InHittite,melid ormilit means "honey", offering a possible etymology for the name, which was mentioned in the contemporary sources of the time under several variations (e.g.,Hittite:Malidiya[3] and possibly alsoMidduwa;[4]Akkadian: Meliddu;[5]Urar̩tian: Meliṭeia[5]).
Strabo says that the city was known "to the ancients"[6] as Melitene (Ancient GreekΜελιτηνή), a name adopted by the Romans following Roman expansion into the east. According to Strabo, the inhabitants of Melitene shared with the nearbyCappadocians andCataonians the same language and culture.
The site of ancient Melitene lies a few kilometres from the modern city in what is now the village ofArslantepe and near the district center ofBattalgazi (Byzantine toOttoman Empire). Present-day Battalgazi was the location of the city of Malatya until the 19th century, when a gradual move of the city to the present third location began. Battalgazi's official name was Eskimalatya (Old Malatya); until recently, it was a name used locally. In Turkey the city is renowned for itsapricots, as up to 80% of the Turkish apricot production is provided by Malatya, giving Malatya the namekayısı diyarı ("apricot realm").[7]
Arslantepe has been inhabited since the development of agriculture in theFertile Crescent, nearly 6,000 years ago. From theBronze Age, the site became an administrative center of a larger region in the kingdom ofIsuwa. The city was heavily fortified. TheHittites conquered the city in the fourteenth century B.C. In theHittite language,melid ormilit means "honey." The name was mentioned in the contemporary sources under several variations (e.g., Hittite:Malidiya[8] and possibly alsoMidduwa;[9]Akkadian: Meliddu;[5]Urartian: Meliṭeia[5]).
After the end of the Hittite Empire, the city became the center of theNeo-Hittite state ofKammanu. The city continued old Hittite traditions and styles. Researchers have discovered a palace inside the city walls with statues and reliefs. A palace was erected with monumental stone sculptures of lions and the ruler. Kammanu was a vassal state ofUrartu between 804 and 743.
TheNeo-Assyrian kingTiglath-Pileser I (1115–1077 B.C.) forced the kingdom of Malidiya to pay tribute to Assyria. The Neo-Assyrian kingSargon II (722–705) sacked the city in 712 BC. At the same time, theCimmerians andScythians invadedAnatolia and the city declined. Some occupation continued on the site into the Hellenistic and Roman periods—a smithy with four ovens has been excavated from the Roman period. There was a long gap in occupation between the mid-7th century and renewed use of the site in the late 12th or early 13th century.[11]
Archeologists first began to excavate the site of Arslantepe in the 1930s, led by French archaeologistLouis Delaporte. Since 1961 an Italian team of archaeologists, led byMarcella Frangipane in the early 21st century, has been working at the site.
Diodorus Siculus wrote thatPtolemaeus of Commagene attacked and captured Melitene from theKingdom of Cappadocia, but couldn't keep it for long sinceAriarathes V of Cappadocia marched against him with a strong army, and Ptolemaeus withdrew.[12]The Kingdom of Cappadocia, ruled by theHouse of Ariobarzanes (95–36 BC),[13] became a Roman client in 63 BC.[14] After the Kingdom's annexation by theRoman Empire in 17 AD, the settlement was re-established as Melitene in 72 AD on a different site, as the base camp ofLegio XIIFulminata[15] (which continued to be based there until at least the early 5th century according toNotitia Dignitatum). The legionary base of Melitene controlled access to southern Armenia and the upper Tigris. It was the end point of the important highway running east from Caesarea (modernKayseri). The camp attracted a civilian population and was probably granted city status by Trajan in the early 2nd century AD,[15] with the rank of Municipium.[16] It is known for being a prolific source of imperial coins minted from the 3rd to the early 5th centuries.
Procopius wrote admiringly of the temples, agoras and theatres of Melitene, but no evidence of them now remains. It was a major center in the province ofArmenia Minor (Armenian:Փոքր ՀայքPokr Hayk,[17]) created by Diocletian from territory separated from the province ofCappadocia. In 392 A.D., emperorTheodosius I divided Armenia Minor into two new provinces:First Armenia, with its capital at Sebasteia (modernSivas); andSecond Armenia, with its capital at Melitene.[18]
Capture of Melitene by the Byzantines in 934Malatya Gazi Primary School Building
During the reign of the EmperorJustinian I (527–565), administrative reforms were carried out in this region: The province of Second Armenia was renamedThird Armenia (Armenia Tertia), with its territory unchanged and its capital still at Melitene.[19][20] Melitene's city walls were constructed in the 6th century by the emperors Anastasius and Justinian.[21] Those that still stand mostly date from the Arab period, perhaps of the 8th century, though retaining the layout of and some remnants from earlier building phases.[22] The city was sacked by theSassanids in 575, but it recovered and was made in 591 the capital ofArmenia Prima by emperorMaurice.[21] The town contained many shrines to martyrs, including that of the widely venerated local saintPolyeuctus.[23]
The city was captured by theRashidun forces underIyad ibn Ghanm, but the Byzantines quickly retook it untilMu'awiya I established a garrison in the town. The Arab colony was abandoned at some point during the reign ofAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan untilHisham restored it, though it was destroyed by emperorConstantine V.[24] TheAbbasidal-Mansur then established it as a substantial outpost from which raids deep into the Byzantine Empire were conducted.[24] Throughout the Dark Ages, the area between Melitene andCaeserea became a no-man's land of independent lords and villages.[25] In the 9th century, under its semi-independent emirUmar al-Aqta, Malatya rose to become a major opponent of theByzantine Empire until Umar was defeated and killed at theBattle of Lalakaon in 863. The Byzantines attacked the city many times, but did not finally take it until the campaigns ofJohn Kourkouas in 927–934. After successively accepting and renouncing vassal status, the city was finally taken in May 934, its Muslim inhabitants driven out or forced to convert, and replaced by Greek and Armenian settlers.[26]
The WestSyriandiocese of Melitene has been established since the sixth century and was as well surrounded by other bishoprics belonging to nearby towns.[27] In the tenth century the EmperorNikephoros II Phokas convinced theJacobite Patriarch of Antioch to move the head of the patriarchate into the region of Melitene.[28] The city was attacked and devastated by theSeljuks in 1058.[29] Around 1061/62 the city was refortified byConstantine X Doukas and enclosed an area of 35 ha, which means that it was possibly home to 10-12,000 people and had possibly a territorial population of an additional 80,000.[30]
The Danishmends took over Malatya one year later in 1101 (seeBattle of Melitene). The Danishmends then fought repeatedly with theAnatolian Seljuk Sultanate about the possession of the city and were able to hold it until 1152, though the Seljuks did not gain full control until 1177.[32] Under Danishmend and Seljuk rule, Malatya became a centre of knowledge as many Persian and Arabic scholars took residence in the city. The Seljuk Sultanate also undertook an extensive development of the city.[33] After being ruled by theIlkhanids for around 50 years at the end of the 13th century, the Muslim population of the city invited theMamluk Sultanate to Malatya in 1315. On 28 April 1315, the Mamluk army entered the city; this was followed by the looting of the city by the army. TheEretna Dynasty gained sovereignty over the city for some time, but from 1338 onwards the Mamluks secured its control. However, for the latter part of the 14th century, the control of the city fluctuated between the Mamluks and theDulkadirids.[33] The city was captured by theOttoman army led byYavuz Sultan Selim on 28 July 1516 and remained under Ottoman rule until the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Under the Ottomans, the city lost the quality of being on the frontiers, as well as the allure it held in the Middle Ages. It was plagued between the 16th and 18th centuries by successive rebellions.[33]
City Hall of MalatyaA modern mosque in MalatyaMalatya Main Bus Station
The current city of Malatya was founded in 1838, with the old site of Militene now designated as Old Malatya.[34] The reason behind the displacement of the city center was that the Ottoman army settled and stayed, probably by seizing from its settlers, in the previous city center, in the winter of 1838–39, before taking the road forBattle of Nezib in 1849. Because of this, citizens of the Malatya established the new city based on a near town called Aspuzu.[35] The city saw rapid expansion in the 19th century, and by the end of the century it had around 5000 households, 50 mosques, sixmadrasas, nine inns and fiveTurkish baths. Ottoman sources also recorded ten churches. In 1889 and 1890, Malatya was struck by two large fires that destroyed thousands of shops. The city was then hit by the1893 Malatya earthquake, which killed 1300, destroying 1200 houses and four mosques. Acholera outbreak that subsequently took place in 1893 killed 896 people. The destroyed buildings were rebuilt in 1894.[33]Malatya was the scene of anti-Armenian violence during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During theHamidian massacres of 1895–1896, 7,500 Armenian civilians were massacred and Armenian villages in the rural countryside of Malatya were destroyed.[36] In the aftermath, aRed Cross team sent to Malatya and led by Julian B. Hubbell concluded that 1,500 Armenian houses had been pillaged and 375 burned to the ground.[37]According to the1913Catholic Encyclopedia, Malatya city was inhabited by 30,000 people with a clear ethnicTurkish majority, and an Armenian population of 3,000, of whom 800 wereCatholics.[38] Of the five churches in the city, three belonged to the Armenians. In the spring of 1915, the vast majority of the Armenians of the town were rounded up by Ottoman authorities and deported on death marches as part of theArmenian genocide. According to reports of the governor of the Malatya district, of the 6,935 registered Armenians in Malatya, 197 were left in the town as artisans.[39] In the early Republican era, Malatya became the centre ofMalatya Province and enjoyed a substantial growth in terms of population as well as covered area.[40] This development was further accelerated by the construction of the Adana-Fevzipaşa-Malatya railroad in 1931, and a few years later in 1937, by the construction of the Sivas-Malatya railroad.[40]
According to German geographersGeorg Hassel and Adam Christian Gaspari, Malatya was composed of 1,200 to 1,500 houses in the early 19th century, inhabited byTurks,Armenians, andGreeks.[43]William Harrison Ainsworth visited the city of Malatya in 1837, noting a population of 8,000 Muslims, chieflyTurks, and 3,000Armenians.[44]
The economy of the city of Malatya is dominated by agriculture,textile manufacturing, and construction. As with the general province,apricot production is important for subsistence in the central district. Malatya is the world leader in apricot production.[49] The city has two organized industrial zones, where the chief industry is textile.[50]
Historically, Malatya producedopium. The British, in 1920, described the opium from Malatya as having "the highest percentage ofmorphia".[51]
Köfte (meatballs) are used in many meals fromkebabs (meat broiled or roasted in small pieces) to desserts. There are over 70 kinds of köfte, usually made with wheat and other ingredients. Kağıt kebabı is a local specialty – a dish made of lamb and vegetables broiled in a wrapper, usually oily paper. Other important dishes are a variety of stuffed specialties, including stuffed mulberry leaves, cabbage, chard, lettuce wraps with olive oil, vine leaves, cherry leaves, bean leaves, grape leaves, beets, onions, andzucchini flowers.
The Malatya region is known for itsapricot orchards. About 50% of the fresh apricot production and 95% of thedried apricot production in Turkey, the world's leading apricot producer, is provided by Malatya.[52] Overall, about 10–15% of the worldwide crop of fresh apricots, and about 65–80% of the worldwide production of dried apricots comes out of Malatya. Malatya apricots are often sun-dried by family-run orchards using traditional methods before export.
Malatya Fair and Apricot Festivities has been held since 1978, every year in July, to promote Malatya and apricots and to convene the producers to meet one another. During the festivities, sports activities, concerts and apricot contests are organized.
Near the Apricot Festivities, there are other annual activities in summer. Cherry Festivities at Yeşilyurt District of Malatya and Grape Festivities atArapgir District are organized annually.
Malatya's initial team isMalatyaspor whose colors are red and yellow. Malatyaspor competes in Malatya First Amateur League. Malatyaspor plays their home games in Malatya İnönü Stadium in the city's center. Malatya's other team isYeni Malatyaspor (formerly Malatya Belediyespor) whose colors are black and yellow (formerly green and orange). They compete inTFF 1.Lig.
Malatya is administered by ametropolitan municipality, which covers the whole province. There are two central districts, each with their own municipalities, that make up the city of Malatya: these areBattalgazi andYeşilyurt. Battalgazi has a population of around 300,000 and covers 47 central neighbourhoods, three rural former municipalities and 28 villages. Yeşilyurt contains 36 central neighborhoods, three rural former municipalities and 16 villages, and has a population of around 250,000.[53] The metropolitan municipality was won in 2014 by Ahmet Çakır of the rulingAK Party with 62.9% of the vote; the candidate of theCHP was in the second place with 16.7% of the vote. Battalgazi was won by Selahattin Gürkan of the AK Party with 63.1% of the vote and Yeşilyurt was won Hacı Uğur Polat of the AK Party with 62.4% of the vote.[54] The two central districts voted overwhelmingly in favour of the AK Party in theJune 2015 election with AK Party winning 66.2% of the vote in Battalgazi and 56.9% in Yeşilyurt. These percentages further increased in theNovember 2015 election to 74.7% and 66.2% respectively. In both elections, CHP had the second place in both districts with its votes remaining in the range of 10–18%.[55]
İnönü University, one of the largest universities in eastern Turkey, is in Malatya. It was established on 28 January 1975 and has three institutions and nine faculties, with more than 2,500 faculty and 20,000 students. Its larger campus is in the eastern part of Malatya.
By its relative advance inindustrial growth, Malatya is a pole of attraction for its surrounding regions, in commercial and inward immigration. The city is at a key junction in Turkey's road and rail network. By rail, it serves as the junction forAleppo throughSyria–Samsun line. Thebus terminal is 5 km west of the city center; there are regular intercity services to and fromAnkara,Istanbul andGaziantep. The railway station is 3 km west of the city center, and daily express trains run toElazığ,Diyarbakır, Istanbul and Ankara. These stations are easily reached by taxis anddolmuş services.
Construction of atrolleybus line was under way in 2013,[56] and the line opened in March 2015,[57] operating under the name Trambus. It serves a route that is around 21.5 km (13.4 mi) in length and connects Maşti bus station (Maşti Otogar), in the west, withİnönü University (İnönü Üniversitesi), in the east.[58]
Malatya's airport,Erhaç Airport, is 26 km west of the city center. There are daily domestic flights fromIstanbul,Ankara andİzmir. Since 2007 there have been international flights during the summer months. These flights are especially from German cities to Malatya, and most of the passengers are Turkish citizens or their descendants who are living and working in Germany.
^"Malatya".citypopulation.de. Retrieved23 January 2024.
^Dr Abdulla Ghafor (2000). Kurdistan: Dabeshî Kargêrî Terrîtorî 1927–1997. Stockholm.
^ab"Melid."Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Accessed 12 December 2010.
^KBo V 8 IV 18. Op. cit. Puhvel, Jaan.Trends in Linguistics:Hittite Etymological Dictionary: Vol. 6:Words Beginning with M. Walter de Gruyter, 2004. Accessed 12 December 2010.
^abcdHawkins, John D.Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Vol. 1: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, 2000.
^StraboGeographica, Translated from the Greek text by W. Falconer (London, 1903); Book XII, Chapter I
^"Melid."Reallexikon der Assyriologie. Accessed 12 December 2010.
^KBo V 8 IV 18. Op. cit. Puhvel, Jaan.Trends in Linguistics:Hittite Etymological Dictionary: Vol. 6:Words Beginning with M. Walter de Gruyter, 2004. Accessed 12 December 2010.
^Robert H. HewsenArmenia: A Historical Atlas, p74. University of Chicago Press. 2001.ISBN978-0-226-33228-4.
^Robert H. HewsenArmenia: A Historical Atlas, p86. University of Chicago Press. 2001.ISBN978-0-226-33228-4.
^Adontz, Nicholas (1970).Armenia in the Period of Justinian: The Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Trans. Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. p. 134.
^Timothy Mitford, "The Roman Frontier on the Upper Euphrates" p260-261, in "Ancient Anatolia – 50 Years Work by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara".
^Vryonis, Speros (1971).The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 53.
^Gabriel gave his daughterMorphia of Melitene in marriage toBaldwin along with adowry of 50,000 goldbezants. He also helped pay theransom forBohemond when he was made captive byDanishmend Gazi. Even Baldwin's beard weighed heavily onMelitene.William of Tyre relates an anecdote in which Baldwin manipulates Gabriel's Oriental sensitivities, especially the reverence for the beard, and manages to extract 30,000 bezants from the ruler by duping him, through a scene arranged with his knights, into believing that he had put his beard in pledge for his soldiery's pay. Gabriel swiftly settled the account and Baldwin and his knights left rejoiced at the success of their stratagem, laughing heartily at the ridiculous veneration of the Orientals for the beard. There are no records of these Armenian assets thus siphoned having been later returned in one form or the other, either by Baldwin or relatives. In September 1101, the Danishmend Turks captured Malatya and in 1113, Baldwin forcedMorphia to enter in aconvent to marry another woman.(see limited preview)Thomas Keightley (2004).The Crusaders or, Scenes, Events, and Characters, from the Times of the Crusades. Adamant Media Corporation.
^Akçam, Taner (2012).The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press. p. 248.ISBN978-0691153339.
^abGöknur Göğebakan."MALATYA" (in Turkish).İslâm Ansiklopedisi [Islamic Encyclopedia]. p. 473. Retrieved12 October 2018.
^"Art no 6360" (in Turkish). Resmî Gazete. 6 December 2012. Retrieved12 October 2018.
^Kemal Esengün; Orhan Gündüz; Gülistan Erdal. "Abstract: Input–output energy analysis in dry apricot production of Malatya, Turkey".doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2006.06.006.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
