only traces of Persians in westernAsia Minor; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia".[22]
UnderAriarathes IV, Cappadocia came into relations withRome, first as a foe espousing the cause ofAntiochus the Great, then as an ally againstPerseus of Macedon. The kings henceforward threw in their lot with the Republic as against theSeleucids, to whom they had been from time to time tributary.Ariarathes V marched with the RomanproconsulPublius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus againstAristonicus, a claimant to the throne ofPergamon, and their forces were annihilated (130 BC). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by the rising power ofPontus and the intrigues and wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty.[15][23]
The Cappadocians, supported by Rome againstMithridates VI of Pontus, elected a native lord,Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 BC). In the same year,Armenian troops underTigranes the Great entered Cappadocia, dethroned king Ariobarzanes and crownedGordios as the newclient-king of Cappadocia, creating a buffer zone against the encroaching Romans. When Rome deposed the Pontic and Armenian kings, the rule of Ariobarzanes was established (63 BC).[24]
InCaesar's civil war, Cappadocia was first forPompey, then forCaesar, then forAntony, and finally,Octavian. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end, a Cappadocian noblemanArchelaus was given the throne, by favour first of Antony and then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence until AD 17, when the emperorTiberius, whom he had angered, summoned him to Rome and reduced Cappadocia to a Roman province.[24]
In 70 AD,Vespasian joinedArmenia Minor to Cappadocia, and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of theEastern Empire for centuries.[25] In 314, Cappadocia was the largest province of the Roman Empire, and was part of theDiocese of Pontus.[26] In 371, the western part of the Cappadocia province was divided intoCappadocia Prima, with its capital at Caesarea (modern-day Kayseri); andCappadocia Secunda, with its capital atTyana.[26]
By 386, the region to the east of Caesarea had become part ofArmenia Secunda, while the northeast had become part ofArmenia Prima.[26] Cappadocia largely consisted of major estates, owned by the Roman emperors or wealthy local families.[26] The Cappadocian provinces became more important in the latter part of the 4th century, as the Romans were involved with theSasanian Empire over control ofMesopotamia and "Armenia beyond the Euphrates".[26]
Cappadocia, now well into the Roman era, still retained a significantIranian character; Stephen Mitchell notes that "many inhabitants of Cappadocia were ofPersian descent and Iranian fire worship is attested as late as 465"[26] and the area also contained a sizeable Armenian population since antiquity.[27] For most of theByzantine era it remained relatively undisturbed by the conflicts in the area with the Sasanian Empire, but thePersian Wars of the 610s and 620s placed Cappadocia on the frontline for the first time since the first century.[28]
The exact date of arrival of Christianity in uncertain, but latest from the third century it was firmly established in society and the Church was fully developed.[29] TheCappadocian Fathers of the 4th century were integral to much of earlyChristian philosophy. It produced, among other people,John of Cappadocia,Patriarch of Constantinople from 517 to 520, andMacrina, an early champion of women's monasticism.[30] The region sufferedfamine in 368 described as "the most severe ever remembered" byGregory of Nazianzus:
The city was in distress and there was no source of assistance [...] The hardest part of all such distress is the insensibility and insatiability of those who possess supplies [...] Such are the buyers and sellers of corn [...] by his word and advice [Basil's] open the stores of those who possessed them, and so, according to the Scripture, dealt food to the hungry and satisfied the poor with bread [...] He gathered together the victims of the famine [...] and obtaining contributions of all sorts of food which can relieve famine, set before them basins of soup and such meat as was found preserved among us, on which the poor live [...] Such was our young furnisher of corn, and secondJoseph [...] [But unlike Joseph, Basil's] services were gratuitous and his succour of the famine gained no profit, having only one object, to win kindly feelings by kindly treatment, and to gain by his rations of corn the heavenly blessings.[31]
This is similar to another account byGregory of Nyssa thatBasil "ungrudgingly spent upon the poor his patrimony even before he was a priest, and most of all in the time of the famine, during which [Basil] was a ruler of the Church, though still a priest in the rank of presbyters; and afterwards did not hoard even what remained to him".[31] Basil also famously constructed near Caeserea theBasileias, a vast complex with hospices for sick, churches, quarters for travellers and facilities for doctors and nurses.[32]
A ceiling fresco in Daniel Pantonassa Church,Ihlara Valley.
TheArrival of Muslim Arab armies in the mid-seventh century resulted in the breakdown of civil and military order of the Eastern provinces and a colossal displacement of population.[28] Cappdocia became a border region of the Byzantine Empire, frequently raided by the Caliphate. From the 7th century, Cappadocia was divided between theAnatolic andArmeniacthemes.[28] The frontier zone between Caeserea (Kayseri) and Melitene became a no-man's land, in which theakritai andghazis fought each other and which is remembered in the epicDigenes Akritas.[33] The warfare, consisting of the yearlyrazzias as well as major campaigns took a heavy toll on the cities and villages, especially on the favourite Arab lines of march.[34]
Between the 7th and 10th century, Cappadocia was a border region of the Byzantine Empire
Cappadocia contains severalunderground cities (seeKaymaklı Underground City), many of which were dug by Christians to provide protection during the Arab raids andperiods of persecution.[5] The underground cities have vast defence networks of traps throughout their many levels. These traps are very creative, including such devices as large round stones to block doors and holes in the ceiling through which the defenders may drop spears.
They [the Armenians] were assigned the Sebaste (now Siwas) district of Cappadocia. Their number grew to such an extent that they became valuable auxiliaries to the imperial armies. They were employed to garrison the fortresses reconquered from the Arabs (probably Membedj, Dolouk, etc.). They formed excellent infantry for the armies of Basileus in all wars, constantly fighting with courage and success alongside the Romans.[35]
As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns and theSeljuk invasion of Armenia, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward fromCilicia into the mountainous areas of northernSyria andMesopotamia, and theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually formed. This immigration was increased further after the decline of the local imperial power and the establishment of theCrusader States following theFourth Crusade. To the crusaders, Cappadocia wasterra Hermeniorum, the land of the Armenians, due to the large number of Armenians settled there.[36]
In the 9th–11th centuries, the region comprised the themes ofCharsianon with its capital at the eponymous city andCappadocia, which had first its capital inNyssa and then at Koron, after Nyssa had been sacked by the Arabs in 838.[37] By the mid-tenth century, the region was again reorganised as much of the no-men's land was resettled, especially around the area of Larissa,Tzamandos, andLykandos.[37] After the Byzantine reconquests in the East finished, Cappadocia was again removed from the frontier and an increasingly demilitarised region in the eleventh century.[38]
Frescos insideTokali Kilise, "Church of the Buckle".
Following theBattle of Manzikert in 1071,Turkishclans under the leadership of theSeljuks began settling inAnatolia. With the rise of Turkish power in Anatolia, Cappadocia slowly became a tributary to the Turkish states that were established to the east and to the west; some of the native population converted to Islam[39] with the rest forming the remainingCappadocian Greek population.
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 theKonya-based Seljuks in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually replaced by successive Turkic ruled states: theKaraman-basedBeylik ofKaraman and then theOttoman Empire. Cappadocia remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1922, when it became part of the modern state ofTurkey.[citation needed]
In the early 18th century, a fundamental change occurred in between when a new urban center,Nevşehir, was founded by agrand 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 inGreek alphabet,Karamanlıca).
Where theGreek language was maintained (Sille, villages near Kayseri, Pharasa town and other nearby villages), it became heavily influenced by the surrounding Turkish. This dialect ofEastern Roman Greek is known asCappadocian Greek. Following the foundation of Turkey in 1922, those who still identified with this pre-Islamic culture of Cappadocia wererequired to leave, so this language is now only spoken by a handful of their descendants, most now located in modern Greece.[citation needed]
The area is a popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic, cultural, and religious features. Touristic Cappadocia includes four cities:Nevşehir,Kayseri,Aksaray andNiğde.[citation needed]
Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams andignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately nine tothree million years ago, during the lateMiocene toPliocene epochs, underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars andminaret-like forms. People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits.[40]
Göreme became a Christian monastic centre in 300–1200 AD. The Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, and houses and churches carved into rocks in the Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valleys, all evidence Cappadocia as a centre of early Christian learning and are thus a place of pilgrimage. TheGöreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the Christian monastic communities in Cappadocia (seeChurches of Göreme andChurches of the Ihlara Valley) and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. The complex contains more than 30 carved-from-rock churches andchapels, some having superbfrescoes inside, dating from the ninth century to the eleventh century.[41]
Hot-air ballooning is especially popular in Cappadocia, particularly aroundGöreme, offering sunrise flights over the region's fairy chimneys and valleys.[42]
In 1975, a study of three small villages in central Cappadocia—Tuzköy, Karain and Sarıhıdır—found thatmesothelioma was causing 50% of all deaths. Initially, this was attributed toerionite, azeolite mineral with similar properties toasbestos, 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.[43][44]
A video showing all the different landscapes and terrain ofGöreme and Cappadocia
The area was featured in several films due to its topography. The 1983 Italian/French/Turkish filmYor, the Hunter from the Future and 1985'sLand of Doom were filmed in Cappadocia. The region was used for the 1989 science fiction filmSlipstream to depict a cult of wind worshippers. In 2010 and early 2011, the filmGhost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was filmed in the Cappadocia region.[45]
Autechre's second album,Amber, features a photo of this region's fairy mountains as thecover art,[46] being their only album whose cover isn't computer-generated.[citation needed]
Since 2012, amultidaytrack runningultramarathon of desert concept, calledRunfire Cappadocia Ultramarathon, is held annually in July. The race tours 244 km (152 mi) in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out toLake Tuz.[48] In September 2016, for the first time, the Turkish Presidential Bike Tour took place in Cappadocia, with more than 300 cyclists from around the globe participating.[49]
^Demir, Ömer (1997).Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 15.History, nature and mankind have created many important wonders in Cappadocia: 1- The unique natural landscape, include fairy chimneys, rock formations and valleys. 2- The rock-hewn churches decorated with frescoes from the 6th-12th C of scenes from the Bible, especially the lives of Jesus, Mother Mary and saints. 3- The underground settlements many consider to by the 8th wonder of the ancient world.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Demir, Ömer (1997).Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. pp. 11–15, 70.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^abDemir, Ömer (1997).Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 70.However, the longest working and living period was the century when underground cities in Cappadocia were dug by Christians who could not bear Arabic and Sassanid threat after Capadocia was conquered … It is clearly visible in some underground cities in Cappadocia that the rooms located near the entrance are profoundly different from those that are inside. Saratli and Özlüce underground cities are given as an example regarding these differences.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Coindoz M. Archeologia / Préhistoire et archéologie, n°241, 1988, pp. 48–59
^Petra Goedegebuure, "The Luwian Adverbszanta 'down' and *ānni 'with, for, against'",Acts of the VIIIth International Congress of Hittitology, A. Süel (ed.), Ankara 2008, pp. 299–319.
^Yakubovich, Ilya (2014). Kozuh, M. (ed.)."From Lower Land to Cappadocia".Extraction and Control: Studies in Honor of Matthew W. Stolper. Chicago: Oriental Institute:347–52.
^See R. Schmitt, "Kappadoker", inReallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, vol. 5 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980), p. 399, and L. Summerer, "Amisos – eine Griechische Polis im Land der Leukosyrer", in: M. Faudot et al. (eds.),Pont-Euxin et polis. Actes du Xe Symposium de Vani (2005), 129–66 [135] According to an older theory (W. Ruge, "Kappadokia", in A.F. Pauly – G. Wissowa,Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 10 (Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1919), col. 1911), the name derives from Old Persian and means either "land of theDucha/Tucha" or "land of the beautiful horses". It has also been proposed thatKatpatuka is a Persianized form of theHittite name for Cilicia,Kizzuwatna, or that it is otherwise of Hittite or Luwian origin (by Tischler and Del Monte, mentioned in Schmitt (1980)). According to A. Room,Placenames of the World (London: MacFarland and Company, 1997), the name is a combination ofAssyriankatpa "side" (cf. Hebkatef) and a chief or ancestor's name,Tuka.
^Demir, Ömer (1997).Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 19.The Christians taking shelter in the valleys of Göreme because of Arab raids, named this place 'gor emi' meaning 'you cannot see this place'. The name was changed to Korama and then to Göreme. With its very interesting fairy chimneys and the rock-cut churches, the valley of Avcılar, 17 km from Nevşehir and 6 cm from Ürgüp, attracts travellers' attention. St Paul considered Göreme to be more suitable for the training of missionaries. There are about 400 churches in the vicinity of Göreme which was one of the most important centres of Christianity between the 6th and the 9th C, including churches found in and around Zelve, Mustafapaşa, Avcılar, Uçhisar, Ortahisar and Çavuşin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Demir, Ömer (1997).Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 19.The Christians taking shelter in the valleys of Göreme because of Arab raids, named this place 'gor emi' meaning 'you cannot see this place'. The name was changed to Korama and then to Göreme. With its very interesting fairy chimneys and the rock-cut churches, the valley of Avcılar, 17 km from Nevşehir and 6 cm from Ürgüp, attracts travellers' attention. St Paul considered Göreme to be more suitable for the training of missionaries. There are about 400 churches in the vicinity of Göreme which was one of the most important centres of Christianity between the 6th and the 9th C, including churches found in and around Zelve, Mustafapaşa, Avcılar, Uçhisar, Ortahisar and Çavuşin.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
Raditsa, Leo (1983). "Iranians in Asia Minor". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.).The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1139054942.
Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, book "Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia',Scientific Research Publishing |2024|978-1649979582|and Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, "Shrines and Schools in Byzantine Cappadocia", Journal of Early Christian History, volume 9, Issue 1, 2019, pp. 1–29
As found in theNotitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed anddioceses established byDiocletian,c. 293. Permanentpraetorian prefectures established after the death ofConstantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates ofRavenna andAfrica established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by thetheme system in c. 640–660, although inAsia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
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