VARIOUS ASPECTS OF TURKISH CULTURE- Part 1
I found out this while surfing.
The great bulk of Turkey's territory is located on the Anatolian peninsula where some of mankind's earliest settlements were established as early as 10000 BC. Indeed, Anatolia's rich geography and varied climate have been favorable to the development of numerous urban civilizations and great empires throughout the flow of centuries. Few other areas have witnessed such a rich succession of civilizations.
From prehistoric man to the Hittites, Anatolian Kingdoms of Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, and Troy, from Homer to Saint Paul, from Alexander to Justinian, Süleyman the Magnificent, and Atatürk, Anatolia is also the land from which Turkish civilization acquired some of its strongest roots, and most prestigious works of art and literature. Thus, this long history of successive civilizations has deeply influenced the social and cultural fabric of modern Turkey. Actually, Turkish culture of today is the amalgamation of all these civilizations that have enriched this land over the centuries.
Anatolia bears a living witness to a very long history. Archeologists can trace this region's past as far back as the Paleolithic or the Mesolithic periods. Traces of human occupation may be found in shelters and caves like the Karain Cave near Antalya in southwestern Turkey, occupied by nomadic tribes between 10,500 and 7,000 BC.
After the Paleolithic or the Mesolithic periods, two exceptional cities, Çatalhöyük and Hacìlar evolved in the Neolithic period as brilliant examples of man's transition to a settled lifestyle, and of what may be considered the oldest model of an urban civilization.
Around 3200 BC, the blossoming of metallurgy in the Near East helped bring about many changes. Rich in gold, silver and copper, Anatolia became one of the most "civilized" areas of the world, especially with Troy and Alacahöyük.
In the following millennia, civilizations such as the Assyrians, the Sumerians and the Hittites rose and fell as invaders from abroad continued to leave their mark in Anatolia. The major upheaval around 1200 BC, is attributed to the arrival of a new stock of people from the Balkans who brought with them a more effective social organization and more highly evolved techniques. This event shook Anatolia and most of the eastern Mediterranean. This was also to be the end of the age of great Anatolian empires, which then split into a multitude of small, independent kingdoms. Midas, the King with the golden touch and Croesus, the inventor of coinage, were rulers of small but important Anatolian kingdoms during the first millennium BC. Many of the great accomplishments of classical and Hellenistic civilization in the realms of art, architecture, philosophy, medicine and science came to light in Ionia, the region around present-day Izmir and Bergama.
Rome took over Anatolia in the last century BC and called it Asia Minor. The Roman provincial capital of Ephesus was among the largest and finest cities of its time. St. Paul preached there and Virgin Mary died in a small house in the outskirts of the city. The seven churches of Asia, whom St. Paul addressed as Epistles, are all in Anatolia. St. Nicholas, Santa Claus himself, lived on Anatolia's south coast.
The great bulk of Turkey's territory is located on the Anatolian peninsula where some of mankind's earliest settlements were established as early as 10000 BC. Indeed, Anatolia's rich geography and varied climate have been favorable to the development of numerous urban civilizations and great empires throughout the flow of centuries. Few other areas have witnessed such a rich succession of civilizations.
From prehistoric man to the Hittites, Anatolian Kingdoms of Caria, Lydia, Phrygia, and Troy, from Homer to Saint Paul, from Alexander to Justinian, Süleyman the Magnificent, and Atatürk, Anatolia is also the land from which Turkish civilization acquired some of its strongest roots, and most prestigious works of art and literature. Thus, this long history of successive civilizations has deeply influenced the social and cultural fabric of modern Turkey. Actually, Turkish culture of today is the amalgamation of all these civilizations that have enriched this land over the centuries.
Anatolia bears a living witness to a very long history. Archeologists can trace this region's past as far back as the Paleolithic or the Mesolithic periods. Traces of human occupation may be found in shelters and caves like the Karain Cave near Antalya in southwestern Turkey, occupied by nomadic tribes between 10,500 and 7,000 BC.
After the Paleolithic or the Mesolithic periods, two exceptional cities, Çatalhöyük and Hacìlar evolved in the Neolithic period as brilliant examples of man's transition to a settled lifestyle, and of what may be considered the oldest model of an urban civilization.
Around 3200 BC, the blossoming of metallurgy in the Near East helped bring about many changes. Rich in gold, silver and copper, Anatolia became one of the most "civilized" areas of the world, especially with Troy and Alacahöyük.
In the following millennia, civilizations such as the Assyrians, the Sumerians and the Hittites rose and fell as invaders from abroad continued to leave their mark in Anatolia. The major upheaval around 1200 BC, is attributed to the arrival of a new stock of people from the Balkans who brought with them a more effective social organization and more highly evolved techniques. This event shook Anatolia and most of the eastern Mediterranean. This was also to be the end of the age of great Anatolian empires, which then split into a multitude of small, independent kingdoms. Midas, the King with the golden touch and Croesus, the inventor of coinage, were rulers of small but important Anatolian kingdoms during the first millennium BC. Many of the great accomplishments of classical and Hellenistic civilization in the realms of art, architecture, philosophy, medicine and science came to light in Ionia, the region around present-day Izmir and Bergama.
Rome took over Anatolia in the last century BC and called it Asia Minor. The Roman provincial capital of Ephesus was among the largest and finest cities of its time. St. Paul preached there and Virgin Mary died in a small house in the outskirts of the city. The seven churches of Asia, whom St. Paul addressed as Epistles, are all in Anatolia. St. Nicholas, Santa Claus himself, lived on Anatolia's south coast.
posted by Sude at 10:26 PM
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