The Prehistoric Times:

Paleolithic Age ( Old Stone Age ) ( 2 Million - 8000 BC ) : Paleolithic Age, also known to be the old stone age, begins somewhere between 2 million years ago and ends 10.000 years before our time. This time period marks the beginning of the existence of the ancestors of man.

The early man in the Paleolithic age did not know to farm and raise crops but lived on picking up vegetables, fruit and on hunting. In search of the new food sources and to be able to hunt animals, he moved from place to place , and gathered in small groups. His dwelling was in rocky areas, under big rocks and in caves. In areas where this condition could not be met he made easy and primitive shelters out of wood. Around 40.000 BC he started making simple stone tools for hunting and protection purposes.

Between 40.000 and 10.000 is the glacial age on earth. Not being able to move much due to the climate, the primitive man utilized the skin of the animals that he hunted by successfully carved stones. To make clothes he used pins made out of bones and saw animal skin covers for himself. During this hard time of survival , he was able to discover and to control fire and by doing so he happened to have passed an important step in his development which helped him be separated from the animals. In this same period the earliest notion of the need to believe in an other world or in a mightier power can also be traced. In the graves that were dug for the dead as simple holes he left food by the side of the deceased and this is interpreted to be his faith in afterlife. To sum up, the hard conditions of life in the glacial age led the early man develop better socially and technically.    The passage from the very primitive man, namely Home Neanderthal, to the ancestor of the modern man, namely Home Sapiens who is dated to between 10.000 and 8.000 may also be considered in this period.

In the last phases of the Paleolithic age the early man could make tools in order to make different new tools. The first works of art emerged in this era too: paintings made on cave the walls and various art objects such as low reliefs and figurines.The intellectual life of the man was beginning. Moreover, animal bones, teeth and shells the ornate objects demonstrate the first aesthetic concern in man.

The fact that in Paleolithic Age, the Asia Minor is extremely rich in fossils and fragments of human beings and animals, of stone, of bone and of vegetation, as well as of works of art reveals that Anatolian land was intensely inhabited during this period. The most important place in Anatolia where all the three phases; Upper, Middle and Lower in the Paleolithic Age can be seen, is the Karain Cave on the 30 km northwest of Antalya. In this respectively big cave, there are various living sections from each of the three phases of the Paleolithic Age. Among the finds are many carved stone and bone tools, moveable art objects, remains of the bones and teeth of Homo Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens, burnt and unburned animal and bread fossils. Karain cave in the Paleolithic Age is not a crucial excavation site only for Anatolia but also for the Near East. One can see some of these remains in the Museums of Karain, in Antalya and in Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

Neolithic Age ( 8000 BC - 5000 BC )

This period reveals a new step in the history of mankind with the development of the established and settled societies and production of food. Anatolia once again gives the most comprehensive sites in the world for this age with Cayonu, Hacilar, Catalhoyuk and Koskhoyuk excavation sites.

The Cayonu settlement which is not far from the city of Diyarbakir has been unearthed by the expedition teams under the leadership of Cambel, Braidwood, Mehmet Ozdogan, Wulf Schirmen and it is dated back to 7250-6750 BC. In the middle of the settlement is a center and around it are monumental, rectangular structures and houses. The foundation of the structures is stone and above is sun-dried brick. The inhabitants of Cayonu are the first farmers of Anatolia. They raised sheep and goat, and domesticated dog. The woman figurines among the finds discovered are the earliest traces of the Mother Goddess cult.

The Hacilar Settlement, brought to the daylight by James Mellart, located on the 25 km southwest of Burdur, is dated back to 5700-5600 BC. The walls and the floors of Hacilar houses which are made of mud-brick on stone foundations are lime mortared and red painted. Wooden poles for supporting flat roofs and ladders to suggest that some structures had two stories are discovered. In every house, there are goddess figurines made of clay, in standing and sitting postures. Different from other settlement areas, the dead are buried outside the cities. The pottery in Hacilar is well fired and comes in red, brown and yellow colors.

The Catalhoyuk settlement, on the 52 km southeast of Konya and north of the town of Cumra is, dated back to 6800-5000 BC and it is the most developed center of the Near East and the Aegean. The excavations have shown that the city with ten different settlement levels was built according to a designed plan. This is achieved by arranging the rectangular planned houses next to one another around the courtyards. There are no stone foundations in Catalhoyuk and all the houses carry flat roofs. Houses were made up of mud brick and they all were built according to the same ground plan. They have no doors. Instead the entrance to them is through windows on the ceilings by using portable ladders. The windows for air and light are placed on the topmost part of the walls near the roofs. The houses are composed of wide living rooms, storage rooms and kitchens. In the rooms there are seats and furnaces. The dead are buried under the seats in the houses after having been dried in the sun.The walls of the houses are decorated with bull heads and paintings. These paintings which signify the rituality in the community are placed in a corner in the houses rather than in a special separate location within the settlement area. Bull heads are formed in high reliefs, like statues, and some of them are made by the covering of original bullheads with clay. In the formation of the wall paintings, red, brown, black, white and pink dies on top of the gray mud brick are used. Among the motifs used are geometrical designs, flowers, stars, circles and in some parts depictions of life as well as human hands, deities, human figures, hunting scenes, bulls, birds, vultures, leopards, wild deer and pigs, lions and bears. A depiction of the eruption of a volcanic mountain ( very likely, the Mount Hasan, near Cappadocia) is the oldest known scenery painting.

İn Catalhoyuk, we can also trace the early stages of farming. This is also accompanied with the worship of the Mother Goddess along with the holy animal, the bull. The Mother Goddess stands for fertility and multiplication of man. In the excavations carried in Hacilar and Catalhoyuk, hundreds of Mother Goddess statutes have been found. She, with her sexual organs in exaggeration is almost always depicted nude and lies down in the postures of crouching, and specially in the process of birth-giving . The fact that similarly designed Mother Goddess statues could also be found in the Near Eastern and Aegean cultures signifies the existence of matriarchal societies in these regions in the same time periods. The Goddess Kybele comes into sight around the 7000 BC. ( Most of the finds from this period are on display in Ankara Museum of Anatolian Civilizations.

 As for Koskhoyuk; during the excavations carried by Ugur Silistre in Koskhoyuk, near Nigde, ornate pottery pieces and statues have been discovered.

 Chalcholithic Age ( Copper Age) ( 5500-3000 BC)

 In this period, in addition to stone tools copper pieces also come into sight. The need tochange valuable goods (ceramics, textile) for both raw and shaped mines helped the trade develop, and this brought the exchange between peoples and the preparation of inventory listings with the beginning of communication. Symbols, hieroglyphs, writing with pictures, came into use. By the end of the 4000 BC cities emerged and the first steps of the human civilization were made.

 Burdur-Hacilar level 5 ( 5500 BC) is the oldest site in Anatolia where metal objects are discovered. Regarding technique and forms; the handmade pottery production reached to an advanced level here and the single-colored, polished, ceramic pots were produced as an alternative to the metallic pots which were respectively more valuable. The surface of the pots is finely polished with a special technique to create a metallic effect.

 One other important settlement area of the Chalcholithic period in Western Anatolia is the Beycesultan site, going back to 4000-3000 BC, located on the 5 km southeast of town of Civril in Denizli, excavated by Seton Lloyd. Here, some of the mud-brick structures with a rectangular plan look like long megaron houses (megaron is a long and narrow room that has a hearth in the center). Inside the structures are hearths, seats along the walls and storage. Here, in a pot, is discovered a collection of silver and copper rings, part of a dagger and metallic pins. The ceramic of this period has a background of gray, black and brown.

 Canhasan site, on the 13 km northeast of Karaman town in Konya, unearthed by David French was a bridge between west and east Anatolia and Mesopotamia for trade and cultural exchange. Copper rings and bracelets are among the most important finds here. Anatolia which had the most advanced culture on earth during the Paleolithic period has lost its leadership in the Chalcolithic period to Mesopotamia and Egypt, after writing was discovered there Due to the fact that writing got to be used in Anatolia a thousands years later, the level of culture here could not go beyond that of Neolithic period primitive village, even though people were using metal in daily life.

 Bronze Age ( 3000 - 1200 BC )

 The Bronze period begins around 3000 in Anatolia, around 2500 in the Aegean and Crete, around 2000 in Europe. Bronze is obtained by mixing copper and tin ( % 90 copper, % 10 tin). In this period apart from bronze tools other kinds such as copper, gold and electron, which is an alloy of natural gold and silver are also produced for using in religious ceremonies. The people in this period lived in cities surrounded with fortification walls. Houses are built in rectangular shapes on stone foundations with sundried brick walls and. Agriculture, animal husbandry, merchandise and mine production are the means of life.

 Alacahoyuk, 67 km to Yozgat city and 3 hours away from Ankara is the most advanced settlement area in Anatolia from this period. The rich graves discovered here are in shapes of regular stone rooms. The dead is put in the center of these rooms with gifts, in a posture that the knees are pulled up to the belly ( hocker position). Sacrificed and presented during the ceremony, bull heads and feet are left on top of the roofs. Goats and sheep are also sacrificed. They might have been served to the attendants at the funeral. The graves are thought to be used for many generations. Most of the gifts are composed of gold, silver, electron, bronze objects and decorative items such as diadems, necklaces, hairpins, bracelets, earrings made of precious stones like amber, rock crystal, etc. Bronze and gold weapons, sun discs, deer and bull figurines, goddess statues of religious services are invaluable works of art discovered here. For the first time in this period do we find bronze spear heads in Anatolia. They resemble very much to their counterparts in Mesopotamia and Syria which is an interesting point.

 Another important place in the bronze age is Troy, Level 1. dated back to 2900-2500 BC. This first city in Troy, now partly unearthed is wrapped up with a 90 meter wall. Houses are in megaron type again and the entrances are from the narrow sides. Walls are stone and set in the herring bone pattern. Troy, Level 2. is dated back to 2500-2000 BC. It is built on top of Troy Level 1. The inhabitants of this level come from the Aegean and Balkans like those of the first level. It is also surrounded with walls but this time they are 20 meters longer. The expedition team uncovered a royal residence that belongs to a king on one of the hilltops. Heinrich Schlieman, the German businessman who dug the Trojan mound in 1870, discovered a treasury at this level of Troy 2. Knowing Homer’s Iliad by heart, he was in search of King Priamos's treasury and for years he believed the treasury he had discovered at the site was so. In the last years of his life, however, he was going to learn that the treasury actually belonged to a different level, the level 2, thus, to a different time period.

 Hatti Culture

 The information about the Hatti civilization comes to us through the Accadian sources   (2350-2150 BC). The Hattis are believed to be the one of the indigenous peoples in Anatolia. They lived around 2500 BC in city kingdoms and small tribes and by 2000 BC all of them were taken under the rule of the Hittites. Different from other cultures though,The Hatti art gives us the examples of a human-shaped pottery type (anthropomorphic) rather than an animal shape or a hybrid form. They worshipped such statues and figurines, and each one of them carried his or her name. The Hittites, an Indo-European tribe that came to Anatolia over the Caucasus around 2000 BC, were influenced by the Hatti culture in religion, mythology and literature. Not only did they take the names of mountains, rivers and towns from them; Hittites preserved even the original Hatti name of the country they lived in as “the land of Hatti”. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Hittites formed one of the most interesting and authentic civilizations of the world history with the help of a rich cultural background they inherited from the Hattis over 250 years.

 The peaceful times in Anatolia that lasted for thousands of years came to an end with a fierce attack around 2000 BC. There is only the remains of a thick fire layer dating back to 2000 BC in the settlement areas of the central Anatolia such as Alacahoyuk.

 Assyrian Trade Colonies ( 1900-1700)

 The Assyrian merchants established trade colonies in central parts of Asia Minor in this period. Their aim was to sell and barter the goods they produced for timber, silver, copper and raw material from Anatolia. According to thousands of tablets discovered at Kultepe, the Assyrians had established independent trade colonies here named karum. The gold and silver were the two basic norms for trade, the former for the wholesale and the latter for the retail business.The method of trade was bartering. The donkey was the main transportation animal. This period marks a big interaction and cultural exchange between Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Indo-European tribes that until then lived on the north of Europe, for an unknown reason, migrated towards south between 2250 and 2000 BC in to a vast area from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. During this migration, tribes like Germans, Latins ,Iranians, Cimmerians, Indians and Hellens moved to the areas and the countries around their present day locations. In the meantime some tribes, likeTrojans, Thracians, Phrigians and Hittites got in to Anatolia too.

 A Great Empire; The Byzantines

 In the year 395, when the Roman emperor Theodosum I divided the empire and placed his son Arcadius at the head of the Eastern side and his other son Honorius on the throne of the Western side, he could not have known what kinds of effects this action was to have on the future. The Western Roman Empire, with Honorius at its head, was to have a short life. The Eastem Roman Empire, however, was to last almost one thousand years until it was finally put to an end by the Ottoman Empire Mehmet II when he conquered the city of Istanbul in 1453.

 The city of Byzantium was chosen to be the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire. Sixty five years later, however, the name of the city was changed to Constantinople in honor of its founder, Constantine. Even though this radical change was made in the concept of the empire, the Byzantines always referred to themselves during their one thousand year long history as the Roman Empire and their nation as the Nation of Rome. After the collapse of the empire, however, historians began to refer to this empire as the "Byzantine" Empire and so it is remembered today. This empire began in 330 and lasted until 1453, for 1123 years. A struggle between Moslems and Christians began to arise in the Middle Ages. Those warriors known as the Crusaders were the most concrete example of the struggle between these two major religious beliefs.

 The most important change made when the Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine was the change in religion. While Rome was a polytheistic society, the Byzantines accepted monotheism as the basis for their religious belief. The second greatest change that occurred in the empire was the change in language. The Roman Empire used a number of languages, but Latin was the official language of its government. Latin was used increasingly less after the founding of Byzantium and Greek began to take its place as the official language. Naturally, this change also brought with it major political changes.

 The Byzantine Empire began with the Emperor Constantine who reigned for thirteen years; a total of 88 emperors were to reign during the course of the empire. These emperors came from various family lines. The leading groups were from Heraclion, Syria, Phrygia, Macedonia, Commenos, Angelos, and Palaiologos. Although the Byzantines began their empire with a vast territory of land inherited from the Roman Empire, they soon lost the territories around the Northern and Eastem Mediterranean and they became an empire with generally Aegean territory. By the time of the collapse of the Empire, Byzantium merely consisted of the city of Istanbul and its immediate surrounds

 Dark Ages

 The most powerful periods of the Byzantium Empire were years that were stagnant in terms of advancement of thought, but were highly active in terms of religion. It should not be forgotten, however, that it was this highly detailed embroidery of the Middle Ages that was to pave the way for the Renaissance. The struggle between two very great religions, Islam and Christianity, was to lead to the development of Islamic civilization on the one hand, and Byzantine civilization on the other. Byzantine art was a synthesis of the Christian art forms of the Middle Ages, their own art forms which had existed in the pre-Christian early period, and all of the arts that had been gleaned from the territories and countries which were under the rule of the Empire. Elements of Anatolian, Iranian, Italian, Egyptian, Syrian, Balkan, and North African cultural forms could all be found within this aggregate. The principal element within this synthesis was, however, the Anatolian.

 Byzantine arts in their earliest periods were closely related to the changes which had occurred in the Roman Empire. Because the Byzantine Empire did not have its own unique beginning as a civilization, this early transitional period is referred to as the period of "Early Christian Art." Following this early period, the art forms of the Byzantine can be classified as having three distinct stages. The first stage is called the "Early" or the "First Byzantine" stage. This period began in the fifth century and continued on until 726. Byzantine art produced its first original and important pieces during this period. This was the period of time in which the Emperor Justine played such an important role and this period is termed the "Justinian Period." Certain internal struggles began to appear near the close of the seventh century. People began to rise up against the restraints placed upon them by the church and the monasteries. The period of Iconoclasm began at the beginning of the 8th century as a reaction to church pressures. As this reaction grew, many religious paintings were destroyed and such paintings were forbidden. Many monasteries were closed and the nuns and priests of these orders were forced into the street to live as common citizens. Painting became a secular art as non-religious subjects were chosen. The Middle Stage of Byzantine art began in 842 when the church regained much of its power. This period lasted for almost four hundred years. Byzantine art matured during this period and developed its own unique characteristics. It also assimilated elements of Islamic civilization.

 The rulers of this period came from the line of the Macedonians and the Kommenos. While the Seljuk Empire was being established in Anatolia, the Byzantines were in the midst of an internal power struggle. Another period of Crusades had again begun. As a result of all these various pressures, much of the Empire was divided into small principalities, and in its last century there was almost no attention paid to the arts. New art forms began to make their appearance in the Mora and Epiros Despots who had broken off from the Empire and in the government of Trabzon.

 Generally speaking , Byzantine art forms are composed of two main elements. lts primary characteristic is that fmds its source in religion. The second chief characteristic is that it developed as an aristocratic art form among the royal circle.

 There are very unique examples of Byzantine architecture found in its capitol city of Constantinople and in other cities in Anatolia. The advancement of sculpture went hand-in-hand with the advancement of architecture. Besides architecture and sculpture, there are many excellent examples of painting, handicrafts, gold enameled work, and pottery which were left to us by the Byzantines

 Byzantium means Istanbul

 The first thing one thinks of when hearing the word "Byzantium" is Constantinople, or Istanbul as it is known today. For years upon years Istanbul was encircled by Byzantium walls, and these walls are actually one of the leading examples of Byzantium architecture. The greatest part of these walls is still standing today. It was base of these walls that the city was able to withstand the siege of the Avar, the Arabs, the Bulgarians, the Sassanids, the Russian and the Ottoman armies. The walls are decorated with towers. The portion of the walls which stretches from the Marmara Sea to the Tekfur Palace has 96 large towers. The walls have seven large gates other than the additional entryways used from military purposes. The gates to the city are Edirnekapi, Sulukule kapisi, Topkapi, Mevlevihane Kapi, Silivrikapi, Belgrade Kapi, and Yedikule Kapisi. According to some historians these walls are similar to the Hittite walls which surrounded the capitol of Hattusa.

 Unchanging Byzantine Elements

 The most important area in Constantinople was the Field of Augustinian. Today the Field of Augustinian consists of the park in front of the Hagia Sophia, and the Hippodrome off to the side which today is the site of the German Fountain and the park which then stretches down towards the sea. Several Byzantine monuments, including the Byzantine Palace, used to be situated in this area. The Hippodrome within the Field of Augustinian was initially only used for chariot races. Gradually, however, this area began to be used for other social functions. The construction of the Hippodrome was begun in the preByzantine period by the Roman emperor, Septimus Severus, and it was completed during the period of Constantine, the first emperor of the Byzantines. Some of the remains of this work can be seen today. Three monuments in the center of this field still remain in place.The first of these monuments is the obelisk in the Sultanahmet Square. This pink granite stone was carved for the Egyptian pharaoh, Tutmosis III, as a symbol of victory and the stone is inscribed with hieroglyphics. Constantine brought this obelisk to Istanbul in the year 330. It lay on the ground for sixty years until Teodosius had it erected and gave it its present form. The immensity of the feat of transporting this stone is immediately understood when it is viewed in its upright position.

 Near this obelisk stands the Burmese Column. This column was built to stand before the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and symbolizes the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. This monument actually had three legs, but 1,500 years ago the Byzantine Emperor Constantine had one of these legs brought to Istanbul and erected on this site.

 The remaining third monument is a obelisk which has had its bronze covering ripped away. Another monument that used to stand in this area was a sculpture of four horses. This monument was taken from Istanbul to Venice and today this four-horsed figure with gold ornamentations stands before the church of San Marco in Venice.

 Not far away is found the Cemberlitas or the "Hooped Column." This column is one of the most important examples of Byzantine art and it was constructed of various blocks placed one on the other. When it was first made, it bore the of the statue of the Emperor Constantine dressed as Apollo. It is known that the stone uprighted when it was stuck by lightening. Its statue having been demolished, the Emperor Manuel Komnenos had it plated with marble and it remains like this today. Two more monuments of the Byzantine period are the Kiztasi (The Girl's Stone) in the Faith neighborhood. This obelisk was built to honor the Emperor Marcianus. Another monument stands in Sarayburnu and this was built in memory of Cerrahpasa Arkadius.

 The Byzantines in Anatolia

 Even though the Byzantines were almost a city-state in the last period of their Empire, many traces of the early period Byzantine Empire can be found in Anatolia. One of these is the palace found along the Izmir-Kemalpasa road. This multi-storied structure resembles the Tekfur Palace. In terms of their style of decoration, the home and chapel of the Mother Mary and other churches found in this region are almost small copies of the churches of Istanbul. The Church of the Mother Mary in Bulbuldagi near Izmir is also important as a pilgrimage site. It is widely believed that Mary spent her last years in this city and that she died in this mountain cottage. Many Christians make the pilgrimage to this site every year

 Remains of certain Byzantine castles can be spotted in various areas of Thrace. The ones still considered intact are those at Silivri, Enez, Vize, and Kiyikoy. Another Byzantine ruin in Vize is the Vize Church. This structure was later converted to a mosque and, while its name was changed to the Suleyman Pasa Camii, it is still remembered as the Hagia Sophia.

 Today only a small section of the castle built by the Emperor Hadrian in Edirne is still standing, although most of the building was still intact during the past century. Another Byzantine masterpiece of Edirne is the clover-shaped Church of the Hagia Sophia. Unfortunately, the only remains we have of that structure is a faded photograph. Only the ruins of the Enez Cathedral remain to be seen in Enez. Built in the shape of the Greek cross, the western side of this structure is longer than the other sides, giving the building a Basilica-like apparent. Another ruin is the church dating from 1345 in Silivri. This church was built by Alexios Apokaukos who was later to be lynched.

 The ancient city of Midye (Kiyikoy) crossing the Sakarya River. According to was built on a clifftop of the Black Sea. Here today are the ruins of a monastery, church, and sacred fountain. The church is a very important and unique structure in that it was built within the hollowed out cliff, and has, itself, a cliff-like appearance. The Byzantines constructed a number of buildings and towers in the area of the Izmit Bay which were used for military purposes. The Eskisehir Tower in Gebze is probably in the best condition today. This tower was built on a site allowing it to control both the road and the sea. According to some researchers, this tower is where Mikhael Palaiologos VIII was imprisoned by the Niceaen Prince Ionnes Lakaris IV after the prince blinded him and stripped him of the throne. The Coban Tower overlooking a hill on the Yalova-Niceae Road is also a Byzantine remnant. Another example of Byzantine architecture is the Dark Church near Yalova.

 One of the other very important architectural works of this people is the bridge crossing the Sakarya River.According to the writer Prakopios,"The Justinian Bridge was built over the Sakarya River by the Emperor Justinian and through the power of Divine Intercedence." This twelve-arched bridge is 430 meters long.

 Other important Byzantine remains can be found in the city of Nicaea (Iznik). During the thirteen-century crusade, a period in which the Empire was in the process of disintegration, Nicaea became the capitol of a Byzantine Principality and it was surrounded by Roman walls. One side of these walls faced the land, while the others rested against the cliffs.

 The rooms within some of the large towns of the walls were decorated with fresco painted by artists of that period. The Hagia Sophis Basilica stands in the middle of the city. This structure was badly damaged in the eleventh century by an earthquake and was then restored. The floors of this cathedral are covered with very fine mosaics. The other church in Nicaea is the Koimesis Church. This church was damaged during the last days of the War of Independence in a battle between the Turks and the Greeks. Only photographs remain of the former mosaics. There are enough remains however to understand the basic plan of the church.

 One of the Byzantine remains in the Aegean area is the Sardes Basilica. Ephesus was also an important center for the Byzantines. The Mother Mary replaced the goddess Artemis as a figure of supplication. The Basilica of the Mother Mary was built over an ancient structure in the year 431 AD. During the 7th century AD, certain hermits traveled from the Sinai and built chapels along the shores of the Bafa Lake and on its tiny islands. A tiny chapel remains on the Kahve Asar island. This chapel was built according to the plan of the Greek cross and its eastern side is decorated with bricks. Monasteries are found in the Ikiz and Kapikiri Islands. There are also remnants of the Styles and Yediler monasteries in the nearby mountains.It is believed that St.Paul lived here. In Byzantine sources it writes that the monastery at Yediler is the Kellibaron Monastery.

 Byzantine Remnants in Ankara

 Ankara's symbol, its tower, is a structure built by the Byzantines in the ninth century. Also to be found in Ankara is the church that was constructed out of the remains of the Temple of Augustus. It is also believed that the Afyon Tower which was constructed on the rocks in a remnant of the Byzantine period. In Cappadocia there are many rock-hewn chapels, churches, and hermit's retreats dating from the earliest period of   Christianity and, then, also used by the Byzantines. Most of these structures have frescoes in them. Some of these depict Saint Helen, Constantine, and Saint George. The church of the monastery in Eskigumus has been decorated with great attention to detail. Numerous wall paintings can be seen in the Ihlara Valley. One of the very unique characteristics of this region is the underground cities. One of these underground cities is at the town of Derinkuyu. The city was built by hollowing out floors upon floors of stone and quite surprising techniques were used to provide fresh air and a system of locks. Another underground city is Godet which is in the Yarimkale-Karaman region near Kirsehir.

 Trabzon is another important Byzantine center in Anatolia. Trabzon utilized unique regional building techniques. Today, however, only one wall with two windows remains of the Commenos Palace. The religious buildings of this area have been better preserved. One of these is the Church of St. Anne which carries an inscription stating that the church was repaired by the emperor Basileos I in 885. The building today which is known as the Ortahisar Mosque was the church of St. Eugene in the Byzantine period. The Hagia Sophia church was built outside the city proper in the thirteen century. The bell tower of the church has been very well preserved. The interior of this bell tower is decorated with frescoes dating from the fifteenth century. Two of the most important remains from the Byzantine period are the Kizlar Monastery built in the hills above Trabzon and the Boztepe hermit caves which were hollowed out of the rocks. The most important of all of the Byzantine ruins of this region, however, is the Sumela Monastery. First the cliffs of the mountain were hollowed out to be used as a church and then this complex was developed into a monastery. This construction took place in the fourteenth century during the Commenos period.

 Aphrodisias and Hierapolis

 One of the best preserved ancient cities is the city of Aphrodisias near Aydin. The city of Aphrodisias contains a clovershaped church dating from the Byzantine period. A crypt is found in the adjacent cemetery which is strongly believed to be that of a saint. In an excavation done in Aphrodisias in 1961 a palace believed to be the seat of a Cardinal was discovered at a site near the ancient odeon. The palace is in the shape of a three-leafed clover consists of numerous rooms and salons and has a very luxurious bath made of seven shades of blue marble.

 One of the important cities of the Byzantine period is the city of Hierapolis at Pamukkale. The nave of the basilica found here has been divided by columns and this structure was most likely a cathedral. It is believed that the side naves were roofed by cradle vaults. The middle nave was made up of three sections, all covered with domes. This city had a setond basilica as well. This basilica stood outside the city walls and strongly resembles the Roman Maxentius Basilica with its three naves. Excavations carried out at the Necropol by an Italian team have unearthed the remains of an octangular structure having a diameter of twenty meters and covering a 60-62 square meter area. This building was built at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD and is accepted to be the Cathedral of St.Philip the Martyr

 Santa Claus

 Demre, lying on the shore of the Mediterranean is a very important center of Christianity. There is a church here called the Church of St.Nicholas. Two conflicting suppositions are made of this St.Nicholas. The first of these is that this St.Nicholas was the actual founder of the Russian Empire. The second supposition and one believed by many westerners is that this St. Nicholas is the saint known as Santa Claus. According to excavations this structure dates to the sixth century and consists of a basilica shaped building with naves divided by pillars and with the middle nave divided into three large square areas. Side naves are again divided into even small areas. In the eighth century the church known today was built over the remains of the earlier structure while benefiting from some of the materials and parts of the first. In 1862 the Russians hired a German architect to restore this building. In place of the traditional Byzantine dome, he roofed the structure with an altogether untypical ribbed arch. Recently, a new segment of the original structure was found under a layer of mud at the entry of the building; in niches of this room archaeologists discovered various decorated crypts. It is believed that one of these is the tomb of St.Nicholas, or Santa Claus. Some element of frescoes and round floor mosaic were also discovered on the walls of the church during the course of excavation. Another center of Byzantine culture in this region was Ksantos near present-day Fethiye. Among the ruins of this then highly-populated area are ruins of a church. There is also the ruin of a large monastery at the site of the town's ancient Roman acropolis. The sacred site of Letoon lies on the further banks of the Ksantos River and a few miles inland from the sea.

 The Influence of the Church

 The power of the emperor and the power of the church developed in parallel fashion.As the emperor became more powerful, the church, the owner of the land, also gained in power. When the Latin an the Eastern Church of Constantine separated, the patriarch of Constantinople had thirty metropolitans (cardinals and 450 bishops attached to it). The church was powerful, both in the government and among the people. The patriarch was selected by the emperor. The emperor, in turn, was crowned by the patriarch. When he empire began to lose power in the eleventh century, the church also began to weaken. By the time of the defeat of the Byzantines to the Ottomans, the number of bishops had decreased to sixty seven.

 The names of the works that I have mentioned, or have not mentioned here have certainly left their mark upon Anatolia and they have left remains of their civilization which make themselves felt in every region of the country. 

 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
( A CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE )

 The Turks in the Islamic World before 1300

830-850, Turkish mercenaries from Central Asia found in service of Abbasid caliphs

 850-905, Tulunids (Turkish generals) rule Egypt virtually independently of the Abbasids

 900, Samanids rule in eastern Persia and borderlands of Turkistan; Turks are exposed to Persianate Islamic culture; preparation far incorporation of Turks into main body of Middle Eastern Islamic civilization

 10thc. , term ”sultan” (Arabic abstract noun meaning ”sovereign authority”) begins to be used to designate rulers

 c.1000 , Ghaznavids establish rule in Afghanistan, break Samanid power, and expand into Persia below Oxus River; champions of Sunni Islam within a predominantly Persian cultural context

 1040, Seljuks take Khorasan from Ghaznavids; soon control most of Persia with center at Isfahan; from there advance to defeat Buwayhids (Shi’i Persians) who had dominated Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad for a century

 1055, Seljuk sultans become de facto rulers in Abbasid Baghdad; two centuries of turmoil is ended and unity restored in eastern Islamic region; Persia and Mesopotamia are reunited and northern Syria added to the ”Great Seljuk” state

 1071 , Battle of Manzikert ( Malazgirt ) a decisive victory for Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan over Byzantines; break Byzantine line of defense in Eastern Anatolia; Turkish-speaking Muslims raid and settle in area now known as ”Turkey”; much of the Greek/ Christian veneer of indigenous Anatolian population gradually replaced by a Turkish/Muslim veneer

 1092 , death of Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah and his great vizier, Nizam al-Mulk; dynastic strife ensues

 1118, Seljuk Empire splits into principalities ruled by princes of the family, often over- shadowed by their ”atabeys” ( tutor guardians )

 12^th c. , Seljuks of Rum ( Konya, Anatolia ) rule centra1 Anatolian plateau with center at Konya (Iconium) .

 1204 , Byzantium fatally weakened by 4^th. Crusade and Latin occupation

 c.1200 , high point of Seljuks of Rum; by absorption of smaller Turkish principalities (beyliks), Seljuks extend their jurisdiction to south coast of Anatolia; Turkish nomads (”gazis”) active in western border/march region adjacent to Byzantium

 1243, Mongols under Hulagu Khan move west, defeat Selcuk Sultan Kaykhusrav II, and establish overlordship in Seljuk Anatolia

 1258, Mongols conquer Baghdad and bring Abbasid Caliphate to an end  Later 13^th c., Turkish Anatolia fragmented as Mongol control weakens and is withdrawn; many small principalities ( beyliks ) emerge, one of them led by Osman (Turkish form of the Arabic/Muslim name, Uthmm; European corruption of Osman is Ottoman) in northwest Anatolia (around Iznik and Bursa) adjacent to Byzantine territories.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1071-1300, Anatolia witnesses swift military penetration, ragged political conquest, partial and superficial cultural/linguistic conquest by Muslim Turks who, in their upper ranks were carriers of Persianate Muslim culture. That group was small in number but powerful . Below them, Turkish-speaking Muslims mix with indigenous population. Folk culture and folk religion often at odds with high culture and Islamic orthodoxy represented by the religious and political elite in the society

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

The Ottomans: Anatolian March Principality, 1300-1366

 1299-1324 , Osman I Gazi. Establishes rule around Bursa in NW Anatolia  1324-1360 , Orhan I Gazi. Crosses into Balkans in 1345 as ally of Byzantine Emperor, John Cantacuzenus, against Serbs; marries his daughter, Theodora; 1353, John C. Again calls in Orhan and this time Ottomans stay; set up base at Gallipoli; JohnC. seeks help from Bulgars and Serbs against Ottomans but they refuse; John C. abdicates (1354 ) and is succeeded by John Palaeologus. Ottoman capital at Bursa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ottomans: Balkan Kingdom, 1365-1403

1350-1389, Murat I. Successful campaign in Thrace obliges John V, Palaelogus, to recognize capture of Philippopolis and Adrianople (Edirne) and to agree to become Ottoman vassal (1363); Murat moves Ottoman capital to Edirne in 1366; origins of Janissary Corps and the devshirme probably date to Murat’s reign. King Sisman of Bulgaria defeated, accepts vassal status in 1379; Serbs defeated and dynasty of Stephen Dusban ended; John V appeals to Christian Europe but gets no help; his vassaldom deepens, must render military service to sultan and give over his son as hostage far punctual performance of his obligations; Macedonia is conquered; completion of subjugation of Bulgaria and Serbia; Sofia falls in 1385; one last concerted effort by Balkan Slavs against Ottomans at Battle of Kossovo (1389) ends in complete Ottoman victory, but during the battle Sultan Murat assassinated by a Serb pretending to be a traitor, Milosh Obilic. Murat’s son, Bayezit, assumes command and immediately executes his brother to avoid possibility of a dynastic struggle.

1389-1403, Bayezit I, Yildirim(The Thunderbolt). Bayezit takes the throne and finishes off the victory at Kossovo, captures and executes Lazar (last Serbian tsar) whose daughter, Despina, becomes a wife of the Ottoman sultan. 1393, Bulgarian dynasty is extinguished and Bulgarian patriarchate ended; Bulgarian lands are absorbed and Bulgarian church reduced to dependence on Greek patriarchate at Byzantium. 1394, Pope Boniface IX proclaims crusade at urging of King Sigismund of Hungary; led by Sigismund, Catholic forces are defeated by Ottomans in Battle of Nikopolis (1396). With no effective resistance remaining, Ottomans conquer most of Greece and southern Albania. The Balkans, except for the immediate areas around Constantinople, Athens, and Salonika and the extreme southern Morea are ruled by Bayezit from his capital at Edirne. Administrative structure strengthened and centralized through elaboration of tahrir-defter (cadastral survey-record books) system based on military fiefs (timars). Expansion of Ottoman rule eastward over Anatolian principalities through combination of diplomacy, dynastic marriages, and military expeditions brings Ottomans into conflict with Timur Leak (Tamerlane) who invades Anatolia and challenges Bayezit at battle of Ankara in 1402. Bayezit is defeated, captured, dies in captivity in 1403.

The Ottomans: From Ankara to Constantinople, 1403 - 1453

 1403-1413, dynastic struggle; civil war among Bayezit’s sons; Suleyman and Musa eventually killed; Mehmet emerges as victor; Christians fail to take advantage of this opportunity to throw off Ottoman rule. 1413-1421, Mehmet I, the Restorer. Devotes his energy to reunification of Ottoman lands and reconsolidation of sultan’s authority; European territories kept fairly intact and most Anatolian provinces recovered; avoiding unnecessary foreign conflicts, Mehmet provides a breathing period in which to heal wounds and reintegrate previous conquests.

 1421-1451, Murat II. A strange combination of worrier and saintly recluse. Resumes expansion in Europe; wars with Venice; Salonika falls; Ottomans occupy most of

 Albania and Epirus. War with Hungary provokes another crusade against Ottomans; coalition of Hungary, Poland, Bosnia, Wallachia, and Serbia led by the Hungarian, John Hunyadi, wins a victory; Murat signs ten-year truce at Szegedin (1444 ), voluntarily abdicates in favor of his 14-year-old son, Mehmet, and retires to life of religious study and contemplation. Hungarians, encouraged by the Papacy, break truce and renew crusade; Murat comes out of seclusion, resumes throne, and defeats crusaders at Varna. Four years later (1448 ), in second Battle of Kossovo, Murat defeats Hunyadi who has again invaded Serbia, ending any serious threat from Hungary; Albania, under Scanderbeg, continues to resist. The essentially conservative policy of Murat’s reign reflects the influence of the Jandarli viziers.

 1451 - 1481, Mehmet II, Fatih (The Conqueror). Fall of Constantinople in 1453 only the beginning of an aggressive policy of conquest; capital moved from Edirne to Istanbul; shift of political power from provincial notables and feudal lords to the sultan’s slaves (kapikullari); the Palace School and the organization of religious education through the medrese system; elaborate court and expanded bureaucracy; the imperial tradition is firmly established and the classical age of the Ottoman Empire has begun. War with Serbia, aided by Hungary; Hunyadi and the Serbian king, Brankovich, both die in 1457; family quarrels over succession; one claimant appeals to Pope for aid, offering to make Serbia a papal dependency; people declare they prefer rule of Muslim Sultan to Catholic Pope and open their cities to Mehmet; Serbian independence ends in 1459. Ottomans invade Bosnia in 1453; Bosnian nobles refuse to support Catholic king, Stephen, and hand over fortresses to Mehmet, many converting to Islam at the same time, thus beginning the process which ultimately sees most Bosnians become Muslims. Herzegovina is occupied a year or so later, and Albania is absorbed following Skanderbeg’s death in 1467. War with Venice ends in 1479 with the Venetians giving up Scutari (Uskudar) and other stations on the coast and agreeing to pay a tribute for permission to trade in the Black Sea. In 1480, an Ottoman force occupies Otranto in southern Italy, causing panic throughout the Catholic Europe. Mehmet besieges Rhodes (1480-81), held by the Knights of St. John, a relic of the Crusades, but dies before the siege is successful

 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

 The Classical Age, 1453-1600

 1481-1512, Bayezit II. A man of intellectual tastes but the least significant of the first ten Ottoman sultans; comes to the throne with the support of the Janissaries; his position challenged by younger brother, Jem, who has himself proclaimed sultan at Bursa; in the ensuing civil war, Jem is defeated, flees to Egypt, then to Rhodes; Knights of St. John send him to France; Jem dies at Naples under suspicious circumstances in 1495. In 1489, Venetians get Cyprus by bequest from its Catholic ruler; leads to resumption of Ottoman-Venetian wars; Ottoman fleet commanded by Kemal Reis defeats Venetians; Ottoman cavalry aids within sight of Venice; Venetians sue for peace, lose more trade stations, but keep control of some lonian Islands. Otherwise, another period of respite making possible consolidation of recent conquests, internal reforms, regularization of the financial systems, and expansion of economic and commercial life

 1512-1520. Selim I, Yavuz (The Grim). Forces his father to abdicate after a civil war among Bayezit’s sons; Selim defeats his brother, Ahmet, in Anatolia and has him executed in1513; resumption of expansionist policy; rise of Safavi dynasty in Persia; war against Ismail Safavi who had supported Ahmet; political rivalry accentuated by religious differences (Sunni Ottomans, Shi’i Safavis); Battle of Chaldiran, 1514, a victory for Selim; occupies Tabriz but obliged to withdraw when Janissaries object to further advance; Selim subdues Eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan in 1515, provoking the Mamluks; 1515, Selim embarks on second campaign against Persia, is diverted by Mamluk Sultan Kansu al- Gauri, ally of the Safavis; defeats Mamluks in battle near Aleppo in which Mamluk sultan is killed; Aleppo and Damascus surrender to Selim who offers peace to new sultan, Tuman Bey’, on condition he accept Ottoman suzerainty; offer is refused and Selim’s army moves against Egypt. Cairo falls on Jan. 22, 1517; Tuman Bey executed but Mamluks continue to be a powerful force in Ottoman Egypt. Last Abbasid ”Shadow Caliph” Mutavakkil is sent to Istanbul but returns to Cairo after Selim’s death. Sherif of Mecca acknowledges Ottoman suzerainty; Ottoman sultan assumes responsibility for the two Holy Cities and the pilgrimage routes. Expansion of Ottoman fleet; continuing rivalry in Mediterranean with Venice. Beginnings of unrest in Anatolia known as the Jelali Revolts.

 1520-1556, Suleyman I, Kanuni (The Lawgiver, The Magnificent). Suleyman’s reign marks the zenith of Ottoman grandeur and power. Conquest of Hungary and Baghdad; expansion across North Africa to Morocco; naval supremacy in the Mediterranean and naval operations in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean; capitulations (commercial treaties) with European states; alliance with Francis I of France against the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V; first Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529; further development and regularization of law, administration, medrese education; the nakkashhane and patronage of the arts; the master architect, Sinan Pasha; Hurrem Sultan vs. Gulbahar Hatun, harbinger of the ”Sultanate of the Women”; population explosion (from about 12 million to about 22 million) leading to or exacerbating social and economic problems; revolts with imperial princes implicated; Sulayman dies while on a final campaign in Hungary.

 1566 - 1574, Selim II, Sarhosh (The Sot). Incompetence of ruler permits political dominance of Grand Vezir Mehmet Sokollu; conquest of Cyprus from the Venetians, reestablishment of the Cypriot Orthodox Patriarchate, and the repopulation of the island; Battle of Lepanto (1571), nava1 defeat of Ottomans by fleets of the Holy League; the Ottoman Empire has reached the limit of its geographical expansion.

 1574 - 1595, Murat III. Last of the Ottoman sultans to have had training and experience in military and administrative matters before taking the throne; growing power of the women of the Imperial Harem; death of Mehmet Sokollu (1579) marks end of period of relative stability at the center of the Ottoman system; wars with the Hapsburgs and with Persia; shifting trade routes, influx of New World silver, inflation, and other factors precipitate economic crisis at the end of the 16^th c.; decentralization follows in17th and 18^th centuries as Ottoman statesmen respond to new challenges, both domestic and foreign

 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

1600-1923 :Ottoman history from 1566 -1792 has been described as ”The Decline of Faith and State.” To Ottomans, " decline ” meant dislocation of the traditional order; hence, ” reforms " to check or reverse " decline " meant restoring the old order which had produced the Golden Age of Suleyman the Magnificent.” At times decline was checked but only temporarily. Decline was not only slow, gradual, interrupted, lasting rnore than three centuries, but also it was relative only to its own Golden Age and to the remarkable progress of its Christian European neighbors. It is easier to describe decline than to explain it. Some developments which the Ottoman Empire did not take part in gave Europe its relative superiority.

 [ 1 ] Its 16th-10th c. commercial expansion overseas enriched Western Europe to the detriment of the Ottomans.

 [ 2 ] The West improved agricultural methods while technology and industry advanced rapidly, all tied to the new scientific experimentation and rationalist attitudes stemming from the Renaissance and Reformation and culminating in the Enlightenment; only weak echoes of these events reached the East before 1800.

 [ 3 ] Strong, centralized, national monarchies or bureaucratic empires appeared not only in Western Europe but also along the Ottoman frontiers in Central and Eastern Europe just when centrifugal forces were weakening the previously centralized Ottoman bureaucratic empire.

 [ 4 ] A prosperous,enterprising bourgeoisie on the Western model failed to appear in the Ottoman Empire to back up the ruler; the wealthy bourgeoisie which did exist was small and composed largely of either non-Muslim merchants and bankers, who were not acceptable as the sultan’s allies, or bureaucrats, who were a part of the "establishment ” anxious to protect their own interests and often resisting change.

 The Ottomans were more conscious of the dislocations in their own traditional system:

 [ 1 ] Leadership : 17 sultans after Suleyman ( from1566 to 1789) were, with few exceptions, men of little ability, training, or experience, and some were incompetent, even mentally defective; their average rule of 13 years was less than half that of the first 10 sultans. This was no accident! Mehmed III died in 1605 leaving two minor sons as the only direct male survivors. The elder, Ahmet I, spared the life of his brother, Mustafa, but kept him secluded in a special apartment in the harem of Topkapi Palace. The Sitva Torok treaty with Austria (1606) should have been a wake-up call for the Ottomans. It was a negotiated compromise rather than a grant of peace dictated by the sultan; in it, the Hapsburg monarch finally was recognized as the sultan’s peer, as " Emperor” (Padishah rather than simply King of Vienna.” Mustafa I’s accession in 1617 marked the end of ”succession by military contest and the practice of royal ” fratricide,” replaced by confinement of princes in the palace and succession by the eldest male of the imperial family. Not only were most inexperienced and incompetent, many were minors under the influence of the Queen Mother (Valide Sultan) and harem favorites, giving rise to palace cliques and intrigue. For several decades in the first half of the17.th century, women of the palace exercised such influence that the period is called " The Sultanate of the Women "

 [ 2 ] Bribery, purchase of office, favoritism, nepotism : Promotion by merit, long the hallmark of Ottoman administration, became less common. Corruption spread to the provinces where an official would buy his office, then squeeze more taxes from the populace to reimburse himself. There were frequent shifts in judicial as well as civil officials, with justice also sometimes for sale. In the mid-to-late 17th c., the great Koprulu family of viziers attempted to root out corruption and improve administrative and military efficiency. They were temporarily successful in arresting " decline " through traditional reforms, and in 1663 Ottoman forces besieged Vienna for the second time. But in the 17th c., the Ottomans were confronted by an extended arc of opponents, Venice, Austria, Poland, Russia, and Iran, often obliged to confront several at once. In 1699, after defeat by a coalition of all Central and East European powers, the Ottomans accepted mediation, negotiated peace, and, by the Treaty of Karlowitz, for the first time gave up territories in the Balkans. The shrinking of Ottoman frontiers had begun.

 [ 3 ] Military  : The devshirme was abandoned ( just when is uncertain ); sons of janissaries were admitted to the corps, then other Muslims; and imperial slavery became a legal fiction.” Provincial janissaries sometimes acted as semi-autonomous local rulers, while in Istanbul they become a disruptive force, often in collaboration  with artisans / craftsmen and students. The provincial cavalry army was made obsolete by musket-armed European troops, requiring the Ottomans to increase their standing infantry and equip them with firearms. This required money. The military fief system was all but abandoned and replaced by tax-farming. The heavy tax burden was responsible in part for revolts in Anatolia, abandonment of farm lands, and depopulation of villages; thus the empire experienced a decline in tax revenues despite higher taxes.

 [ 4 ] Economics  : The Ottoman Empire suffered from severe inflation, as did all of Europe, as New World silver flooded in. This, together with debased coinage, fueled corruption. By the 17th c., Europeans and consolidated their control of new sea trade routes, by-passing the Middle East and diminishing the transit trade through Ottoman lands. Asian spices were shipped directly to Europe, and wars with Iran interrupted the silk trade. European manufactured goods flowed in, undercutting local handicraft products and enriching Levantine merchants. The Ottoman Empire’s unfavorable trade balance resulted in an outflow of gold, while European states demanded more favorable trade treaties ( ”Capitulations" ) and were guilty of blatantly abusing them.

 [ 5 ] Intellectual decline--Selim and Suleyman’s 16th c. victory over Safavid Shi’ism so consolidated Sunni orthodoxy that Muslims in the Empire were not forced to engage in intellectually challenging and stimulating conflict as Catholics and Protestants were in Europe. Muslim scholars became intellectually conservative and resistant to new ideas; convinced of the superiority of Muslim / Ottoman civilization, they were seemingly oblivious to the advances being made in the infidel West. Meanwhile, the Ottoman religious establishment gradually became infiltrated by the Sufi orders, producing a new sort of symbiosis which gave greater strength to conservative religious” elements.

 In the18th c. more wars and losses resulted in another attempt at reforms. The Tulip Period  ( 1718-30 )   marks the first conscious borrowing of European culture and art. During the mid-century interlude of peace on the European frontiers, Ottoman political authority was further diffused. Provincial notables and governors barely heeded orders from Istanbul. Levantines and Phanariot Greeks enjoyed enormous prosperity and influence. The Muslim religious elite reached the apex of their power. In the last quarter of the century, Catherine the Great resumed Russian expansion southward; her ” Greek Scheme " aimed to put her grandson, Constantine, on the throne of a neo-Byzantine Empire with its capital at Constantinople. Her first war ended in the Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarca (1774) by which the Ottomans gave up the Crimea, the first time they had lost territory inhabited primarily by Muslims. In 1789, during the second war with Catherine, Selim lll became sultan and initiated a reform program called the New Order, (Nizam-i Cedid) with emphasis on military and fiscal reform. But Selim’s failure to prevent Napoleon’s invasion of the rich Ottoman province of Egypt in 1798 revealed to Europeans as never before that the balance of power had now shifted decidedly in their favor.

 The Imperial reforms begun by Selim III were taken up again in the early decades of the 19th.c. by Sultan Mahmud II. They aimed at curbing provincial autonomy and achieving political centralization and modernization through Western-style military, administrative, and fiscal reforms. But European intervention in the Greek struggle for independence signaled the beginning of the modern " Eastern Question ” (Simply put : Who would divide the spoils when the Ottoman Empire collapsed ? ). To counter this, the Tanzimat period (1839-76) saw reforms center around a new concept of justice (adalet): equality before the law for all Ottoman subjects, Muslim and non- Muslim alike. This concept was fundamental to the prevalent ideology of the Tanzimat, Ottomanism ( patriotism but not yet nationalism). In the 1850s-60s, intellectuals known as the New Ottomans” engaged in a liberal critique of Tanzimat policies with emphasis on fatherland (vatan), freedom (hurriget), and constitutionalism. The Tanzimat reforms culminated in the constitution and parliament of 1876, but the 1877-78 war with Russia and the Treaty of Berlin, by which most of the Ottoman lands in Europe were lost and the European powers laid claim to spheres of influence in the Middle East, allowed Sultan Abdulhamid II to bring an end to " liberalism” and proceed with reforms under an autocratic- regime. By the 1880s Germany under Kaiser Wilhelrn had replaced France and Great Britain as friend and military advisor of the Ottoman Empire, and new ideologies were challenging Ottomanism. Abdulhamid embraced Pan-Islamism; his opponents, known collectively as Young Turks, were drawn to a secular Ottoman pseudo-nationalism and some to Pan-Turkism.

 the Hamidian despotism was ended by the Young Turk Revolution(1908-09) and replaced by constitutional, parliamentary government under the Young Turk Committee of Union and Progress. Their policies reflected a growing sense of Turkish nationalism. But in the five years preceding World War I, two Balkan wars and a war with Italy, which had invaded Libya, brought the military element of the Young Turk movement to the fore and resulted in the domination of the Istanbul political scene by the Young Turk Triumverate ( Enver, Talat, and Jemal Pashas) . Under their leadership, the Ottomans entered World War I on the side of Germany. The victors dictated the peace to end all peace at Paris in 1919. With even the heartlands of the Empire partitioned and Istanbul occupied by the victorious allies, the Turks of Anatolia under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) rejected the terms of the dictated Treaty of Sevres. Again they took up arms, fought successfully for their independence, and --- bringing to an end the 600 + year-old Ottoman Empire –- negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 which granted international recognition to the boundaries of the new Republic of Turkey

 Ataturk and the Modernization of Turkey

 Ataturk is the national hero of Turkey. He founded the modern Turkish Republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire; an empire that was seen as the sick man of Europe at the turn of the century. His modern perspective created a new nation and a country, and a secular state understanding different from most other Islamic countries was introduced by him. Once you step in Turkey, you will see his statues and the busts all over. One of the best books written about Ataturk from a foreigner's point of view is the book titled " The Rebirth of a Nation" by Lord Kinross.

 He was born in the year 1881 in Thessaloniki, at that time, within the Ottoman Empire's borders at that time, in Greece at present . His full name was Mustafa Kemal and the Ataturk surname, meaning the father of Turks, was given to him by the Turkish people (1934 November 24th.) in accordance with the reforms he introduced to create a modern Turkish country.

 His background was military, and he served in various posts in the Ottoman army. During the First World War , he was the colonel in charge of Infantry at Gallipoli in 1915 and it was his genious defense tactics that prevented the allied forces ( British, French, Anzacs - Australians and New Zealenders and Senegalese) from capturing the Dardanelles and eventually Bosphorus.

 His success and fast growing reputation disturbed the capital and to keep him under control he was promoted to Pasha ( General ). When the War ended the armies of the allied forces occupied nearly all corners of the country including Istanbul. Sultan and many of the people saw a hopeful future in the acceptance of either the British or American mandate. Ataturk, however, had a very different vision. He left Istanbul in a small boat, namely Bandirma ( a nice model of the boat may be seen at the Ataturk Museum in Ataturk's Mausoleum, Ankara), going ashore at Samsun, a coastal town in the Black Sea, on the 19th. of May 1919 ( a date later to be presented by Ataturk to the Turkish Youth as the Turkish Youth Day), the day the War of Independence began. He wanted Independence.

 First with skirmishes , in time with proper army troops, Ataturk and his army friends' armies started fighting the enemy. Ankara was chosen to be Ataturk's headquarter for its central location and the seeds of a new country were planted there. He and his friends wanted to replace the Monarchy with a Republic. The War of Independence took some three years and by the end of the year 1922, all of the invaders had left the country. The Ottoman Sultan fled in a British boat. The birth of a new nation had begun.

 Ataturk's Revolutions

 Political Revolutions

 The Sultanete was abolished in 1922, November 1st.
The Republic was declared in 1923, October 29th.
The Caliphship was abolished in 1924, March 3rd.

 Social Reformations

 The hat as opposed to fez was introduced. (1925)
The activities of religious sects were banned by law. ( 1925)
Western calender was introduced. ( 1925)
International numeric system was introduced. ( 1928)
The Metric system was introduced. ( 1931)
The nicknames and personal titles were abolished.  ( 1934)
Religious attire was prohibited in public ( 1934). According to this law, religious personalities, irrespective of the religious groups they belong were not to wear religious attire in public but only in their sanctuaries.
The surname law.( 1934)
The modern secular system of jurisprudence is instead of religious law is integrated.( 1926)
The liberation of the women of Turkey by giving them political and social rights.
a) Rights brought with medeni kanun ( 1926)
b) Rights for women to be elected for the parliment

 Educational and Cultural Reformations

 Unity in Education ( 1924 )
Introduction and the acceptance of the Roman alphabeth. ( 1928 )
The foundation of Turkish History Institution
The foundation of Turkish Language Institution

 The Principles of Ataturk ( Kemalism)

 The doctrines of Ataturk or Kemalism is a system of thought based on the facts of Turkey. It is shaped with the will of the Turkish nation through a long historical background. Above all, Kemalism  is the introduction and the rendering of the rights to the nation. It is the expression of the national sovereignity.It is an attempt to reach the level of the modern civilizations, it is westernization, modernization. It requires to experience a modern social life, to establish a secular state, and to govern with a positive science mentality.
The principles of Kemalism can be viewed in two groups: "The Basic Principles" and "The Complementary Principles".

 The definition of the principles as Ataturk has expressed them:

 The Basic Principles

 Republicanism
Nationalism
Popularism
Etatism
Secularism
Revolutionism

 The Complementary Principles

 National Sovereignity
National Independance
National Unitiy and Togetherness
Peace at home Peace abroad
Modernization
Scientificism and Rationalism
Humanitarianism

 Ataturk's Address to the Turkish Youth

 Turkish youth!
Your first duty is to project and preserve the Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic forever . This is the very foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there may be malovelent people at home and abroad, who wish to deprive you of this treasure. If some day you are compelled to defend your independence and your republic, you must not tarry to weigh the possibilities and circumstances of the situation before taking up your duty. These possibilities and circumstances may turn out to be extremely unfavorable. The enemies conspiring against your independence and your Republic may have behind them a victory unprecedented in the annals of the world. By violence and ruse, all the fortresses of your beloved fatherland may be captured, all its shipyards occupied, all its armies dispersed and every part of the country invaved. And sadder and graver than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may identify their personal interests with the political designs of the invaders. The country may be impoverished, ruined and exhausted.

 You, the youth of Turkey's future, even in such circumstances, it is your duty to save the Turkish independence and Republic. The strength you need is in your noble blood within your veins