Cappadocia - History

PrehistoryThe first signs of human presence date from the neolithic and the calcolithic periods. Indeed, hearths, statuettes and lithic tools made of volcanic glass or bone have been found.The HittitesSigns of human life have been discovered, dating from the bronze age and the Hittite period (3000-1750 BC). The soil contained gold, silver, copper but no tin. Exchange developed, with Assyrians from Mesopotamia who founded trading posts in the region. It has been established that writing existed in Cappadoce, thanks to Assyrian tablets on which you can read the different taxes paid by the traders to the Anatolian landowners, as well as the interests they received from their debtors. A new artistic trend appeared in Anatolia, as a result of cultural and religious influences from Mesopotamia. In around 2000 BC, a people coming from Europe and passing through Caucasus settled in Anatolia. They integrated into native life. Their language was Indo-European and they were influenced by the native cultural and religious rituals. Their writing, in the shape of cuneiforms can be found on numerous plates. They progressively built an empire , Hatusas (today's Bogazköy). After 600 years of reign, they were defeated by the Phrygians and their empire was dismantled. Some Hittite strongholds remain in central and south-east Anatolia.The PersiansOther peoples took over the region ; the Kimmers, then the Medes and the Persians who named the region “Katpatuka”, which means “Country of thoroughbred horses”. Since they worshipped Fire, the volcanoes were sacred. Alexander the Great, a Macedonian king, defeated the Persian armies in 334 and 332 BC and dismantled the Persian empire.The RomansThen the Romans invaded the region and it became part of the Roman empire. As it was one of the most extreme limits of the empire, they built fortifications around Kayseri and brought in their legions. Christianity, coming from Palestine, spread in the south of Anatolia, then in Cappadoce. The first Christians emigrated to the cities and villages. They started digging the first churches and settled in the dwellings made in the rocks. ByzantiumAfter the partition of the Roman empire into two parts, Cappadoce, influenced by Byzantium, was often a battlefield between Sassanides and Byzantines. Under the ruling of Leon III, the idolatry of icons was banned. In Cappadoce, this rule lasted 100 years, but it was hardly respected because the people who worshipped icons found refuge in the monasteries of Cappadoce. In the 11th century, the Turkish Seljoukides, led by their chief Alparslan, invaded Anatolia and defeated Romanos Diogenes, the Byzantine emperor.