Cappadocia ( / k æ p ə ˈ d oʊ ʃ ə ˌ - ˈ d oʊ k i ə / ; Turkish : Kapadokya , Greek : Καππαδοκία) is a historical region in Central Anatolia , Turkey . It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir , Kayseri , Aksaray , Kırşehir , Sivas and Niğde .
121-865: According to Herodotus , in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine ( Black Sea ). Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of the Taurus Mountains that separate it from Cilicia , to the east by the upper Euphrates , to the north by Pontus , and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia . The name, traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history, continues in use as an international tourism concept to define
242-682: A racist attempt to diminish the economic power of religious minorities in Turkey. During World War II , Turkey was officially neutral although it maintained strong diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany . During the war, Turkey denaturalized 3,000 to 5,000 Jews living abroad; 2,500 Turkish Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps such as Auschwitz , Sobibor and other extermination camps . When Nazi Germany encouraged neutral countries to repatriate their Jewish citizens, Turkish diplomats received instructions to avoid repatriating Jews even if they could prove their Turkish nationality. Turkey
363-522: A Turkish dialect (written in Greek alphabet , Karamanlıca ), and where the Greek language was maintained (Sille, villages near Kayseri, Pharasa town and other nearby villages), it became heavily influenced by the surrounding Turkish. This dialect of Eastern Roman Greek is known as Cappadocian Greek . Following the foundation of Turkey in 1922, those who still identified with this pre-Islamic culture of Cappadocia were required to leave , so this language
484-473: A boy living on the island of Samos, to which he had fled with his family from the oppressions of Lygdamis, tyrant of Halicarnassus and grandson of Artemisia. Panyassis , the epic poet related to Herodotus, is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. The Suda also states that Herodotus later returned home to lead the revolt that eventually overthrew the tyrant. Due to recent discoveries of inscriptions at Halicarnassus dated to about Herodotus's time, it
605-545: A buffer zone against the encroaching Romans. It was not until Rome had deposed the Pontic and Armenian kings that the rule of Ariobarzanes was established (63 BC). In the civil wars Cappadocia was first for Pompey , then for Caesar , then for Antony , and finally, Octavian . The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end, a Cappadocian nobleman Archelaus was given the throne, by favour first of Antony and then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence until AD 17, when
726-631: A capital tax which occurred in 1942, was also significant in encouraging emigration from Turkey to Palestine; between 1943 and 1944, 4,000 Jews emigrated. The Jews of Turkey reacted very favorably to the creation of the State of Israel. Between 1948 and 1951, 34,547 Jews immigrated to Israel, nearly 40% of the Turkish Jewish population at the time. Immigration was stunted for several months in November 1948, when Turkey suspended migration permits as
847-534: A cult of wind worshippers. In 2010 and early 2011, the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was also filmed in the Cappadocia region. Autechre 's second album, Amber , features a photo of this region's fairy mountains as the cover art , being their only album whose cover isn't computer-generated. Cappadocia's winter landscapes and broad panoramas are prominent in the 2014 film Winter Sleep (Turkish: Kış Uykusu), directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan , which won
968-540: A detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars , and was the first writer to apply a scientific method to historical events. He has been described as " The Father of History ", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero , and the " Father of Lies " by others. The Histories primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon , Thermopylae , Artemisium , Salamis , Plataea , and Mycale . His work deviates from
1089-734: A foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great , then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon . The kings henceforward threw in their lot with the Republic as against the Seleucids , to whom they had been from time to time tributary. Ariarathes V marched with the Roman proconsul Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus against Aristonicus , a claimant to the throne of Pergamon , and their forces were annihilated (130 BC). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by
1210-766: A formal invitation and refugees started arriving in the empire in great numbers. A key moment occurred in 1492, when more than 40,000 Spanish Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition . At that point in time, Constantinople's population was a mere 70,000 due to the various sieges of the city during the Crusades and the Black Death, so this historical event was also significant for repopulation of the city. These Sephardi Jews settled in Constantinople, as well as Thessaloniki . The Jews satisfied various needs in
1331-531: A handful of dispersed Karaite communities. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, many Sephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal and South Italy expelled by the Alhambra Decree found refuge across the Ottoman Empire , including in regions now part of Turkey. This influx played a pivotal role in shaping the predominant identity of Ottoman Jews . By the end of the sixteenth century,
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#17327647160441452-664: A historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view: focused on the context of the polis or city-state. The interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Before the Persian crisis, history had been represented among the Greeks only by local or family traditions. The "Wars of Liberation" had given to Herodotus
1573-545: A large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning." According to Strabo, who wrote during the time of Augustus ( r. 27 BC – AD 14 ), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, there remained only traces of Persians in western Asia Minor ; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia". Under Ariarathes IV , Cappadocia came into relations with Rome , first as
1694-404: A literary critic of Augustan Rome , listed seven predecessors of Herodotus, describing their works as simple unadorned accounts of their own and other cities and people, Greek or foreign, including popular legends, sometimes melodramatic and naïve, often charming – all traits that can be found in the work of Herodotus himself. Modern historians regard the chronology as uncertain, but according to
1815-961: A mutual agreement between the two countries, and these citizens returned to Turkey in April 1945, although there is no known official record for other Turkish Jews who died during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. According to Rıfat Bali, Turkish authorities bear some responsibility for the Struma disaster , killing about 781 Jewish refugees and 10 crew, due to their refusal to allow the Jewish refugees on board to disembark in Turkey. William Rubinstein goes further, citing British pressure on Turkey not to let Struma ' s passengers disembark, in accordance with Britain's White Paper of 1939 to prevent further Jewish immigration to Israel then-Palestine. When
1936-534: A native of Halicarnassus in Anatolia , and it is generally accepted that he was born there around 485 BC. The Suda says his family was influential, that he was the son of Lyxes and Dryo and the brother of Theodorus, and that he was also related to Panyassis – an epic poet of the time. Halicarnassus was then within the Persian Empire , making Herodotus a Persian subject, and it may be that
2057-474: A priest in the rank of presbyters; and afterwards did not hoard even what remained to him". In 371, the western part of the Cappadocia province was divided into Cappadocia Prima, with its capital at Caesarea (modern-day Kayseri); and Cappadocia Secunda, with its capital at Tyana . By 386, the region to the east of Caesarea had become part of Armenia Secunda, while the northeast had become part of Armenia Prima. Cappadocia largely consisted of major estates, owned by
2178-650: A reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.' Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age , and was the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa . After the fall of the Hittite Empire, with the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians ( Mushki ) after their defeat by the Lydian king Croesus in the 6th century BC, Cappadocia
2299-827: A region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys , in addition to its religious heritage of being a centre of early Christian learning, evidenced by hundreds of churches and monasteries (such as those of Göreme and Ihlara ), as well as underground cities that were dug to offer protection during periods of persecution . The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia ( / k æ p ə ˈ d oʊ ʃ ə ˌ - ˈ d oʊ k i ə / ; Turkish : Kapadokya ; Ancient Greek : Καππαδοκία , romanized : Kappadokía , Classical Syriac : ܩܦܘܕܩܝܐ , romanized: Kəp̄uḏoqyā , from Old Persian : 𐎣𐎫𐎱𐎬𐎢𐎣 Katpatuka ; Hittite : 𒅗𒋫𒁉𒁕 , romanized: Katapeda ; Armenian : Կապադովկիա, , romanized : Kapadovkia ) dates from
2420-401: A result of pressure from Arab countries. In 1949, Turkey officially recognized Israel, becoming the first Muslim-majority country to do so. Migration permits were reinstated and emigration continued, with 26,000 emigrating within the same year. The migration was entirely voluntary, and was primary driven by economic factors given the majority of emigrants were from the lower classes. In fact,
2541-734: A transit for European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution during the 1930s and 1940s. A memorial stone with a bronze epitaph was inaugurated in 2012, as the third of individual country memorials (after Poland and the Netherlands) at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp for eight Turkish citizens killed during the Nazi regime in the said camp. The Turkish Ambassador to Berlin, Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu stated in an inauguration speech that Germany set free 105 Turkish citizens, held in camps, after
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#17327647160442662-850: A variety of views on the role of Jews in the Ottoman Empire , from loyal Ottomanism to Zionism . Emmanuel Carasso , for example, was a founding member of the Young Turks , and believed that the Jews of the Empire should be Turks first, and Jews second. As mentioned before, the overwhelming majority of the Ottoman Jews lived in Rumelia. As the Empire declined however, the Jews of these region found themselves under Christian rule. The Bosnian Jews for example came under Austro-Hungarian rule after
2783-696: A version of the Histories written by "Herodotus of Thurium", and some passages in the Histories have been interpreted as proof that he wrote about Magna Graecia from personal experience there (IV, 15,99; VI, 127). According to Ptolemaeus Chennus , a late source summarized in the Library of Photius , Plesirrhous the Thessalian, the hymnographer, was the eromenos of Herodotus and his heir. This account has also led some historians to assume Herodotus died childless. Intimate knowledge of some events in
2904-508: A wave of Sephardi immigrants. The number of Romaniotes was soon bolstered by small groups of Ashkenazi Jews that immigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1421 and 1453. Among these immigrants was Rabbi Yitzhak Sarfati , a German-born Jew of French descent ( צרפתי Sarfati , meaning "French"), who became Chief Rabbi of Edirne and wrote a letter inviting European Jewry to settle in the Ottoman Empire, in which he stated, "Turkey
3025-520: A young Thucydides happened to be in the assembly with his father, and burst into tears during the recital. Herodotus observed prophetically to the boy's father: "Your son's soul yearns for knowledge." Eventually, Thucydides and Herodotus became close enough for both to be interred in Thucydides's tomb in Athens. Such at least was the opinion of Marcellinus in his Life of Thucydides . According to
3146-542: Is a land wherein nothing is lacking," and asking, "Is it not better for you to live under Muslims than under Christians?" The greatest influx of Jews into Anatolia Eyalet and the Ottoman Empire occurred during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror's successor, Bayezid II (1481–1512), after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the Kingdom of Portugal , the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily . The Sultan issued
3267-564: Is also a small community of Romaniote Jews and the community of the Constantinopolitan Karaites who are related to each other. The city of Antakya , was home to ten Jewish families, numbering 20 members in 2014, many of whom were Syrian Jews of Mizrahi Jewish extraction, having originally come from Aleppo , Syria, 2,500 years ago. Figures were once higher but families have left for Istanbul, Israel and other countries. Turkish Jews are still legally represented by
3388-541: Is attested as late as 465". The Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century were integral to much of early Christian philosophy . It also produced, among other people, another Patriarch of Constantinople , John of Cappadocia , who held office 517–520. For most of the Byzantine era it remained relatively undisturbed by the conflicts in the area with the Sassanid Empire, but was a vital frontier zone later against
3509-552: Is available in Göreme. Trekking is practised in Ihlara Valley, Monastery Valley ( Güzelyurt ), Ürgüp and Göreme . In 1975, a study of three small villages in central Cappadocia—Tuzköy, Karain and Sarıhıdır—found that mesothelioma was causing 50% of all deaths. Initially, this was attributed to erionite , a zeolite mineral with similar properties to asbestos , but detailed epidemiological investigation demonstrated that
3630-640: Is consistent with a tyrant under pressure. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League , indicating that there might well have been a successful uprising against him some time before 454 BC. Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect , in spite of being born in a Dorian settlement. According to the Suda , Herodotus learned the Ionian dialect as
3751-499: Is exclusively Hittite , while its Luwian equivalent is zanta . Therefore, the recent modification of this proposal operates with the Hittite katta peda- , literally "place below" as a starting point for the development of the toponym Cappadocia. The earlier derivation from Iranian Hu-apa-dahyu 'Land of good horses' can hardly be reconciled with the phonetic shape of Kat-patuka . Several other etymologies have also been offered in
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3872-491: Is generally assumed that he died not long afterwards, possibly before his sixtieth year. Herodotus would have made his researches known to the larger world through oral recitations to a public crowd. John Marincola writes in his introduction to the Penguin edition of the Histories that there are certain identifiable pieces in the early books of Herodotus's work which could be labeled as "performance pieces". These portions of
3993-468: Is generally considered a reliable source of ancient history, many present-day historians believe that his accounts are at least partially inaccurate, attributing the observed inconsistencies in the Histories to exaggeration. Several English translations of Herodotus's Histories are available in multiple editions, including: History of the Jews in Turkey The history of
4114-607: Is largely semi-arid. Cappadocia contained the sources of the Sarus and Pyramus rivers with their higher affluents, and also the middle course of the Halys , and the whole course of the tributary of the Euphrates later called Tokhma Su. But 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. Ignimbrites of Miocene age are present within
4235-809: Is now known that the Ionic dialect was used in Halicarnassus in some official documents, so there is no need to assume (like the Suda ) that he must have learned the dialect elsewhere. The Suda is the only source placing Herodotus as the heroic liberator of his birthplace, casting doubt upon the veracity of that romantic account. As Herodotus himself reveals, Halicarnassus, though a Dorian city, had ended its close relations with its Dorian neighbours after an unseemly quarrel (I, 144), and it had helped pioneer Greek trade with Egypt (II, 178). It was, therefore, an outward-looking, international-minded port within
4356-794: Is now only spoken by a handful of their descendants, most now located in modern Greece. 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 and Niğde . The region is located southwest of the major city Kayseri , which has airline and railway service to Ankara and Istanbul and other cities. The most important towns and destinations in Cappadocia are Ürgüp , Göreme , Love Valley , Ihlara Valley , Selime , Guzelyurt, Uçhisar , Avanos and Zelve. Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately nine to three million years ago, during
4477-609: Is on account of the many strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics have branded him "The Father of Lies". Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement. In fact, one modern scholar has wondered whether Herodotus left his home in Greek Anatolia , migrating westwards to Athens and beyond, because his own countrymen had ridiculed his work, a circumstance possibly hinted at in an epitaph said to have been dedicated to Herodotus at one of his three supposed resting places, Thuria : Herodotus
4598-476: The haraç "head tax" and faced other restrictions in clothing, horse riding, army service etc., but they could occasionally be waived or circumvented. Jews who reached high positions in the Ottoman court and administration include Mehmed the Conqueror's Minister of Finance ( Defterdar ) Hekim Yakup Paşa, his Portuguese physician Moses Hamon , Murad II 's physician İshak Paşa and Abraham de Castro , master of
4719-535: The Alcmaeonids , a clan whose history is featured frequently in his writing. According to Plutarch , Herodotus was granted a financial reward by the Athenian assembly in recognition of his work. Plutarch, using Diyllus as a source, says this was 10 talents . In 443 BC or shortly afterwards, he migrated to Thurii , in modern Calabria , as part of an Athenian-sponsored colony . Aristotle refers to
4840-711: The Americas . Turkish Jews in Israel became leaders of the Sephardic community, and their Ladino language was a prominent characteristic. Today, the vast majority of Turkish Jews live in Israel, though Turkey itself still has a modest Jewish population, where the vast majority live in Istanbul , and the remainder in İzmir . Jews are one of the four ethnic minorities officially recognized in Turkey, together with Armenians , Greeks , and Bulgarians . According to
4961-741: The Crusader States following the Fourth Crusade . To the crusaders, Cappadocia was terra Hermeniorum , the land of the Armenians, due to the large number of Armenians settled there. Cappadocia contains several underground cities (see Kaymaklı Underground City ), many of which were dug by Christians to provide protection during periods of persecution . 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
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5082-458: The Diocese of Pontus . The region suffered famine in 368 described as "the most severe ever remembered" by Gregory 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
5203-435: The Euphrates to Babylon . For some reason, possibly associated with local politics, he subsequently found himself unpopular in Halicarnassus, and sometime around 447 BC, migrated to Periclean Athens – a city whose people and democratic institutions he openly admired (V, 78). Athens was also the place where he came to know the local topography (VI, 137; VIII, 52–55), as well as leading citizens such as
5324-514: The Greeks , who were able to "capitalize on their religio-cultural ties with the West and their trading diaspora ". An exception to this is Daniel de Fonseca , who was chief court physician and played a certain political role. He is mentioned by Voltaire , who speaks of him as an acquaintance whom he esteemed highly. Fonseca was involved in negotiations with Charles XII of Sweden . Ottoman Jews held
5445-555: The Hakham Bashi , the Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Ishak Haleva is assisted by a religious council made up of a Rosh Bet Din and three Hahamim . 35 lay counselors look after the secular affairs of the community and an executive committee of fourteen, the president of which must be elected from among the lay counselors, runs the daily affairs. The Istanbul community also has 16 synagogues and well kept and guarded cemetery. In 2001,
5566-677: The Hebrew Bible , Noah's Ark landed on the top of Mount Ararat , a mountain in eastern Anatolia, in the Armenian Highlands, near the present-day borders of Turkey, Armenia , and Iran . In the 1st century AD, Jewish historian Josephus cited records confirming the presence of diaspora Jews in Lydia and Phrygia by the late 3rd century BC, a community established through the relocation of 2000 families by Seleucid king Antiochus III . Josephus notes Jewish origins for many of
5687-597: The Muslim conquests . From the 7th century, Cappadocia was divided between the Anatolic and Armeniac themes . In the 9th–11th centuries, the region comprised the themes of Charsianon and Cappadocia . Cappadocia shared an always-changing relationship with neighbouring Armenia , by that time a region of the Empire. The Arab historian Abu Al Faraj asserts the following about Armenian settlers in Sebasteia , during
5808-673: The Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival . Since 2012, a multiday track running ultramarathon of desert concept, called Runfire Cappadocia Ultramarathon , is held annually in July. The race tours 244 km (152 mi) in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out to Lake Tuz . Between September 9 and September 13, 2016, for the first time, the Turkish Presidential Bike Tour took place in Cappadocia where more than 300 cyclists from around
5929-649: The Peloponnesian War on the abduction of some prostitutes – a mocking reference to Herodotus, who reported the Persians' account of their wars with Greece , beginning with the rapes of the mythical heroines Io , Europa , Medea , and Helen . Similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a story-teller. Thucydides, who had been trained in rhetoric , became the model for subsequent prose-writers as an author who seeks to appear firmly in control of his material, whereas with his frequent digressions Herodotus appeared to minimize (or possibly disguise) his authorial control. Moreover, Thucydides developed
6050-461: The Persian Empire , and the historian's family could well have had contacts in other countries under Persian rule, facilitating his travels and his researches. Herodotus's eyewitness accounts indicate that he traveled in Egypt in association with Athenians, probably sometime after 454 BC or possibly earlier, after an Athenian fleet had assisted the uprising against Persian rule in 460–454 BC. He probably traveled to Tyre next and then down
6171-461: The Suda , he was buried in Macedonian Pella and in the agora in Thurii. Herodotus announced the purpose and scope of his work at the beginning of his Histories: Here are presented the results of the inquiry carried out by Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The purpose is to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of the important and remarkable achievements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among
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#17327647160446292-484: The biblical account given in the book of Acts 2:9 . The Cappadocians were named as one group (among "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia") hearing the Gospel account from Galileans in their own language on the day of Pentecost shortly after the resurrection of Jesus 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
6413-433: The 10th century: 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
6534-502: The 20th century and the process of transforming the old Ottoman Empire into a secular nation state after 1923, however, had a negative effect on the size of all remaining minorities, including the Jews . After 1933, a new law put into effect in Nazi Germany for mandatory retirement of officials from non-Aryan race. Thus, the law required all the Jewish scientists in Germany to be fired. Unemployed scientists led by Albert Einstein formed an association in Switzerland. Professor Schwartz,
6655-417: The Byzantine populations and authorities, no systematic persecution of the type endemic at that time in western Europe ( pogroms , the stake , mass expulsions , etc.) is believed to have occurred in Byzantium. Jews arrived in Anatolia between the sixth century BCE and 133 BCE, when the Romans arrived. They were Romaniote Jews and first settled in Phrygia and Lydia . In 2020, a seventh-century synagogue
6776-400: The Cappadocian kingdom, cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper, continued to practice Zoroastrianism . 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 as fire temples . Strabo furthermore relates, were "noteworthy enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is
6897-426: The Cappadocians were Jews , or part of the diaspora of Jews present in Jerusalem at the time. The region is also mentioned in the Jewish Mishnah , in Ketubot 13:11, and in several places in the Talmud , including Yevamot 121a, Hullin 47b. Under the later kings of the Persian Empire, the Cappadocians were divided into two satrapies , or governments, with one comprising the central and inland portion, to which
7018-440: The Empire's Romaniote Jews , from the Balkans and Anatolia , were concentrated in Constantinople, where they made up 10% of the city's population. At the same time, the forced resettlement, though not intended as an anti-Jewish measure , was perceived as an "expulsion" by the Jews. Despite this interpretation, Romaniotes would be the most influential community in the Empire for a few decades, until that position would be lost to
7139-509: The Ephesians . The Epistle to the Galatians is likewise directed at Galatia , which once held an established Jewish population. Based on physical evidence, there has been a Jewish community in Anatolia since the fourth century BCE, most notably in the city of Sardis . The subsequent Roman and Byzantine Empires included sizable Greek-speaking Jewish communities in their Anatolian domains which seem to have been relatively well-integrated and enjoyed certain legal immunities. The size of
7260-444: The Inspectorate General of the Trakya Inspectorate General , suggested to remove the Jews from the region as they presented an economic threat to the Muslim population. In 1934, the Turkish government expelled all the Jews from Edirne and the Straits. The effect of the 1942 Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth Tax") was solely on non-Muslims – who still controlled the largest portion of the young republic's wealth – even though in principle it
7381-459: The Jewish community was estimated at 17,400 in 2012 according to the Jewish Virtual Library. The vast majority, approximately 95%, live in Istanbul , with a community of about 2,500 in İzmir , and until the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake , much smaller communities in Antakya and İskenderun . Sephardi Jews make up approximately 96% of Turkey's Jewish population, while the rest are primarily Ashkenazi Jews and Jews from Italian extraction . There
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#17327647160447502-410: The Jewish community was not greatly affected by the attempts of some Byzantine emperors (most notably Justinian I ) to forcibly convert the Jews of Anatolia to Christianity , as these attempts met with very little success. The exact picture of the status of the Jews in Asia Minor under Byzantine rule is still being researched by historians. Although there is some evidence of occasional hostility by
7623-482: The Jewish population in the Ottoman Empire was double (150,000) that of Jews in Poland and Ukraine combined (75,000), far surpassing other Jewish communities to be the largest in the world. Turkey's Jewish community was large, diverse and vibrant, forming the core of Ottoman Jewry until World War I . Early signs of change included education reforms and the rise of Zionism . The community declined sharply after World War I, with many emigrating to Israel , France and
7744-456: The Jews in Turkey ( Turkish : Türk Yahudileri or Türk Musevileri ; Hebrew : יהודים טורקים , romanized : Yehudim Turkim ; Ladino : Djudios Turkos ) covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey . There have been Jewish communities in Anatolia since at least the beginning of the common era. Anatolia's Jewish population before Ottoman times primarily consisted of Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews , with
7865-413: The Law on Settlement may well have actually provoked the incidents’ outbreak, the national authorities did not side with the attackers but immediately intervened in the incidents. After order was restored, the governors and mayors of the provinces involved were removed from office. Immigration to Palestine was organized by the Jewish Agency and the Palestine Aliya Anoar Organization. The Varlık Vergisi ,
7986-425: The Ottoman Empire until 1922, when it became part of the modern state of Turkey . A fundamental change occurred in between when a new urban center, Nevşehir , was founded in the early 18th century by a grand 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
8107-422: The Ottoman Empire: the Muslim Turks were largely uninterested in business enterprises and accordingly left commercial occupations to members of minority religions. They also distrusted the Christian subjects whose countries had only recently been conquered by the Ottomans and therefore it was natural to prefer Jewish subjects to which this consideration did not apply. The Sephardi Jews were allowed to settle in
8228-436: The Persian Empire, Alexander the Great tried to rule the area through one of his military commanders. But Ariarathes , 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 the Black Sea . The kingdom of Cappadocia lived in peace until the death of Alexander. The previous empire
8349-461: The Republic of Turkey was established in 1923, Aliyah was not particularly popular amongst Turkish Jewry; migration from Turkey to Palestine was minimal in the 1920s. Between 1923 and 1948, approximately 7,300 Jews emigrated from Turkey to Mandatory Palestine . After the 1934 Thrace pogroms following the 1934 Turkish Resettlement Law , it is estimated that 521 Jews left for Palestine from Turkey in 1934 and 1,445 left in 1935. However, although
8470-496: The Roman emperors or wealthy local families. The Cappadocian provinces became more important in the latter part of the 4th century, as the Romans were involved with the Sasanian Empire over control of Mesopotamia and "Armenia beyond the Euphrates". Cappadocia, now well into the Roman era, still retained a significant Iranian character; Stephen Mitchell notes in the Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity : "Many inhabitants of Cappadocia were of Persian descent and Iranian fire worship
8591-401: The Romans. As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns and the Seljuk invasion of Armenia, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward from Cilicia into the mountainous areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia , and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually formed. This immigration was increased further after the decline of the local imperial power and the establishment of
8712-536: The Taurus Mountains form the boundary with Cilicia and separate Cappadocia from the Mediterranean Sea . To the west, Cappadocia is bounded by the historical regions of Lycaonia to the southwest, and Galatia 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. Rainfall is sparse and the region
8833-546: The Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valleys, all evidence Cappadocia as a centre of early Christian learning and are thus a place of pilgrimage. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the Christian monastic communities in Cappadocia (see Churches of Göreme and Churches 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 and chapels , some having superb frescoes inside, dating from
8954-407: The ancient account, these predecessors included Dionysius of Miletus , Charon of Lampsacus, Hellanicus of Lesbos , Xanthus of Lydia and, the best attested of them all, Hecataeus of Miletus . Of these, only fragments of Hecataeus's works survived, and the authenticity of these is debatable, but they provide a glimpse into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories . It
9075-477: The appointment of Joseph Nasi to sanjak-bey ( governor , a rank usually only bestowed upon Muslims) of Naxos . Also in the first half of the 17th century the Jews were distinct in winning tax farms , Haim Gerber describes it: "My impression is that no pressure existed, that it was merely performance that counted." Friction between Jews and Turks was less common than in the Arab territories. Some examples: During
9196-667: The area. In respect of the 'voluminous eruption deposits in a fluvio-lacustrine sequence with 'fairy-chimney' development produced by uplift and erosion', the International 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
9317-493: The attitude of all non-Muslims should be one of "humility and abjection" and that they should not "live near Mosques or tall buildings" or own slaves, others were more tolerant. The first major event in Jewish history under Turkish rule took place after the Empire gained control over Constantinople . After Mehmed the Conqueror 's conquest of Constantinople he found the city in a state of disarray. After suffering many sieges ,
9438-591: The audience. It was conventional in Herodotus's day for authors to "publish" their works by reciting them at popular festivals. According to Lucian , Herodotus took his finished work straight from Anatolia to the Olympic Games and read the entire Histories to the assembled spectators in one sitting, receiving rapturous applause at the end of it. According to a very different account by an ancient grammarian, Herodotus refused to begin reading his work at
9559-519: The beginning of the 16th century. That of Safed increased from 300 to 2000 families and almost surpassed Jerusalem in importance. Damascus had a Sephardic congregation of 500 families. Constantinople had a Jewish community of 30,000 individuals with 44 synagogues . Bayezid allowed the Jews to live on the banks of the Golden Horn . Egypt Eyalet, especially Cairo , received a large number of the exiles, who soon outnumbered Musta'arabi Jews . Gradually,
9680-566: The ceiling through which the defenders may drop spears. Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, various Turkish clans under the leadership of the Seljuks began settling in Anatolia . 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 with
9801-408: The challenge is great: The data are so few – they rest upon such late and slight authority; they are so improbable or so contradictory, that to compile them into a biography is like building a house of cards, which the first breath of criticism will blow to the ground. Still, certain points may be approximately fixed ... Herodotus was, according to his own statement, at the beginning of his work,
9922-543: The chief center of the Sephardi Jews became Thessaloniki, where the Spanish Jews soon outnumbered coreligionists of other nationalities and, at one time, the original native inhabitants. Although the status of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire may have often been exaggerated, it is undeniable that they enjoyed tolerance. Under the millet system they were organized as a community on the basis of religion alongside
10043-829: The cities in Anatolia, though much of his sourcing for these passages is traditional. Descendants in Sardis and other centers gained civic privileges by the Late Republican Rome . The New Testament has many mentions of Jewish populations in Anatolia: Iconium (now Konya ) is said to have a synagogue in Acts of the Apostles 14:1, and Ephesus is mentioned as having a synagogue in Acts 19:1 and in Paul's Epistle to
10164-467: The devastating sack of Constantinople by Crusaders in 1204 and the arrival of the Black Death pandemic in 1347, the city was a shadow of its former glory. Since Mehmed wanted the city as his new capital, he decreed its rebuilding. In order to revivify Constantinople he ordered that Muslims , Christians and Jews from all over his empire be resettled in the new capital. Within months, most of
10285-528: The emperor Tiberius , whom he had angered, summoned him to Rome and reduced Cappadocia to a Roman province. In 70 AD, Vespasian joined Armenia Minor to Cappadocia, and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of the Eastern Empire for centuries. In 314, Cappadocia was the largest province of the Roman Empire, and was part of
10406-460: 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. This is similar to another account by Gregory of Nyssa that Basil "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
10527-439: The festival of Olympia until some clouds offered him a bit of shade – by which time the assembly had dispersed. (Hence the proverbial expression "Herodotus and his shade" to describe someone who misses an opportunity through delay.) Herodotus's recitation at Olympia was a favourite theme among ancient writers, and there is another interesting variation on the story to be found in the Suda : that of Photius and Tzetzes , in which
10648-422: The first genuinely historical inspiration felt by a Greek. These wars showed him that there was a corporate life, higher than that of the city, of which the story might be told; and they offered to him as a subject the drama of the collision between East and West. With him, the spirit of history was born into Greece; and his work, called after the nine Muses, was indeed the first utterance of Clio . Though Herodotus
10769-625: The first years of the Peloponnesian War (VI, 91; VII, 133, 233; IX, 73) suggests that he returned to Athens, in which case it is possible that he died there during an outbreak of the plague. It is also possible he died in Macedonia instead, after obtaining the patronage of the court there; or else he died back in Thurii. There is nothing in the Histories that can be dated to later than 430 BC with any certainty, and it
10890-443: The focus of this article. The kingdom of Cappadocia still existed in the time of Strabo ( c. 64 BC – c. AD 24 ) as a nominally independent state. Cilicia was the name given to the district in which Caesarea , the capital of the whole country, was situated. The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Caesarea (originally known as Mazaca ) and Tyana , not far from
11011-455: The foot of the Taurus . Cappadocia lies in eastern Anatolia , in the heartland of what is now Turkey. The relief consists of a high plateau over 1000 m in altitude that is pierced by volcanic peaks, with Mount Erciyes (ancient Argaeus) near Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) being the tallest at 3916 m . The boundaries of historical Cappadocia are vague, particularly towards the west. To the south,
11132-631: The general secretary of the association, met with the Turkish Minister of Education in order to provide jobs for 34 Jewish scientists in Turkish universities especially in Istanbul University . However, the planned deportation of Jews from East Thrace and the associated anti-Jewish pogrom in 1934 was one of the events that caused insecurity among the Turkish Jews. Before the start of the pogroms, Ibrahim Tali Öngören ,
11253-459: The globe participated. Herodotus Herodotus ( Ancient Greek : Ἡρόδοτος , romanized : Hēródotos ; c. 484 – c. 425 BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus , part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum , Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria , Italy. He wrote the Histories ,
11374-505: The late Miocene to Pliocene epochs, underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret -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. 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
11495-539: The late sixth century BC, when it appears in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid emperors , Darius the Great and Xerxes I , as one of the countries ( Old Persian dahyu- ). In these lists of countries, the Old Persian name is Katpatuka . It was proposed that Kat-patuka came from the Luwian language , meaning "Low Country". Subsequent research suggests that the adverb katta meaning 'down, below'
11616-473: The main topics to provide a cultural, ethnographical , geographical, and historiographical background that forms an essential part of the narrative and provides readers with a wellspring of additional information. Herodotus was criticized in ancient times for his inclusion of "legends and fanciful accounts" in his work. The contemporaneous historian Thucydides accused him of making up stories for entertainment. He retorted that he reported what he could see and
11737-424: The matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks. His record of the achievements of others was an achievement in itself, though the extent of it has been debated. Herodotus's place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact. Dionysius of Halicarnassus ,
11858-815: The migration of Jews to Israel is the second largest mass emigration wave out of Turkey, the first being the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey . After 1951, emigration of Jews from Turkey to Israel slowed perceptibly. In the mid-1950s, 10% of those who had moved to Israel returned to Turkey. A new synagogue, the Neve Şalom , was constructed in Istanbul in 1951. Generally, Turkish Jews in Israel have integrated well into society and are not distinguishable from other Israelis. However, they maintain their Turkish culture and connection to Turkey, and are strong supporters of close relations between Israel and Turkey. On
11979-562: The mint in Egypt. During the Classical Ottoman period (1300–1600), the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, enjoyed a certain level of prosperity. Compared with other Ottoman subjects, they were the predominant power in commerce and trade as well in diplomacy and other high offices. In the 16th century especially, the Jews were the most prominent under the millets , the apogee of Jewish influence could arguably be
12100-422: The name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by Greek geographers , while the other was called Pontus . This division had already come about before the time of Xenophon . 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
12221-482: The night of 6/7 September 1955, the Istanbul Pogrom was unleashed. Although primarily aimed at the city's Greek population , the Jewish and Armenian communities of Istanbul were also targeted to a degree. The damage caused was mainly material (over 4,000 shops and 1,000 houses belonging to Greeks, Armenians and Jews were destroyed) it deeply shocked minorities throughout the country. The present size of
12342-428: The ninth century to the eleventh century. The three main castles in Cappadocia are Uçhisar Castle, Ortahisar Castle, and Ürgüp Kadıkalesi (Temenni Tepe). Among the most visited underground cities are Derinkuyu , Kaymakli , Gaziemir and Ozkonak . The best historic mansions and cave houses for tourist stays are in Ürgüp , Göreme , Güzelyurt and Uçhisar . Hot-air ballooning is very popular in Cappadocia and
12463-431: The occupation of the region in 1878, the independence of Greece , Bulgaria and Serbia further lowered the number of Jews within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. The Jewish population of Ottoman Empire had reached nearly 200,000 at the start of the 20th century. The territories lost between 1829 and 1913 to the new Christian Balkan states significantly lowered this number. The troubled history of Turkey during
12584-620: The other millets ( e.g. Eastern Orthodox millet, Armenian Apostolic millet, etc.). In the framework of the millet, they had a considerable amount of administrative autonomy and were represented by the Hakham Bashi , the Chief Rabbi. There were no restrictions in the professions Jews could practice analogous to those common in Western Christian countries. There were restrictions in the areas Jews could live or work, but such restrictions were imposed on Ottoman subjects of other religions as well. Like all non-Muslims, Jews had to pay
12705-763: The past. Herodotus wrote that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by the Persians , while they were termed by the Greeks "White Syrians" ( Leucosyri ), who were most probably descendants of the Hittites . One of the Cappadocian tribes he mentions is the Moschoi , associated by Flavius Josephus with the biblical figure Meshech , son of Japheth : "and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians". AotJ I:6. Cappadocia appears in
12826-505: The reign of Murad IV (1623–1640), the Jews of Jerusalem were persecuted by an Arab who had purchased the governorship of that city from the governor of the province. Under Mehmed IV (1649–1687), the 1660 destruction of Safed occurred. An additional problem was Jewish ethnic divisions . They had come to the Ottoman Empire from many lands, bringing with them their own customs and opinions, to which they clung tenaciously, and had founded separate congregations. Another tremendous upheaval
12947-468: The research seem independent and "almost detachable", so that they might have been set aside by the author for the purposes of an oral performance. The intellectual matrix of the 5th century, Marincola suggests, comprised many oral performances in which philosophers would dramatically recite such detachable pieces of their work. The idea was to criticize previous arguments on a topic and emphatically and enthusiastically insert their own in order to win over
13068-543: The rest forming the remaining Cappadocian 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 the Konya -based Seljuks in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually replaced by successive Turkic ruled states: the Karaman -based Beylik of Karaman and then the Ottoman Empire . Cappadocia remained part of
13189-426: The rising power of Pontus and the intrigues and wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty. The Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithridates VI of Pontus , elected a native lord, Ariobarzanes , to succeed (93 BC); but in the same year Armenian troops under Tigranes the Great entered Cappadocia, dethroned king Ariobarzanes and crowned Gordios as the new client-king of Cappadocia, thus creating
13310-474: The son of Sphynx lies; in Ionic history without peer; a Dorian born, who fled from slander's brand and made in Thuria his new native land. Yet it was in Athens where his most formidable contemporary critics could be found. In 425 BC, which is about the time that Herodotus is thought by many scholars to have died, the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes created The Acharnians , in which he blames
13431-569: 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 second Joseph [...] [But unlike Joseph, Basil's] services were gratuitous and his succour of
13552-552: 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. The area was featured in several films due to its topography. The 1983 Italian/French/Turkish film Yor, the Hunter from the Future and 1985's Land of Doom were filmed in Cappadocia. The region was used for the 1989 science fiction film Slipstream to depict
13673-723: The wealthier cities of the empire, especially in Rumelia (the European provinces, cities such as Constantinople, Sarajevo , Thessaloniki, Adrianople and Nicopolis ), western and northern Anatolia (Bursa, Aydın , Tokat , Tire , Manisa and Amasya ), but also in the Mediterranean coastal regions ( Jerusalem , Safed , Damascus , and Egypt ). İzmir was not settled by Spanish Jews until later. The Jewish population in Jerusalem increased from 70 families in 1488 to 1500 at
13794-404: The young Herodotus heard local eyewitness accounts of events within the empire and of Persian preparations for the invasion of Greece , including the movements of the local fleet under the command of Artemisia I of Caria . Inscriptions recently discovered at Halicarnassus indicate that Artemesia's grandson Lygdamis negotiated with a local assembly to settle disputes over seized property, which
13915-408: Was also the only neutral country to implement anti-Jewish laws during the war. More Turkish Jews suffered as a result of discriminatory policies during the war than were saved by Turkey. Although Turkey has promoted the idea that it was a rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust , this is considered a myth by historians. This myth has been used to promote Armenian genocide denial . Turkey served as
14036-527: Was caused when Sabbatai Zevi claimed to be the Messiah . He was eventually caught by the Ottoman authorities and when given the choice between death and conversion, he opted for the latter. His remaining disciples converted to Islam too. Their descendants are today known as Dönmeh . The history of the Jews in Turkey in the 18th and 19th century is principally a chronicle of decline in influence and power; they lost their influential positions in trade mainly to
14157-401: Was directed against all wealthy Turkish citizens, it most intensely affected non-Muslims. The "wealth tax" is still remembered as a "catastrophe" among the non-Muslims of Turkey and it had one of the most detrimental effects on the population of Turkish Jews. Many people unable to pay the exorbitant taxes were sent to labor camps and in consequence about 30,000 Jews emigrated. The tax was seen as
14278-480: Was ruled by a sort of feudal 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 third Persian satrapy in the division established by Darius but continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributaries of the Great King . After ending
14399-415: Was then divided into many parts, and Cappadocia fell to Eumenes . His claims were made good in 322 BC by the regent Perdiccas , 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 the dynasty . Persian colonists in
14520-464: Was told. A sizable portion of the Histories has since been confirmed by modern historians and archaeologists . Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus's own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, such as the Byzantine Suda , an 11th-century encyclopedia which possibly took its information from traditional accounts. Still,
14641-518: Was uncovered in Side . The first synagogue linked to Ottoman rule is "Tree of Life" ( Hebrew : עץ החיים ) in Bursa , which passed to Ottoman authority in 1324. The synagogue is still in use, although the modern Jewish population of Bursa has shrunk to about 140 people. The status of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire often hinged on the whims of the sultan . So, for example, while Murad III ordered that
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