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133-472: Aksaray is one of the four provinces in Cappadocia , along with Nevşehir, Niğde, and Kayseri . Also, the 3,000-metre (9,843 ft) volcano Mount Hasan stands between Aksaray and Niğde . Summers are hot and dry on the plain, but the area is green and covered in flowers in springtime, when water streams off the mountainside. The 2,400 m2 salt lake (0.59 acres), Tuz Gölü , lies within the boundaries of Aksaray,

266-522: 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

399-545: 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

532-536: 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

665-752: A double line of bishops for the same cities, all competing for the loyalty of the people. Augustine was distressed by the ongoing schism, but he held the view that belief cannot be compelled, so he appealed to the Donatists using popular propaganda, debate, personal appeal, General Councils, appeals to the emperor and political pressure, but all attempts failed. The Donatists fomented protests and street violence, accosted travelers, attacked random Catholics without warning, often doing serious and unprovoked bodily harm such as beating people with clubs, cutting off their hands and feet, and gouging out eyes while also inviting their own martyrdom. By 408, Augustine supported

798-734: 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

931-657: A general or official persecution. According to the Collectio Avellana , on the death of Pope Liberius in 366, Damasus, assisted by hired gangs of "charioteers" and men "from the arena", broke into the Basilica Julia to violently prevent the election of Pope Ursicinus . The battle lasted three days, "with great slaughter of the faithful" and a week later Damasus seized the Lateran Basilica , had himself ordained as Pope Damasus I , and compelled

1064-547: 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

1197-521: A large swamp area with a maximum depth of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). Aksaray province is divided into 8 districts (capital district in bold ): In antiquity the area was named Archelais Garsaura , which was mutated to Taksara during the Seljuk Turkish era, and then to Aksaray . Aksaray means "White Palace" in Turkish . The plains of central Anatolia have been settled for 8,000 years, and

1330-451: A mass killing is the persecution in Lyon in which Christians were purportedly mass-slaughtered by being thrown to wild beasts under the decree of Roman officials for reportedly refusing to renounce their faith according to Irenaeus . In the 3rd century, Emperor Severus Alexander 's household contained many Christians, but his successor, Maximinus Thrax , hating this household, ordered that

1463-650: A neutral, moderate position (the orthodox), and those who were anti-martyrdom (the Gnostics ). The category of voluntary martyr began to emerge only in the third century in the context of efforts to justify flight from persecution. The condemnation of voluntary martyrdom is used to justify Clement fleeing the Severan persecution in Alexandria in 202 AD, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp justifies Polycarp's flight on

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1596-666: A peace treaty of 562 between Khosrow and his Roman counterpart Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ), Persia's Christians were granted the freedom of religion; proselytism was, however, a capital crime. By this time the Church of the East and its head, the Catholicose of the East , were integrated into the administration of the empire and mass persecution was rare. The Sassanian policy shifted from tolerance of other religions under Shapur I to intolerance under Bahram I and apparently

1729-481: A policy of forced conversion". Pagans remained in important positions at his court. He outlawed the gladiatorial shows, destroyed some temples and plundered more, and used forceful rhetoric against non-Christians, but he never engaged in a purge. Maxentius' supporters were not slaughtered when Constantine took the capital; Licinius' family and court were not killed. However, followers of doctrines which were seen as heretical or causing schism were persecuted during

1862-477: 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

1995-651: 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

2128-830: 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

2261-463: A return to the policy of Shapur until the reign of Shapur II . The persecution at that time was initiated by Constantine 's conversion to Christianity which followed that of Armenian king Tiridates in about 301. The Christians were thus viewed with suspicions of secretly being partisans of the Roman Empire. This did not change until the fifth century when the Church of the East broke off from

2394-766: A serious opponent. The use of the double expression may be indicative of the Greek-speaking Christians deported by Shapur I from Antioch and other cities during his war against the Romans. Constantine 's efforts to protect the Persian Christians made them a target of accusations of disloyalty to Sasanians. With the resumption of Roman-Sasanian conflict under Constantius II , the Christian position became untenable. Zoroastrian priests targeted clergy and ascetics of local Christians to eliminate

2527-404: A stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority. Candida Moss asserts that De Ste. Croix's judgment of what values are worth dying for is modern, and does not represent classical values. According to her there was no such concept as "quasi-volunteer martyrdom" in ancient times. In the reign of the emperor Decius ( r.  249–251 ), a decree was issued requiring that all residents of

2660-478: A unique historical situation" and is therefore context dependent, while others see it as inconsistent with his other teachings. His authority on the question of coercion was undisputed for over a millennium in Western Christianity , and according to Brown "it provided the theological foundation for the justification of medieval persecution." Callinicus I , initially a priest and skeuophylax in

2793-500: A whole in the Roman Empire. Only one martyr is known by name from the reign of Licinius, who issued the Edict of Milan jointly with his ally, co- augustus , and brother-in-law Constantine, which had the effect of resuming the toleration of before the persecution and returning confiscated property to Christian owners. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Ancient, medieval and early modern hagiographers were inclined to exaggerate

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2926-542: 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

3059-553: 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

3192-501: 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

3325-608: 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

3458-794: 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

3591-756: Is recorded in the trial proceedings of Phileas of Thmuis , bishop of Thmuis in Egypt 's Nile Delta , which survive on Greek papyri from the 4th century among the Bodmer Papyri and the Chester Beatty Papyri of the Bodmer and Chester Beatty libraries and in manuscripts in Latin , Ethiopic , and Coptic languages from later centuries, a body of hagiography known as the Acts of Phileas . Phileas

3724-628: The Acts of the Apostles , a year after the Roman Crucifixion of Jesus , Stephen was stoned for his transgressions of the Jewish law . And Saul (also known as Paul ) acquiesced, looking on and witnessing Steven's death. Later, Paul begins a listing of his own sufferings after conversion in 2 Corinthians 11: "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I

3857-492: The praefectus urbi Viventius and the praefectus annonae to exile Ursicinus. Damasus then had seven Christian priests arrested and awaiting banishment, but they escaped and "gravediggers" and minor clergy joined another mob of hippodrome and amphitheatre men assembled by the pope to attack the Liberian Basilica , where Ursacinus's loyalists had taken refuge. According to Ammianus Marcellinus , on 26 October,

3990-455: The 10 Plagues of Egypt in the Book of Exodus . Augustine did not see these early persecutions in the same light as that of fourth century heretics. In Augustine's view, when the purpose of persecution is to "lovingly correct and instruct", then it becomes discipline and is just. Augustine wrote that "coercion cannot transmit the truth to the heretic, but it can prepare them to hear and receive

4123-652: The Church of the Theotokos of Blachernae , became patriarch of Constantinople in 693 or 694. Having refused to consent to the demolition of a chapel in the Great Palace , the Theotokos ton Metropolitou , and having possibly been involved in the deposition and exile of Justinian II ( r.  685–695, 705–711 ), an allegation denied by the Synaxarion of Constantinople , he was himself exiled to Rome on

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4256-753: The Church of the West . Zoroastrian elites continued viewing the Christians with enmity and distrust throughout the fifth century with threat of persecution remaining significant, especially during war against the Romans. Zoroastrian high priest Kartir , refers in his inscription dated about 280 on the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht monument in the Naqsh-e Rostam necropolis near Zangiabad, Fars , to persecution ( zatan – "to beat, kill") of Christians ("Nazareans n'zl'y and Christians klstyd'n "). Kartir took Christianity as

4389-743: 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

4522-459: 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

4655-490: The Diyarbekir genocide , and atheist states such as those of the former Eastern Bloc . The persecution of Christians has continued to occur during the 21st century . Christianity is the largest world religion and its adherents live across the globe. Approximately 10% of the world's Christians are members of minority groups which live in non-Christian-majority states. The contemporary persecution of Christians includes

4788-584: The Edict of Serdica in 311 and the practice of Christianity legalized by the Edict of Milan in 312. By the year 380, Christians had begun to persecute each other. The schisms of late antiquity and the Middle Ages – including the Rome–Constantinople schisms and the many Christological controversies – together with the later Protestant Reformation provoked severe conflicts between Christian denominations . During these conflicts, members of

4921-405: The Edict of Thessalonica , establishing Nicene Christianity as the state religion and as the state church of the Roman Empire on 27 February 380. After this began state persecution of non-Nicene Christians, including Arian and Nontrinitarian devotees. When Augustine became coadjutor Bishop of Hippo in 395, both Donatist and Catholic parties had, for decades, existed side-by-side, with

5054-472: The Great Fire of Rome , and while it is generally believed to be authentic and reliable, some modern scholars have cast doubt on this view, largely because there is no further reference to Nero's blaming of Christians for the fire until the late 4th century. Suetonius mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition, but does not specify the reasons for

5187-595: The Macarian campaign against the Donatists from 346 – 348 which only succeeded in renewing sectarian strife and creating more martyrs. Donatism continued. The fourth century was dominated by its many conflicts defining orthodoxy versus heterodoxy and heresy. In the Eastern Roman empire, known as Byzantium, the Arian controversy began with its debate of Trinitarian formulas which lasted 56 years. As it moved into

5320-650: 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

5453-675: 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

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5586-480: The Roman , Byzantine and the Turkish periods. Today Aksaray is a rural, agricultural province, its people religious and conservative. Since the 1950s, many have moved to Europe as migrant workers. The population of Aksaray has long included a higher proportion of Kurdish people than most central Anatolian provinces. Many were resettled here from Tunceli , Diyarbakir , Adiyaman . and other eastern cities following

5719-617: The Sheikh Said rebellion in the 1920s. 38°25′51″N 33°51′44″E  /  38.43083°N 33.86222°E  / 38.43083; 33.86222 Cappadocia 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 . According to Herodotus , in

5852-831: The Taliban in Afghanistan , the Islamic State as well as the United Wa State Army and participants in the Kachin conflict in Myanmar . Early Christianity began as a sect among Second Temple Jews . Inter-communal dissension began almost immediately. According to the New Testament account, Saul of Tarsus prior to his conversion to Christianity persecuted early Judeo-Christians . According to

5985-649: The United States Department of State , because of their governments' engagement in, or toleration of, "severe violations of religious freedom". The same report recommends that Afghanistan , Algeria , Azerbaijan , Bahrain , the Central African Republic, Cuba , Egypt , Indonesia , Iraq , Kazakhstan , Malaysia , Sudan , and Turkey constitute the US State Department's "special watchlist" of countries in which

6118-617: 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

6251-597: 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

6384-550: The Antiochenes to Maximinus, requesting that the Christians there be expelled. Among the Christians known to have died in this phase of the persecution are the presbyter Lucian of Antioch , the bishop Methodius of Olympus in Lycia , and Peter , the patriarch of Alexandria . Defeated in a civil war by the augustus Licinius ( r.  308–324 ), Maximinus died in 313, ending the systematic persecution of Christianity as

6517-450: The Arian Christian Auxentius of Milan . When Constantius returned to Rome in 357, he consented to allow the return of Liberius to the papacy; the Arian Pope Felix II , who had replaced him, was then driven out along with his followers. The last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty , Constantine's half-brother 's son Julian ( r.  361–363 ) opposed Christianity and sought to restore traditional religion, though he did not arrange

6650-554: The Armenian War , pays a tribute to the battles waged to defend Christianity. Another revolt was waged from 481 to 483 which was suppressed. However, the Armenians succeeded in gaining freedom of religion among other improvements. Accounts of executions for apostasy of Zoroastrians who converted to Christianity during Sasanian rule proliferated from the fifth to early seventh century, and continued to be produced even after collapse of Sasanians. The punishment of apostates increased under Yazdegerd I and continued under successive kings. It

6783-401: 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

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6916-428: 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

7049-482: The Christian sect called Donatists appealed to Constantine to solve a dispute. He convened a synod of bishops to hear the case, but the synod sided against them. The Donatists refused to accept the ruling, so a second gathering of 200 at Arles, in 314, was called, but they also ruled against them. The Donatists again refused to accept the ruling, and proceeded to act accordingly by establishing their own bishop, building their own churches, and refusing cooperation. This

7182-431: The Christians "freedom of action". The Great Persecution, or Diocletianic Persecution, was begun by the senior augustus and Roman emperor Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ) on 23 February 303. In the eastern Roman empire, the official persecution lasted intermittently until 313, while in the western Roman empire the persecution went unenforced from 306. According to Lactantius 's De mortibus persecutorum ("on

7315-412: The Church and execute James the Just , then leader of Jerusalem's Christians . The New Testament states that Paul was himself imprisoned on several occasions by the Roman authorities, stoned by the Pharisees and left for dead on one occasion, and was eventually taken to Rome as a prisoner. Peter and other early Christians were also imprisoned, beaten and harassed. The First Jewish Rebellion , spurred by

7448-701: The Decian persecution. In 257 however, Valerian began to enforce public religion. Cyprian of Carthage was exiled and executed the following year, while Pope Sixtus II was also put to death. Dionysius of Alexandria was tried, urged to recognize "the natural gods" in the hope his congregation would imitate him, and exiled when he refused. Valerian was defeated by the Persians at the Battle of Edessa and himself taken prisoner in 260. According to Eusebius, Valerian's son, co- augustus , and successor Gallienus ( r.  253–268 ) allowed Christian communities to use again their cemeteries and made restitution of their confiscated buildings. Eusebius wrote that Gallienus allowed

7581-423: The Neronian persecution. In the first two centuries Christianity was a relatively small sect which was not a significant concern of the Emperor. Rodney Stark estimates there were fewer than 10,000 Christians in the year 100. Christianity grew to about 200,000 by the year 200, which works out to about 0.36% of the population of the empire, and then to almost 2 million by 250, still making up less than 2% of

7714-425: 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

7847-436: 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

7980-431: The Persian conquest in AD 614, a riot occurred in Jerusalem, and the Jewish governor of Jerusalem Nehemiah was killed by a band of young Christians along with his "council of the righteous" while he was making plans for the building of the Third Temple . At this time the Christians had allied themselves with the Eastern Roman Empire . Shortly afterward, the events escalated into a full-scale Christian rebellion, resulting in

8113-530: The Roman emperor Constantius II ( r.  337–361 ), Shapur imposed a tax to cover the war expenditure, and Shemon Bar Sabbae , the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon , refused to collect it. Often citing collaboration with the Romans, the Persians began persecuting and executing Christians. Passio narratives describe the fate of some Christians venerated as martyrs; they are of varying historical reliability, some being contemporary records by eyewitnesses, others were reliant on popular tradition at some remove from

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8246-498: 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

8379-517: The Roman killing of 3,000 Jews, led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD , the end of Second Temple Judaism (and the subsequent slow rise of Rabbinic Judaism ). Claudia Setzer asserts that, "Jews did not see Christians as clearly separate from their own community until at least the middle of the second century" but most scholars place the "parting of the ways" much earlier, with theological separation occurring immediately. Second Temple Judaism had allowed more than one way to be Jewish. After

8512-402: 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

8645-403: 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

8778-490: 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

8911-399: The West, the center of the controversy was the "champion of orthodoxy", Athanasius . In 355 Constantius, who supported Arianism, ordered the suppression and exile of Athanasius, expelled the orthodox Pope Liberius from Rome, and exiled bishops who refused to assent to Athanasius's exile. In 355, Dionysius , bishop of Mediolanum ( Milan ) was expelled from his episcopal see and replaced by

9044-408: The account of Eusebius, an unnamed Christian man (named by later hagiographers as Euethius of Nicomedia and venerated on 27 February) tore down a public notice of an imperial edict while the emperors Diocletian and Galerius were in Nicomedia ( İzmit ), one of Diocletian's capitals; according to Lactantius, he was tortured and burned alive. According to Lactantius, the church at Nicomedia ( İzmit )

9177-523: The area around Aksaray bears monuments to a string of civilisations that have settled on the plain in that time. The mound of Aşıklı Höyük in the town of Kızılkaya indicates a settlement dating back to 5,000BC (and also a skull of a woman who had apparently been trepanned, the earliest known record of brain surgery). Later the Silk Road came through here so caravanserai and then larger and larger settlements were built to supply and shelter travellers and traders. The city and surroundings of Aksaray thrived in

9310-542: 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

9443-505: The bishop Cyprian of Carthage fled his episcopal see to the countryside. The Christian church, despite no indication in the surviving texts that the edict targeted any specific group, never forgot the reign of Decius whom they labelled as that "fierce tyrant". After Decius died, Trebonianus Gallus ( r.  251–253 ) succeeded him and continued the Decian persecution for the duration of his reign. The accession of Trebonianus Gallus's successor Valerian ( r.  253–260 ) ended

9576-522: The burning of a Zoroastrian fire temple by a Christian priest, and further persecutions occurred in the reign of Bahram V ( r.  420–438 ). Under Yazdegerd II ( r.  438–457 ) an instance of persecution in 446 is recorded in the Syriac martyrology Acts of Ādur-hormizd and of Anāhīd . Some individual martyrdoms are recorded from the reign of Khosrow I ( r.  531–579 ), but there were likely no mass persecutions. While according to

9709-678: 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

9842-620: The circulation of official anti-Christian pronouncements, the issuing of an official ban against Christians attending synagogue, a prohibition against reading Christian writings, and the spreading of the curse against Christian heretics: the Birkat haMinim . The first documented case of imperially supervised persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire begins with Nero (54–68). In the Annals , Tacitus states that Nero blamed Christians for

9975-481: The deaths of the persecutors"), Diocletian's junior emperor, the caesar Galerius ( r.  293–311 ) pressured the augustus to begin persecuting Christians. Eusebius of Caesarea 's Church History reports that imperial edicts were promulgated to destroy churches and confiscate scriptures, and to remove Christian occupants of government positions, while Christian priests were to be imprisoned and required to perform sacrifice in ancient Roman religion . In

10108-469: 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

10241-844: The empire should perform sacrifices, to be enforced by the issuing of each person with a libellus certifying that they had performed the necessary ritual. It is not known what motivated Decius's decree, or whether it was intended to target Christians, though it is possible the emperor was seeking divine favors in the forthcoming wars with the Carpi and the Goths . Christians that refused to publicly offer sacrifices or burn incense to Roman gods were accused of impiety and punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture or execution. According to Eusebius, bishops Alexander of Jerusalem , Babylas of Antioch , and Fabian of Rome were all imprisoned and killed. The patriarch Dionysius of Alexandria escaped captivity, while

10374-482: The empire's overall population. According to Guy Laurie , the Church was not in a struggle for its existence during its first centuries. However, Bernard Green says that, although early persecutions of Christians were generally sporadic, local, and under the direction of regional governors, not emperors, Christians "were always subject to oppression and at risk of open persecution." Trajan 's policy towards Christians

10507-617: The events. An appendix to the Syriac Martyrology of 411 lists the Christian martyrs of Persia , but other accounts of martyrs' trials contain important historical details on the workings of the Sassanian Empire's historical geography and judicial and administrative practices. Some were translated into Sogdian and discovered at Turpan . Under Yazdegerd I ( r.  399–420 ) there were occasional persecutions, including an instance of persecution in reprisal for

10640-526: The faith, had their private property confiscated and many were expelled. Yazdegerd II had ordered all his subjects to embrace Mazdeism in an attempt to unite his empire ideologically. The Caucasus rebelled to defend Christianity which had become integrated in their local culture, with Armenian aristocrats turning to the Romans for help. The rebels were however defeated in a battle on the Avarayr Plain . Yeghishe in his The History of Vardan and

10773-493: The fall of the Temple in 70 AD) as a result of Jewish persecution and hatred. Steven D. Katz says "there can be no doubt that the post-70 situation witnessed a change in the relations of Jews and Christians". Judaism sought to reconstitute itself after the disaster which included determining the proper response to Jewish Christianity. The exact shape of this is not directly known but is traditionally alleged to have taken four forms:

10906-571: The fall of the Temple, one way led to rabbinic Judaism, while another way became Christianity; but Christianity was "molded around the conviction that the Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, was not only the Messiah promised to the Jews, but God's son, offering access to God, and God's blessing to non-Jew as much as, and perhaps eventually more than, to Jews". While Messianic eschatology had deep roots in Judaism, and

11039-408: 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

11172-567: The first great age of persecution, in which the Devil was considered to have used open violence to dissuade the growth of Christianity, at an end. The orthodox catholic Christians close to the Roman state represented imperial persecution as an historical phenomenon, rather than a contemporary one. According to MacMullan, the Christian histories are colored by this "triumphalism". Peter Leithart says that, "[Constantine] did not punish pagans for being pagans, or Jews for being Jews, and did not adopt

11305-444: 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

11438-456: 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,

11571-494: The globe participated. Persecution of Christians The persecution of Christians can be historically traced from the first century of the Christian era to the present day . Christian missionaries and converts to Christianity have both been targeted for persecution, sometimes to the point of being martyred for their faith , ever since the emergence of Christianity. Early Christians were persecuted at

11704-826: The government allows or engages in "severe violations of religious freedom ". Much of the persecution of Christians in recent times is perpetrated by non-state actors which are labelled "entities of particular concern" by the US State Department, including the Islamist groups Boko Haram in Nigeria , the Houthi movement in Yemen , the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province in Pakistan , al-Shabaab in Somalia ,

11837-552: The hands of both Jews , from whose religion Christianity arose , and the Romans who controlled many of the early centers of Christianity in the Roman Empire . Since the emergence of Christian states in Late Antiquity , Christians have also been persecuted by other Christians due to differences in doctrine which have been declared heretical . Early in the fourth century , the empire's official persecutions were ended by

11970-468: The idea of the suffering servant, known as Messiah Ephraim, had been an aspect since the time of Isaiah (7th century BCE), in the first century, this idea was seen as being usurped by the Christians. It was then suppressed, and did not make its way back into rabbinic teaching till the seventh century writings of Pesiqta Rabati. The traditional view of the separation of Judaism and Christianity has Jewish-Christians fleeing, en masse , to Pella (shortly before

12103-505: 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

12236-540: 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'

12369-607: The later part of his reign however, suppressing missionary activities. Bahram V continued and intensified their persecution, resulting in many of them fleeing to the eastern Roman empire . Bahram demanded their return, beginning the Roman–Sasanian War of 421–422 . The war ended with an agreement of freedom of religion for Christians in Iran with that of Mazdaism in Rome. Meanwhile, Christians suffered destruction of churches, renounced

12502-468: The leaders of the church. A Syriac manuscript in Edessa in 411 documents dozens executed in various parts of western Sasanian Empire. In 341, Shapur II ordered the persecution of all Christians. In response to their subversive attitude and support of Romans, Shapur II doubled the tax on Christians. Shemon Bar Sabbae informed him that he could not pay the taxes demanded from him and his community. He

12635-505: The leaders of the churches should be put to death. According to Eusebius, this persecution sent Hippolytus of Rome and Pope Pontian into exile, but other evidence suggests that the persecutions were local to the provinces where they occurred rather than happening under the direction of the Emperor. According to two different Christian traditions, Simon bar Kokhba , the leader of the second Jewish revolt against Rome (132–136 AD), who

12768-477: 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

12901-429: 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

13034-437: The number of martyrs. Since the title of martyr is the highest title to which a Christian can aspire, this tendency is natural". Attempts at estimating the numbers involved are inevitably based on inadequate sources. The Christian church marked the conversion of Constantine the Great as the final fulfillment of its heavenly victory over the "false gods". The Roman state had always seen itself as divinely directed, now it saw

13167-813: The official state persecution mostly occurring in countries which are located in Africa and Asia because they have state religions or because their governments and societies practice religious favoritism. Such favoritism is frequently accompanied by religious discrimination and religious persecution . According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 's 2020 report, Christians in Burma , China , Eritrea , India , Iran , Nigeria , North Korea , Pakistan , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Syria , and Vietnam are persecuted; these countries are labelled "countries of particular concern" by

13300-879: 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

13433-490: The persecution in which James the Great lost his life, Saint Peter narrowly escaped and the rest of the apostles took flight. After Agrippa's death in 44, the Roman procuratorship began (before 41 they were Prefects in Iudaea Province) and those leaders maintained a neutral peace, until the procurator Porcius Festus died in 62 and the high priest Ananus ben Ananus took advantage of the power vacuum to attack

13566-466: The philosophical and theological disputes during his reign. Sebeos claimed he had converted to Christianity on his deathbed. John of Ephesus describes an Armenian revolt where he claims that Khusrow had attempted to impose Zoroastrianism in Armenia. The account, however, is very similar to the one of Armenian revolt of 451. In addition, Sebeos does not mention any religious persecution in his account of

13699-540: The pope's mob killed 137 people in the church in just one day, and many more died subsequently. The Roman public frequently enjoined the emperor Valentinian the Great to remove Damasus from the throne of Saint Peter, calling him a murderer for having waged a "filthy war" against the Christians. In the 4th century, the Terving king Athanaric in c.  375 ordered the Gothic persecution of Christians . Athanaric

13832-560: The punishment; he simply lists the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero. It is widely agreed on that the Number of the beast in the Book of Revelation , adding up to 666, is derived from a gematria of the name of Nero Caesar, indicating that Nero was viewed as an exceptionally evil figure. Several Christian sources report that Paul the Apostle and Saint Peter both died during

13965-416: The reign of Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, and they would be persecuted again later in the 4th century. The consequence of Christian doctrinal disputes was generally mutual excommunication, but once Roman government became involved in ecclesiastical politics, rival factions could find themselves subject to "repression, expulsion, imprisonment or exile" carried out by the Roman army. In 312,

14098-606: 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

14231-505: The return of Justinian to power in 705. The emperor had Callinicus immured . He is said to have survived forty days when the wall was opened to check his condition, though he died four days later. Violent persecutions of Christians began in earnest in the long reign of Shapur II ( r.  309–379 ). A persecution of Christians at Kirkuk is recorded in Shapur's first decade, though most persecution happened after 341. At war with

14364-432: The revolt of 571. A story about Hormizd IV 's tolerance is preserved by the historian al-Tabari . Upon being asked why he tolerated Christians, he replied, "Just as our royal throne cannot stand upon its front legs without its two back ones, our kingdom cannot stand or endure firmly if we cause the Christians and adherents of other faiths, who differ in belief from ourselves, to become hostile to us." Several months after

14497-428: 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

14630-467: The same grounds. "Voluntary martyrdom is parsed as passionate foolishness" whereas "flight from persecution is patience" and the result a true martyrdom. Daniel Boyarin rejects use of the term "voluntary martyrdom", saying, "if martyrdom is not voluntary, it is not martyrdom". G. E. M. de Ste. Croix adds a category of "quasi-voluntary martyrdom": "martyrs who were not directly responsible for their own arrest but who, after being arrested, behaved with"

14763-705: The state's use of force against them. Historian Frederick Russell says that Augustine did not believe this would "make the Donatists more virtuous" but he did believe it would make them "less vicious". Augustine wrote that there had, in the past, been ten Christian persecutions, beginning with the Neronian persecution, and alleging persecutions by the emperors Domitian , Trajan , "Antoninus" ( Marcus Aurelius ), "Severus" ( Septimius Severus ), and Maximinus ( Thrax ), as well as Decian and Valerianic persecutions, and then another by Aurelian as well as by Diocletian and Maximian. These ten persecutions Augustine compared with

14896-569: 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

15029-554: 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

15162-719: 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

15295-571: The truth". He said the church would discipline its people out of a loving desire to heal them, and that, "once compelled to come in, heretics would gradually give their voluntary assent to the truth of Christian orthodoxy." He opposed the severity of Rome and the execution of heretics. It is his teaching on coercion that has literature on Augustine frequently referring to him as le prince et patriarche de persecuteurs (the prince and patriarch of persecutors). Russell says Augustine's theory of coercion "was not crafted from dogma, but in response to

15428-584: The various denominations frequently persecuted each other and engaged in sectarian violence . In the 20th century, Christian populations were persecuted, sometimes, they were persecuted to the point of genocide , by various states, including the Ottoman Empire and its successor state Turkey , which committed the Hamidian massacres , the Armenian genocide , the Assyrian genocide , the Greek genocide , and

15561-452: The violence on Christians was selective and especially carried out on elites, it served to keep Christian communities in a subordinate and yet viable position in relation to Zoroastrianism. Christians were allowed to build religious buildings and serve in the government as long as they did not expand their institutions and population at the expense of Zoroastrianism. Khosrow I was generally regarded as tolerant of Christians and interested in

15694-510: The way to execution. Ignatius casts his own martyrdom as a voluntary eucharistic sacrifice to be embraced. "Many martyr acts present martyrdom as a sharp choice that cut to the core of Christian identity – life or death, salvation or damnation, Christ or apostacy..." Subsequently, the martyr literature has drawn distinctions between those who were enthusiastically pro-voluntary-martyrdom (the Montanists and Donatists ), those who occupied

15827-551: Was a defiance of imperial authority, and it produced the same response Rome had taken in the past against such refusals. For a Roman emperor, "religion could be tolerated only as long as it contributed to the stability of the state". Constantine used the army in an effort to compel Donatist' obedience, burning churches and martyring some from 317 – 321. Constantine failed in reaching his goal and ultimately conceded defeat. The schism remained and Donatism continued. After Constantine, his youngest son Flavius Julius Constans , initiated

15960-406: Was approached by a group of Christians demanding to be executed. The proconsul obliged some of them and then sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope available or cliffs they could jump off." Such enthusiasm for death is found in the letters of Saint Ignatius of Antioch , who was arrested and condemned as a criminal before writing his letters while on

16093-554: Was beaten with rods, once I was stoned ..." In 41 AD, Herod Agrippa , who already possessed the territory of Herod Antipas and Philip (his former colleagues in the Herodian Tetrarchy ), obtained the title of King of the Jews , and in a sense, re-formed the Kingdom of Judea of Herod the Great ( r.  37–4 BC ). Herod Agrippa was reportedly eager to endear himself to his Jewish subjects and continued

16226-518: Was condemned at his fifth trial at Alexandria under Clodius Culcianus , the praefectus Aegypti on 4 February 305 (the 10th day of Mecheir ). In the western empire, the Diocletianic Persecution ceased with the usurpation by two emperors' sons in 306: that of Constantine, who was acclaimed augustus by the army after his father Constantius I ( r.  293–306 ) died, and that of Maxentius ( r.  306–312 ) who

16359-560: Was destroyed, while the Optatan Appendix has an account from the praetorian prefecture of Africa involving the confiscation of written materials which led to the Donatist schism . According to Eusebius's Martyrs of Palestine and Lactantius's De mortibus persecutorum , a fourth edict in 304 demanded that everyone perform sacrifices, though in the western empire this was not enforced. An "unusually philosophical" dialogue

16492-742: Was elevated to augustus by the Roman Senate after the grudging retirement of his father Maximian ( r.  285–305 ) and his co- augustus Diocletian in May 305. Of Maxentius, who controlled Italy with his now un-retired father, and Constantine, who controlled Britain , Gaul , and Iberia , neither was inclined to continue the persecution. In the eastern empire however, Galerius, now augustus , continued Diocletian's policy. Eusebius's Church History and Martyrs of Palestine both give accounts of martyrdom and persecution of Christians, including Eusebius's own mentor Pamphilus of Caesarea , with whom he

16625-482: Was enforcing Diocletian's persecution in his territories in Anatolia and the Diocese of the East in response to petitions from numerous cities and provinces, including Antioch , Tyre , Lycia , and Pisidia . Maximinus was also encouraged to act by an oracular pronouncement made by a statue of Zeus Philios set up in Antioch by Theotecnus of Antioch , who also organized an anti-Christian petition to be sent from

16758-449: Was imprisoned during the persecution. When Galerius died in May 311, he is reported by Lactantius and Eusebius to have composed a deathbed edict – the Edict of Serdica – allowing the assembly of Christians in conventicles and explaining the motives for the prior persecution. Eusebius wrote that Easter was celebrated openly. By autumn however, Galerius's nephew, former caesar , and co- augustus Maximinus Daia ( r.  310–313 )

16891-671: Was martyred and a forty-year-long period of persecution of Christians began. The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon gave up choosing bishops since it would result in death. The local mobads – Zoroastrian clerics – with the help of satraps organized slaughters of Christians in Adiabene , Beth Garmae , Khuzistan and many other provinces. Yazdegerd I showed tolerance towards Jews and Christians for much of his rule. He allowed Christians to practice their religion freely, demolished monasteries and churches were rebuilt and missionaries were allowed to operate freely. He reversed his policies during

17024-424: Was no different from the treatment of other sects; that is, they would only be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the gods, but they were not to be sought out. James L. Papandrea says there are ten emperors generally accepted to have sponsored state-sanctioned persecution of Christians, though the first empire-wide government-sponsored persecution was not until Decius in 249. One early account of

17157-408: Was normative for apostates who were brought to the notice of authorities to be executed, although the prosecution of apostasy depended on political circumstances and Zoroastrian jurisprudence. Per Richard E. Payne, the executions were meant to create a mutually recognised boundary between interactions of the people of the two religions and preventing one religion challenging another's viability. Although

17290-410: Was perturbed by the spread of Gothic Christianity among his followers, and feared for the displacement of Gothic paganism . It was not until the later 4th century reigns of the augusti Gratian ( r.  367–383 ), Valentinian II ( r.  375–392 ), and Theodosius I ( r.  379–395 ) that Christianity would become the official religion of the empire with the joint promulgation of

17423-483: Was proclaimed Messiah, persecuted the Christians: Justin Martyr claims that Christians were punished if they did not deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ, while Eusebius asserts that Bar Kokhba harassed them because they refused to join his revolt against the Romans. Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom. According to Droge and Tabor, "in 185 the proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus,

17556-482: 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

17689-416: 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

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