INTRODUCTION
The earliest traces of mankind in Asia Minor date back to the Upper Paleolithic era,
roughly 100.000 BC.. Excavations, carried out in several major sites, provided important
clues on a number of substantial human settlements from 8.000 BC on. Çayönü
(7.250-6.750 BC) and Hacilar (7.040 BC) are both dated to the aceramic age.
The Catalhoyuk settlement (6.500-5.650
BC), with twelve subsequent levels discovered so far, stands out as a most distinguished
center of prehistoric culture and demonstrates the first systematic urban settlement (an
estimated population of 5 to 10 thousand) recorded in history. Can Hasan (5.500 BC on) to
the first settlement in Troy (correspond to 3.000 BC.), Anatolia falls into a dark age
with almost no remarkable progress over the dominant rural culture.
The early Bronze Age marks an
important break- through for the history of Anatolia. In the second half of the 3rd
millennium BC., the Hat tic culture, that existed throughout the Asia Minor, represent the
summit of the Bronze Age civilization. The Hattic people created a unique civilization,
outside of Mesopotamia, with the notion of being a nation in the real sense. The
commercial and cultural relations between Anatolia and Mesopotamia, from the Akkadians
(2.350 BC.) to the late Assyrian Kingdom Cethcen. BC.), also starts at this very same age.
The cultural interaction of Troy-Il civilization in the west and central Anatolian
cultures is remarkable. As the new layers of settlements succeed one another in Troy \
CIII-V., 2.200-1.800 BC.), the Hat tic culture vanishes and gives way to the Hittites.
This transition age marks the beginning . of written history in Anatoua. The Assyrian
Trade Colonies, established in Kanesh CKultepe) and some other sites, represent the
extension of the Mesopotamian civilization in Asia Minor.
HITTITES (18th-12th. BC.): The
Hittites, throughout the Old Kingdom, had a weak and decentralized administration.: Based
on the earlier efforts, they reunited and established the Hittite Empire that shows an
excellent central organization and made Hattusa (Bogazkoy) their capital city. In the 15th
and 14thcen. BC., the Hittites enlarged their territories, to the Sea of Marmara in the
west and towards the states along the Euphrates in the east, fighting against the
Hurrians, Mitanni Empire and the barbarian Keskas of the Pontic region. They signed the
first peace treaty CKadesh, 1.285 BC.) of the world history at the end of the war against
the Egyptians, under the reign of Ramses II., for the control of Syria. The last phase of
the Hittite history is patterned by the decentralization of the government. The city
states, established as a result, survived till the 7thcen. BC. The remains of the Hittite
civilization, certainly the most influential of the historic ages in Anatolia, have
survived to our time in many substantial sites CHattu§a, Yaz1l1kaya, AlacahoyUk, Malatya,
Karkamish, Sakcagozu, Zincirli, Karatepe,/ etc.) with numerous works of art and
architecture, created with great skill.
URARTIANS AND PHRYGIANS: As the
Hittites gradually disappeared from the scene of history by the turn of the last
millennium before Christ, a new civilization came into existence, in the vast plateau of
Lake Van in East Anatolia; the Urartians. Considered as the descendants of the Hurrians,
the Urartians invented sophisticated techniques in metallurgy (especially Bronze), and
created a high level of civilization, observed in several sites in the region. The most
significant Urartian settlements are located in Eastern Anatolia; Altmtepe, Toprakkale and
Çavustepe.
In the 13th cen. BC., the Phyrigians,
of an unknown origin, came into Asia Minor over the Oardannels and the Bosphorus straits
and established a great civilization in Central and North Anatolia. The earliest documents
on the Phrygians are of Achean origin. The l11iad identify the Phrygians as allies of the
Trojans (Anatolians) in the Trojan War. This civilization left behind thousands of
valuable works of art in several sites, such as Aslankaya, Ali§ar, Alaca, Pazarh and the
capital city, Gordion and disappeared with the Persian invasion, in the 6th cen. BC.
LYDIANS, LYCIANS AND CARIANS: The
same age witnessed the rise of the Lycian, Lydian and Carian civilizations in West and
South-West Anatolia.
Lydians and Lycians are recognized as
native people of Anatolia whereas the Carians, descendants of the Lelegians, immigrated
into Anatolia during the Minoan times. The capital of the Lycians, Xanthos, presents the
finest artifacts of this unique civilization. Sardis, a great inspration to Greek art and
architecture in Asia Minor, was the capital city of the Lydian Kingdom and the
administrative center of the legendary King Croeseus. It may be uncertain that coin was
first minted by the Lydians, but the city of Sardis, in the middle of the Pactolos (Gediz)
valley, stood for the summit of the Lydian civilization. Halicarnassus, the site of the
monumental burial of the Persian Satrap Mausolus (the Mausoleum, one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world); Aphrodisias, undoubtedly, one of the most charming and aesthetic
cities on earth; Smyrna and Miletus, two of the earliest Lelegian settlements on the
Aegean coast, were the important cities of the early Carian civilization.
THE ARRIVAL of THE SEA and ISLAND
PEOPLE: From the 12thcen. BC. on, the invasion of Anatolia by warlike tribes, so
called the "sea people" by the Egyptians, caused a great deal of unrest not only
in Anatolia but in all of the Near-East.
Achaeans, Lelegians, Ionians,
Aeolians, Dorians, Minoans of Crete and Mycenaeans; all came in waves, one after the
other, from the rocky, barren islands of the Aegean and the Greek mainland to the fertile
plains and valleys of Anatolia. They had to pass through the Dardanneles on their way to
the Black Sea and to do so, they had to pay a tribute to the Trojans. They did fight not
to pay the fee, they won and they passed through the strait. Homer talks about gods,
goddesses, Paris and the beautiful Helen and the legends; but we sure know that the reason
of the war was the commercial concerns.
Tribes were assimilated by the locals
and the cultures blended into a rich civilization. The cult of the Mother Goddess (Kybele,
Kubaba) that existed throughout tpe ages in Anatolia, deeply influenced the newcomers. The
cult of Zeus was surpassed by the Goddess Artemis in Ionia and Aphrodite in Caria. The
strong belief in Virgin Mary; could it be an extension of the cult of the Mother Goddess.
The people of Anatolia achieved an
extraordinary synthesis, as they adopted the culture of the newcomers and blended with
what they already had.
It is not surprising that the
Hellenistic civilization reached its summit in Asia Minor. Thales, Diogenes, Strabon; to
name but a few. Philosophy, mathematics, geometry , astronomy, painting, sculpture,
mosaic, ceramic; the superior level, attained in science and fine arts in almost all
fields, is an outcome of this efficient synthesis.
