TURKEY: 7000 years of History

The exhibition "Turkey: 7000 Years of History" goes over the main phases that marked the long way of the Anatolian peoples since the distant Neolithic age, around the end of the 8th millennium BC, to the present day. The Anatolian territories have been frequently the scenes of cultural findings and conquests which profoundly marked the European civilization which, in turn, moulded the face of modern Turkey.

Louis Godart

Advisor of the President of Italian Republic for Cultural Heritage

The Neolithic Age (8000-5000 BC)

Everything begins with the advent of agriculture. Towards the end of the 8th millennium BC, in the level tract of Konya, more specifically in the site of Çatalhöyük, the inhabitants of this area start a selection of local seeds and plants radically changing their lifestyles. From hunters and gatherers, such as they were in the origin, they become breeders and farmers. They tame goats, swine, sheep and cattle; they plough and sow the fields and start making villages. For the first time ever, the survival of the species does not depend on the aleatory fruits of hunting and harvesting but on the work in the fields. The new relation with the external environment influences the relationship between man, art and the sacred. Female representations of mother goddesses become widespread in all Neolithical civilizations revealing similar features: essentially small statues emphasizing the attributes of fertility. A small female statue of a mother goddess in the act of delivering was brought to light during the excavation of Çatalhöyük. Close to the statue, the undeceivable signs of the Bull cult. The connection between the mother goddess and the bull is not fortuitous. The bull - ubiquitous element of pre- and protohistory, symbol of strength and courage - is also the animal which, once domesticated, drags the plough and helps the farmer sowing the fields. In reality, the mother goddess of Çatalhöyük can be identified with the "Mother Earth", the great deity venerated by all the peoples that learned how to work in the fields and to domesticate animals. The advent of agriculture in the ancient Anatolian regions brings about an increase in population and drives men to try to find new spaces. The Neolithical revolution hits the regions east and west of the plain of the Konya. Apart from the agricultural techniques tested at Çatalhöyük other agriculture-related cults become widespread, such as the cult of the Mother Earth and that of the God Bull. Evidences are given by the number of representations of these deities from the Syrian East or from Mesopotamia as well as from the Aegean world and the Thessalian-Danubian areas. The presence of the Mother Earth turns up everywhere in ancient history. In the Classical period, the Greeks name the Mother Earth Demeter, the Romans calls it Ceres, the Phrygians and the Anatolians of the 1st millennium BC, Cybel. The goddess is symbolized by the small calcareous statue found at Canhasan, dating back to the Calcolithic period (4th millennium BC), that will be presented at the exhibition. In the light of this new evidence linked to the spread of agriculture in today's Turkey, many experts, including two researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zeland, Russel Gray and Quentin Atkinson, affirm that the great Indo-European migration did not originate from the Euro-Asian steppes of Ukraine but from Anatolia (cf. the Nature magazine of 27 November 2003). The beginning of agriculture and the possibility to build supplies of food for making up for lean periods urge the invention of a control system of store-rooms. The first administrative tools for accounting for the movements in the controlled store-rooms become widespread in all Neolithic civilizations. An example of these objects, called by convention "seals"or "pintaderas", can be observed at the exhibition (inventory no 798-13-65). During the Neolithic period, similar finds, generally made of terracotta or stone, were found in Anatolia, Near East, in the northern part of the Aegean region and in the Balkans. The motifs, sort of in-depth gravings, are generally meander - or spiral - shaped, or plain geometrical patterns, such as zigzag, concentric rings and rays and are very different from the ongoing decorative system. Someone has erroneously defined them as primitive signs of a developing writing method.

The Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC)

Anatolia enters the bronze age towards the end of the 4th millennium BC. The inhabitants of the area bind copper and tin to make weapons, implements, containers, jewels and small statues. Between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 3rd BC, the core of the Anatolian civilization shifts to the north of the Country. Around the year 2300 BC, the region goes through an extraordinary growth characterized by the development of advanced forms of life and economy, linked to the industrial activity based on the exploitation and working of metals. The second city of Troy (the one where the so-called Priam treasure was unveiled), in the extreme western part of the Anatolian plateau, has given back a number of items. For their nature, beauty and cut these objects can be compared to those found in the sites and the necropolis of Alacahöyük, Eskiyapar, Kalinkaya, Mahmatlar, Kayapinar and Horoztepe. The burial objects indicate the level of refinement of the Anatolian populations in working metal items. Sites like Alacahöyük, Horoztepe, Kültepe allow to affirm that the metallurgic industry, just like agriculture, was an essential element in the economic activity of the peoples inhabiting the Anatolian plateau during the ancient bronze age. Extraordinary gold, silver, yellow amber, copper and bronze artifacts and several iron finds demonstrate that the local populations learnt how to use the metallic ore bodies of the Pontic region. The minerals, in short supply near the Anatolian settlements, were imported from distant lands. The similarities between the artifacts discovered in several sites, also very detached from each other, lead us to believe that many travelling artists and craftsmen were frequently employed by monarchs or local leaders. Apart from the splendid statue of the golden and silver goddess of Alacahöyük - probably a portrayal of the Mother Earth of Neolithic memory - a sistrum and a bronze badge from Horoztepe and Alacahöyük, respectively, can be admired at the exhibition. The bronze badges, often circular in shape, have been given different interpretations. Some researchers believe that these figures, surmounted by animal representations, were originally placed on canopies or standards; others think they were solar discs or stylized representations of the vault of heaven.

The Age of the Assyrian Colonies (1950-1750 BC)

At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, Anatolia leaves prehistory to enter history. Writing, the unequalled instrument for transmitting unequivocal messages over time and space, appears in the Anatolian plateau. Groups of Assyrian merchants open branches (kârum) and agencies (wabârtum) in the central and south-eastern region of the Anatolian peninsula. The vast hill of Kültepe, the site of the ancient city of Kanesh, rose along the eastern edges of the tableland, along the fertile plain north of the mount Argeo. Capital of a political group, Kanesh or Nesa, hosted a palace, aristocratic residences, temples and residential districts surrounded by defensive walls. The Assyrian merchants chose this agglomeration as the main seat of their colonies. Kanesh, the real intersection between East and West, thus becomes the administrative go-between between Assur city, along the Tigris river, and the branches opened by the Assyrians in central Anatolia up to the delta of the river Kizilirmak (the ancient Halys river). More than 17,000 texts in Assyrian language and wedged-shaped characters were discovered among the ruins of ancient Kanesh. They date back to the 1940-1902 BC period (reign of Irisum I of Assyria), when the Assyrian colonies first established in the area, and Anita, prince of Kussara, conquered Kanesh to establish his kingdom (18th century BC). The Assyrian merchants started teaching the art of writing to a new people that was appearing on the horizon at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC: the Hittites.

The Hittites (1750-1200 BC)

The history of the re-discovery of the Hittite world is relatively recent. In 1906, from the ruins of Bog?azköy, 150 kms east of Ankara, Hugo Winckler brought to light the archives of the Hittite monarchs. The documents were written on clay tablets in cuneiform Babylonian writing, which the Hittites learned from the Assyrian merchants in Anatolia. During the First World War, in 1917, the Czech scholar Friedrich Hrözny managed to read these texts. By surprise, he also discovered that they had been written in Indo-European language. The origin of the Hittites is unclear. Some experts affirm they arrived from the north or north-east, through the Caucasus, and that progressively extended their influence over Anatolia. They finally won an uncontested victory over the whole territory. Their most ancient tradition highlights the primordial role of the two main cities: Nesa to the south (the Kanesh of the Assyrian merchants), and Zalpa to the north, in the delta region of the Halys river, in the Black Sea. The first areas colonized by the Hittites in Anatolia are clearly defined. The first region included the northern part of the central tableau, the steppes of Cappadocia and the Pontic mountains. In the middle of this vast region was the city of Hattusa which became capital of the Hittite empire around 1600 BC. The first Hittite kingdom (1650-1500 BC) was followed by the great empire (1430-1200 BC) which took over Syria snatching a victory over the Egyptians, whose monarch Muwatalli clashed against Pharaoh Ramses II, and signed the Treaty of Kadesh. The great Hittite empire was overcome at the end of the 13th century BC, during the popular movement of populations (the invasion of the "Sea-Peoples") throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, which radically changed the physiognomy of the whole region, devastating it. The "Sea-Peoples" sow death and destruction along the large area between the Mycenaean Greece, the Anatolian coastline, the Syrian- Palestinian shoreline, Cyprus and Egypt. The name "Sea-Peoples" comes from the popular inscription adorning the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, Upper Egypt, near Luxor. According to the ancient Egyptians, they were peoples from the north, mixed populations native to the Aegean archipelago who, in any case, travelled around the archipelago. Two groups of Sea-Peoples can be distinguished. The first one is involved in the war started by Pharaoh Mirneptah against a Lybian coalition during the fifth year of his kingdom (around 1228 or 1218 BC); The second one tries to penetrate Egypt from east during the reign of Ramses III (maybe in the fifth year and, in any case, before the eighth year of his reign, i.e. around 1190 BC). The disappearance of the political-economic system adopted by the Hittite and the Aegean populations, based on a central authority governing a vast territory, seems to be the result of the raids committed by the Sea-Peoples. The sacred site of Yazilikaya (the "rock inscribed" in Turkish) - about seven hundred meters north-east of the capital city of Hattusa - and its rupestrian reliefs are an unexhaustible source of information on the Hittite religious world. The great divinities of the Hittite pantheon are represented, particularly the divine couple par excellence composed by the god of storm Teshub and Hebat, the goddess of the "sun and the earth". It is probable that this goddess is identified with the old Neolithic Mother Earth, which the Hittites continued to commemorate. Evidence of this commemoration is the splendid statue of the Mother Earth dating back to the Middle Bronze Age (around 1800 BC), discovered at Beycesultan. The statue will be presented at the exhibition.

The City of Troy (3000 BC-2nd century AD)

The archeologists who brought to light the remains of Troy and who continue to do researche in the hillside of Hissarlik and in the plain surrounding the settlement discovered by Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann in 1869 have demonstrated that the site of Troy is deeply rooted in the distant past histories of the Anatolian and the Aegean regions. Ten important stages of the history of the site have been identified: Troy I from 3000 to 2500 BC; Troy II from 2500 to 2200 BC; Troy III from 2200 to 2050; Troy IV from 2050 to 1900; Troy V from 1900 to 1800; Troy VI (covering different phases identified by the letters a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h) from 1800 to 1300; Troy VIIa from 1300 to 1260; Troy VIIb 1 from 1260 to 1190; Troy VIIb 2 from 1190 to 1100 and the last Troy from 700 to the Hellenistic-Roman period. Judging by the quality of its architectonic remains, the richness and the beauties of its handicrafts, the most important of the cities of Troy was probably Troy II. The objects assembled by Schliemann under the name of the "Priam Treasure", in fact, go back to Troy II. The renowned Troy of the war celebrated by Homer, instead, is another one. In the opening chapter "Troy and the Homeric Poems", from the synthetic volume on the excavations that brought directly to the city of Troy, Carl Blegen is resolute to affirm that a war took place at the end of the second millennium BC. The author also endorses the thesis of those who credit the Homeric poems. In fact, Blegen's conclusion is peremptory: "No one can doubt, under present conditions, that a war actually took place, and that during that war a coaltion of Achaeans or Mycenaeans fought the Trojans and their allies under the command of a king, the sovereignty of whom was unquestionable". Troy VIIa contains Mycenaean pottery from the period known as the Late Helladic IIIB (13th century BC), an example of which is the Myceanean stirrup-jar presented at the exhibition. This is the period of the greatest splendours of the continental Myceanean palaces; while Troy VIh was struck by an earthquake, the discovery of unburied corpses and arrow-heads under the ruins of Troy VIIa, destroyed in a fire, hints that the city was besieged and set on fire by the enemy. Moreover, Blegen believes that the amphora buried under the houses of Troy VIIa might indicate that the inhabitants made provisions before a long siege. Therefore, according to the American author, Troy VIIa should be the Troy celebrated by Homer in the Iliad. Who were the Trojans? What language did they speak? In the 5th century BC, the Greeks divided mankind in two categories: Hellenes and Barbarians. The word "barbarian" simply indicates "a man who does not speak Greek and whose language is like stammer". This opposition between Hellenes - or Greeks - and Barbarians is clearly explained in a survey carried out by Herodote, whom, wondering on the origin of the Greek-Persian conflict, places Paris' rape of Helen - and, successively, the Trojan War - at the origin of the war between east and west. Then, according to the "Father of History", the Trojans are barbarian people. Also the Greek Tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides) of the 5th century BC have the same feeling. Troy, to them, is a barbarian city. Only to the last poet, Euripides, the opposition between Hellenes and Barbarians is questionable. To Homer, instead, the Achaeans and the Trojans are not distinctly differentiated like, for instance, the Christians and the Saracens in the Chanson de Roland. The two peoples worship the same gods and there is no lack of communication between the two. However, he insists that some individuals among the Trojans and their allies speak different languages. The names of many Trojan heroes, such as Hector or Alexandros (Paris) are Myceanean Greek names. After an attentive archaeological analysis of the ruins of Troy of the 8th century BC, Manfred Korfmann emphasized the impressive accuracy of the poet's descriptions of the acropolis. So, there is a high degree of probability that the Trojan rulers were Greek since, according to the Homeric poem, the two peoples spoke the same language, worshipped the same gods, had the same customs and traditions and used the same weapon. I am therefore inclined to believe that a Myceanean upper class ruled by an Achaean king ruled over Troy VIIa. Such a thesis is supported by the large number of Myceanean pieces of pottery discovered in the hill of Hissarlik in the 13th century BC. If Priam had actually been an Achaean king, we should conclude by affirming that the Trojan War celebrated by Homer was a civil war where the Achaeans from the continent, from the islands and from Crete opposed the Achaeans who had taken over the city of Troy, probably after the earthquake that devastated Troy VIh.

The Neo-Hittite Reigns (1200-700 BC)

Recent findings have demonstrated that the catastrophe that hit Anatolia, Syria, Egypt and the Aegean region at the beginning of the 12th century BC did not definitively efface the Hittite imperial tradition. After the fall of the Hittite empire, a number of small States sprang up between the south-eastern region of Asia Minor, the Euphrates meander and northern Syria. Their population consisted of Hittites, Hurrites and Semites but the official language was Luvian (an Indo-European language structurally identical to the Hittite apart from a few detail differences. The historical relationship between Hittite and Luvian is comparable to the relationship between two Romance languages such as French and Italian). It was used almost everywhere to celebrate the monarchs and was transcribed in Hittite hieroglyphic writing to decorate monuments and rupestrial walls. Towards the end of the 11th century, the progressive integration of Semitic-speaking Aramaean tribes trongly modified the balance between these two States to the disadvantage of the Luvian populations. Most of all, the aggressive policy of the Assyrian kings caused the gradual transformation of many neo-hittite principates into simple Assyrian provinces.

The Phrygians

The Phrygians and the Mysians, both from Indo-European origin, invaded Anatolia from Thrace and settled at Gordio, which became capital of the Phrygian kingdom around 800 BC. The legendary King Midas, who lived around 715 BC, is still renowned: according to tradition, he could transform into gold whatever he touched.

The Greek Colonies of Anatolia until Alexander

After the Trojan War, the indigenous populations of the Aegean coast mingled with the Greek settlers who had arranged several moorings along the Anatolian coastline, and had founded many large cities which covered a fundamental role in the Hellenic history. Suffice it to mention Phocaea, Theosus, Ephesus, Miletus, Priene or Alicarnassus. The Greek culture expanded in Caria and the Greek celebrated the mausoleum of Alicarnasso, today's Bodrum, tomb of king Mausolo, as one of the seven wonders of the world. The large city of Sardi, east of Smirne (Izmir) was erected in the reign of Lycia and ruled over a large part of the Ionian region. The city became popular for the invention of coinage. Moreover, the memory of Croesus, one of the city's monarchs, is imprinted in history. Croesus was defeated by Darius, king of Persia, in 547 BC. According to the Greek historians, Croesus hesitated before entering the war against Dario. He went to Apollo's sanctuary, in Delphi, to consult the Pythia, and to come to a decision. After having prayed to the god, the priestess, racked by the sacred delirium, gave Croesus the long-waited response: "Your attack would cause the destruction of a great empire". Croesus had no doubt. He would face the Persians. His defeat caused the destruction of a great empire: his own! In the meantime, to the east, along the shores of the salt lake of Van, the Hurates founded the Reign of Van (860-612 BC). This people left remarkable ruins and impressive metal artefacts. The Persian conquerors were defeated by Alexander the Great. Alexander left Macedonia, his homeland, and crossed the Hellesponte (today's Strait of the Dardanelles) in 334 BC and, in a few years, conquered the Middle East, expanding his influence over a vast territory from Greece to India. After Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC, a series of civil wars broke out among his generals (the so-called diadochos) to seize the Macedon's inheritance. Lysimachus claimed the western and central Anatolian regions but another general, Seleucus, killed him during the battle of Curupedius in 281 BC before he could achieve his object. Seleucus founded the reign of the Seleucids, proclaiming Antioch capital of the kingdom.

Roman Anatolia

The Romans conquered Anatolia almost without striking a blow. After having defeated the Seleucid king, Antioch III at Magnesia in 190 BC, they left Anatolia in the hands of the kings of Pergamus, to whom they were allied. But the last king of Pergamus, Attalus III, died without appointing anyone as his heir and, in 133 BC, disposed by will to leave the reign to Rome, which in 129 BC established the province of Asia, proclaiming Ephesus capital of the province. Among the events that took place in this period, it is necessary to underline the appearance of Commagenia, a small kingdom in the south-east of Turkey, taken away to the Seleucids. The area was governed by the Mithridates, and around 50 BC, Mithridate's son, Antioch, ordered the construction of a peculiar funeral momument on a mountain top, the Nemrut Dagi. The abdication of emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) started a fight for the succession to the throne, which ended in Constantine's victory. After having won a victory over Maxentius, at Ponte Milvio in 312 AD, Constantine embraced Catholicism and instituted Christianity as State religion (edict of Milan of 313 AD).

Byzantium

Constantine decided to erect a new large city over the Hellenic site of Byzantium, and in 330 AD transformed it into the capital city of the region, naming it the New Rome. The city was successively renamed Constantinople and Istanbul. While to the west, Rome, struck by the barbarian invasions, was entering a period of decay, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire, was becoming more and more prosperous and influential, reaching its acme under the reign of emperor Justinian (527-565 AD). Justinian re-conquered Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia, Egypt and Northern Africa and embellished Istanbul ordering the erection of the church of the Holy Wisdom, or St Sophia. Istanbul fell into the hands of the Ottomans in 1453.

The Seljuk Empire

The Seljuks originated in Central Asia, and set up a large empire which was successively divided into three parts: Iran, Syria and Asia Minor. They were the first Turks who appeared in the history of Anatolia and the Middle and Near East. The real founder of this dynasty, Tugrul Bey (1038-1063), subdued today's Persia, seized Baghdad in 1055, spread the Islamic religion and established himself as a sultan. His nephew and successor, Alp Arslan, took over Armenia (1064), conquered Aleppo (1070) and defeated at Manzikert, near the Lake Van, the Byzantine army of emperor Diogenes (1071) starting the Turkish dominion in Anatolia. His son and successor Mâlik-Shah (1072-1092) conquered most of Asia Minor and founded an empire that stretched from the shores of the Aegean Sea to Turkistan. The vizir of Mâlik-Shah, Nizamal-Mulk, fought against the Shiites, establishing the popular "medresses", the orthodox Sunni schools. A singular culture, characterized by refined architectural patterns and elegant aesthetic lines, developed in the bosom of the Seljuk empire. The great poet Omar Khayyam, died in 1123, was an integral part of this brilliant cultural movement.

The Ottoman Empire and the Beginning of Modern Turkey (1299-1920)

In 1243, the Mongols descended Anatolia defeating the Seljuks in the battle of Köse Dag, and divided what remained of the old empire into a mosaic of small Turkoman emireates. The Turkish occupied Bitinia under the rule of a lordling called Ertugrul, succeeded by his son Osman. Around 1288, Osman founded a principate which successively developed into the great Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans conquered Bursa, the first capital of the empire entrenched along the northern sides of the Uludag. They continued to penetrate to the west, conquering Adrianople in 1363 and establishing the new capital (Edirne). They further expanded towards the Balkans. In 1389, they defeated the Serbs in the battle of Kosovo. At the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans were ruling an empire which extended from the Danube to the coasts of the Black Sea, in the region of modern Romania. Despite the defeat from Tamerlane in 1402 in Ankara, the Ottomans went on with their occupation activity. In 1453 the army of Mehmet the Conqueror seized Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire reached its splendour under the reign of the last sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Among his initiatives, I remember the embellishment of Istanbul, the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the expansion campaign that led him directly to the gates of Vienna in 1529. Suleiman died in 1566. He left an empire of about 15 million square kilometres which incorporated, either totally or in part, the territories of modern Hungaria, the Balkans, Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Arabic Peninsula and the coast of Northern Africa until Morocco. The long-lasting Ottoman expansion ended at the end of the 17th century. In the 19th century, the strong ethnic nationalistic movements from Europe spread rapidly and proved popular within the mosaic of peoples ruled by the sultan. The Ottoman Empire broke inexorably up on the occasion of the First World War. The government of the Sublime Porte decided to side with Germany and the central powers. It was a fatal mistake. The defeat of the central powers established the end of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul and other Anatolian regions were occupied by the winning European powers, and the sultan became a pawn in the hands of the enemy. Greece, encouraged by Great Britain, took officially possession of the city of Izmir (Smirne) on May 15th 1919. The Ottoman general Mustafa Kemal, who had commanded with success the Turkish troops during the defence of Dardanelles, decided to establish a new government replacing the sultan. The country, threathened by the Greek invasion, sided with Mustafa Kemal. The war for the Turkish independence started in 1920 and ended in 1922. The victory over Greece transformed Mustafa Kemal into a national hero. The destiny of Turkey was now in his hands. The sultanate and the Ottoman Empire were abolished and the Turkish Republic was finally instituted. The Republic comprised Anatolia and Eastern Thrace. The Treaty of Lausanne, of June 24th 1923, signaled the beginning of a new page in history.