Black Sea - Kolbasti
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Black Sea - Turkey
Fatih Sultan Mehmet
“Fatih Sultan Mehmet” redirects here. For the bridge that spans the Bosphorus strait, see Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.
Mehmed II Khan
Ottoman Sultan
Conqueror Sultan Mehmed Khan,Kaizer-i Rum,Roman Emperor
Reigned: Ottoman Period
Full name Mehmed II Khan
Predecessor Murad II
Successor Murad II
Reign 1444–46
2nd Predecessor Murad II
2nd Successor Bayezid II
2nd Reign 1451–81
Mehmed II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد الثانى Meḥmed-i sānī, Turkish: II. Mehmet), (also known as el-Fatih (الفاتح), “the Conqueror”, in Ottoman Turkish, or, in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet) (March 30, 1432, Edirne – May 3, 1481, Hünkârcayırı, near Gebze) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm until the conquest) for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire. From this point onward, he claimed the title of Caesar in addition to his other titles. Therefore, he was also claiming the legacy of the Roman Empire.
Wives and children
He had several wives: Mehmet Aştı, Valide Sultan (1481) Amina Gul-Bahar, Gulbahār Khātun or Gulbahar Hatun, a Greek Orthodox woman[1] of Noble birth from the village of Douvera, Trabzon,[1] who died in 1492, Greek, the mother of Bayezid II, and Gevher Sultana; Gulshah Hatun; Sitti Mukrime Hatun[2]; Hatun Cicek; Helene Hatun, who died in 1481, daughter of Demetrios II Palaiologos, the Despot of Morea; briefly Anna Hatun, the daughter of the Emperor of Trebizond; and Hatun Alexias, a Byzantine princess. Another son of his was Djem Zizim, who died in 1495.
[edit] Early reign
Mehmed II was born in Edirne, the then-capital city of the Ottoman state, on March 30, 1432. His father was Sultan Murad II (1404–51) and his mother Valide Sultan (1432) Hüma Hatun, born in Devrekani county of Kastamonu province, was a daughter of Abd’Allah of Hum, Huma meaning a girl/woman from Hum. When Mehmed II was 11 years old he was sent to Amasya to govern and thus gain experience, as per the custom of Ottoman rulers before his time. After Murad II made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son Mehmed II.
During his first reign, Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne in anticipation of the Battle of Varna, but Murad II refused. Enraged at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote: “If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies.” It was upon this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army in the Battle of Varna in 1444.
It is said Murad II’s return to the throne was forced by Chandarli Khalil Pasha, the grand vizier at the time, who was not fond of Mehmed II’s rule, since Mehmed II’s teacher was influential on him and did not like Chandarli. Chandarli was later executed by Mehmed II during the siege of Constantinople on the grounds that he had been bribed by or had somehow helped the defenders.
He married , the mother of Bayezid II.
[edit] Conquest of Constantinople
Main article: Fall of Constantinople
Mehmed II enters Constantinople by Fausto Zonaro
In 1451 Mehmed II reclaimed the throne upon his father’s death. Two years later he brought an end to the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital during the siege of Constantinople.[3] After this conquest, he conquered the Despotate of Morea in the Peloponnese in 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia in 1461. The last two vestiges of Byzantine rule were thus absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country; the Ottoman state was internationally recognized as an Empire for the first time.
Steven Runciman recounts a story by the Byzantine historian Doukas, known for his colorful and dramatic descriptions,[4] in which Mehmed II, upon the conquest of Constantinople, was said to have ordered the 14-year old son of the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras brought to him for his personal pleasure. When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot. [5] Some modern scholars believe that this tale by Doukas is merely one of a long series of attempts to portray Muslims as morally inferior, and point to the story of Saint Pelagius as its probable inspiration.[6] The real reason for Loukas Notaras’ execution was probably the distrust of the Ottoman élite for the Byzantine officials.[7]
In another story, told by the Byzantine chronicler Laonicus Chalcondyles, Mehmed II is said to have taken Radu cel Frumos, at the time a hostage at the Ottoman court answering for his father, Vlad II Dracul’s good behavior, as beloved. Later, in 1462, Mehmed installed Radu as ruler of Wallachia after overthrowing the rule of his brother, Vlad III the Impaler.[8]
It is said that when Mehmed stepped into the ruins of the Boukoleon, known to the Ottomans and Persians as the Palace of the Caesars, probably built over a thousand years before by Theodosius II, he uttered the famous lines of Persian poetry:
The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars;
the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab.
After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed claimed the title of Caesar of Rome (Kayser-i Rûm), since Byzantium was what had become of the Roman Empire after the transfer of its capital to Constantinople in 330 AD. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family, as his predecessors like Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess. He was not the only ruler to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Frederick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by Pope Leo III in 800 - although never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire.
Reference is made to the prospective conquest of Constantinople in an authentic hadith, attributed to a saying of the Prophet Muhammad. “Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!”[9] Ten years after the conquest of Constantinople Mehmed II visited the site of Troy and boasted that he had avenged the Trojans by having conquered the Greeks (Byzantines)[10].
[edit] Conquests in Asia
The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to Anatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturing Turkish states called Beyliks and the Greek Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with the Golden Horde in the Crimea. Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan Bayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive Battle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into Europe.
Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the White Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership of Uzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the Republic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans and Karamanoğlu Tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Otlukbeli.
[edit] Conquests in Europe
Mehmed II advanced toward Eastern Europe as far as Belgrade, and attempted to conquer the city from John Hunyadi at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses but at the end, Ottomans occupied nearly all of Serbia.
In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the Bosnian kingdom, Mehmed invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king Stefan Tomašević.
He also came into conflict with and was defeated by his former vassal, Prince Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia in 1462 at the Night Attack. Then, Mehmed II helped Radu, the brother of Vlad, to take the revenge of the Ottoman military losses and Radu managed to take the control of Wallachia in the same year. Vlad lost all his power and escaped from his country.
In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands of Stephen the Great of Moldavia at the Battle of Vaslui. In 1476, Mehmed won a victory against Stephen at the Battle of Valea Albă and nearly destroyed all of the relatively small Moldovian army. Then, he sacked the capital of Suceava, but could not take the castle of Piatra Neamţ, nor the citadel of Suceava. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat as Stephen was reinforcing his army and Dracula, turning from exile, was marching with a 30,000-strong army to aid the Moldavians.
Mehmed II invaded Italy in 1480. The intent of his invasion was to capture Rome and “reunite the Roman Empire”, and, at first, looked like he might be able to do it with the easy capture of Otranto in 1480 but Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481 after the death of Mehmed.
A rebellion in Albania between 1443 and 1468 led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (İskender Bey), an Albanian noble and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, prevented the Ottoman expansion into the Italian peninsula. Skanderbeg had been sent to Albania as the highest representative of the Ottoman Empire in the region by Mehmed’s father Murad II, but he rebelled and united the Albanian princes in a fight against the Empire.
These military conflicts between the Ottomans and the European forces showed that the Ottoman presence in Europe was not a temporary situation. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Balkan forces were not completely surpassed by the Ottoman war machine, but could not stop it either.
[edit] Administrative actions
A profile that has been attributed to both Gentile Bellini and Costanzo da Ferrara.
Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. He first introduced the word Politics into Arabic “Siyasah” from a book he published and claimed to be the collection of Politics doctrines of the Byzantine Caesars before him. He gathered Italian artists, humanists and Greek scholars at his court, kept the Byzantine Church functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate the Christian faith into Turkish and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait.[3] He was extremely serious about his efforts to continue the Roman Empire, with him as its Caesar, and came closer than most people realize to capturing Rome and conquering Italy. Mehmed II also tried to get Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques e.g. the Fatih Mosque, waterways, and the Topkapı Palace.
Mehmed II’s reign is also well-known for the religious tolerance with which he treated his subjects, especially among the conquered Christians, which was very unusual for Europe in the Middle Ages. However, his army was recruited from the Devshirme. This group took Christian subjects at a young age. They were split up: those regarded as more able were destined for the sultans court, the less able but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan’s personal guard - the Janissaries.
Within the conquered city, Mehmed established a millet or an autonomous religious community, and he appointed the former Patriarch as essentially governor of the city. His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians of the city, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded the coming Muslim and Jewish settlers entirely. This method allowed for an indirect rule of the Christian Byzantines and allowed the occupants to feel relatively autonomous even as Mehmed II began the Turkish remodeling of the city, eventually turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s.
[edit] Details
Mehmed II spoke seven languages (including Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Latin) when he was 21 years old (the age at which he conquered Constantinople).[11][12] After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many universities and colleges in the city, some of which are still active. Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before Suleiman the Magnificent (also “the Lawmaker” or “Kanuni”) and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan (padishah). Mehmed II’s tomb is located at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul; the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge is also named after him.
He was poisoned by his doctors at Hünkârcayırı, near Gebze.
[edit] Mehmed II’s Firman on the Freedom of the Bosnian Franciscans
“I, the Sultan Khan the Conqueror,
hereby declare the whole world that,
The Bosnian Franciscans granted with this sultanate firman are under my protection. And I command that:
No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in the borders of my state.
No one from my empire notable, viziers, clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them!
No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people!
Also, what and those these people have brought from their own countries have the same rights…
By declaring this firman, I swear on my sword by the holy name of Allah who has created the ground and sky, Allah’s prophet Mohammed, and 124.000 former prophets that; no one from my citizens will react or behave the opposite of this firman!”
This oath firman, which has provided independence and tolerance to the ones who are from another religion, belief, and race was declared by Mehmed II the Conqueror and granted to Angjeo Zvizdovic of the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina after the conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 28th of 1463.[13][14] The firman has been recently raised and published by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman State. The edict was issued by the Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror to protect the basic rights of the Bosnian Christians when he conquered that territory in 1463. The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica.
It is one of the oldest documents on religious freedom. Mehmed II’s oath was entered into force in the Ottoman Empire on May 28, 1463. In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages.
Ephesus - Izmir - Turkiye
Neolithic age
The area surrounding Ephesus was already inhabited during the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC) as was revealed by the excavations at the nearby hoyuk (artificial mounds known as tells) of Arvalya and Cukurici.
Bronze age
Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at the Ayasuluk Hill. In 1954 a burial ground from the Mycenaean era (1500-1400 BC) with ceramic pots was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John. [5] This was the period of the Mycenaean Expansion when the Achaioi (as they were called by Homer) settled in Ahhiyawa during the 14th and the 13th centuries BC. Scholars believe that Ephesus was founded on the settlement of Apasa (or Abasa), a Bronze Age-city noted in 14th century BC Hittite sources as in the land of Ahhiyawa. [6]
Dark age
Site of the Temple of Artemis in the town of Selçuk, near Ephesus
The city of Ephesus itself was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in the 10th century BC on the Ayasuluk Hill, three kilometers from the center of antique Ephesus (as attested by excavations at the Seljuk castle during the 1990s). The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos, who had to leave his country after the death of his father, king Kadros. According to legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where the oracle of Delphi became reality (”A fish and a boar will show you the way”). Androklos drove away most of the native Carian and Lelegian inhabitants of the city and united his people with the remainder. He was a successful warrior and, as king, he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League. During his reign the city began to prosper. He died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene, another city of the Ionian League. [7] Androklos and his dog are depicted on the Hadrian temple frieze, dating from the second century. Later, Greek historians such as Pausanias, Strabo and the poet Kallinos, and the historian Herodotos however reassigned the city’s mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons.
The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus. The many-breasted “Lady of Ephesus”, identified with Artemis, was venerated in the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the largest building of the ancient world according to Pausanias (4.31.8). Pausanius mentions that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus. [8] before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains.
[edit] Archaic period
About 650 BC Ephesus was attacked by Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. A few small Cimmerian artifacts can be seen at the archaeological museum of Ephese.
When the Cimmerians had been driven away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. After a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council called the Kuretes. The city prospered again, producing a number of important historical figures, such as the iambic poets Callinus [9] and the satirist Hipponax, the philosopher Heraclitus, the great painter Parrhasius and later the grammarian Zenodotos, the physicians Soranus and Rufus.
About 560 BC Ephesus was conquered by the Lydians under the mighty king Croesus. He treated the inhabitants with respect, despite ruling harshly, and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis.[10] His signature has been found on the base of one of the columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum). Croesus made the populations of the different settlements around Ephesus regroup (synoikismos) in the vicinity of the Temple of Artemis, enlarging the city.
Later in the same century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great, siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus the Ionians offered to make peace but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire.[11] They were defeated by the Persian army commander Harpagos in 547 BC. The Persians then incorporated the Greek cities of Asia Minor into the Achaemenid Empire. Those cities were then ruled by satraps.
[edit] Classical period
Ephesus continued to prosper. But when taxes continued to be raised under Cambyses II and Darius, the Ephesians participated in the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in the Battle of Ephesus (498 BC), an event which instigated the Greco-Persian wars. In 479 BC, the Ionians, together with Athens and Sparta, were able to oust the Persians from Anatolia. In 478 BC, the Ionian cities entered with Athens and Sparta the Delian League against the Persians. Ephesus did not contribute ships, but only participated with financial support by offering the treasure of Apollo to the goddess Athena, protector of Athens.
During the Peloponnesian War, Ephesus was first allied to Athens[citation needed] but sided in a later phase, called the Decelean War, or the Ionian War with Sparta, which also had received the support of the Persians. As a result, the rule over the kingdoms of Anatolia was ceded again to Persia.
These wars didn’t affect much the daily life in Ephesus. In those times, Ephesus was surprisingly modern in their social relations. They allowed strangers to integrate. Education was much valued. Through the cult of Artemis, the city also became a bastion of women’s rights. Ephesus even had its female artists. In later times Pliny mentions having seen at Ephesus a representation of the goddess Diana by Timarata, the daughter of a painter.
In 356 BC the temple of Artemis was burnt down, according to legend, by a lunatic called Herostratus. By coincidence, this was the night that Alexander the Great was born. The inhabitants of Ephesus started at once with the restoration and even planning a larger and grander temple.
Historical Map of Ephesus, from Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888
[edit] Hellenistic period
When Alexander the Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death and Alexander was greeted warmly in Ephesus when he entered it in triumph. When he saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance the temple and have his name as an inscription of the front. But the inhabitants of Ephesus refused, claiming that it was not fitting for a god to build a temple for another god. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Ephesus came under the rule of Lysimachus, one of Alexander’s generals, in 290 BC.
As the river Cayster was silting up the harbour, the resulting marshes were the cause of malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. The people of Ephesus were forced to move to a new settlement 2 kilometers further on, when the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers. [12] This settlement was called after the king’s second wife Arsinoe II of Egypt. After Lysimachus had destroyed the nearby cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BC, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city. The architectural layout of the city would remain unchanged for the next 500 years.
Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death of Agathocles, giving the Syrian king Seleucus I Nicator an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC. After the death of Lysimachos the town took again the name of Ephesus.
Thus Ephese became part of the Seleucid Empire. After the murder of king Antiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife, pharao Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus came under Egyptian rule between 263-197 BC.
When the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor, he came in conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. As a result, Ephesus came under the rule of the Attalid king of Pergamon Eumenes II (197-133 BC). When his grandson Attalus III died without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to the Roman Republic.
The Roman Theater at Ephesus.
The Temple of Hadrian.
[edit] Roman Period
Ephesus became subject of the Roman Republic. The city felt at once the Roman influence. Taxes rose considerably and the treasures of the city were systematically plundered. In 88 BC Ephesus welcomed Archelaus, a general of Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, when he conquered Western Anatolia. This led to the Asiatic Vespers, the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia Minor, or any person who spoke with a Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus. But when they saw how badly the people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen (the father of Monima, the favorite wife of Mithridates) and the overseer of Ephesus. As the people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However, the Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing. When Mithridates was defeated in the First Mithridatic War by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Ephesus came back under Roman rule in 86 BC. Sulla imposed a huge indemnity, along with five years of back taxes, which left Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come. [13]
When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, he made Ephesus instead of Pergamum the capital of proconsular Asia, which covered the western part of Asia Minor. Ephesus entered an era of prosperity. It became the seat of the governor, growing into a metropolis and a major center of commerce. It was second in importance and size only to Rome. [14] Ephesus has been estimated to be in the range of 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants in the year 100, making it the largest city in Roman Asia and of the day. Ephesus was at its peak during the first and second century AD.
The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (Diana) [15], who had her chief shrine there, the Library of Celsus, and its theatre, which was capable of holding 25,000 spectators. This open-air theater was used initially for drama, but during later Roman times gladiatorial combats were also held on its stage, with the first archaeological evidence of a gladiator graveyard found in May 2007.[16] The population of Ephesus also had several major bath complexes, built at various points while the city was under Roman rule. The city had one of the most advanced aqueduct systems in the ancient world, with multiple aqueducts of various sizes to supply different areas of the city, including 4 major aqueducts.
The city and the temple were destroyed by the Goths in 263. This marked the decline of the splendour of the city.
[edit] Byzantine era (395-1071)
Ephesus remained the most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. The emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected a new public bath. In 406 John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, ordered the destruction of the Temple of Artemis. [17] Emperor Flavius Arcadius raised the level of the street between the theatre and the harbour. The basilica of St. John was built during the reign of emperor Justinian I in the sixth century.
The town was again partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614.
The importance of the city as a commercial centre declined as the harbour slowly filled with silt from the river (today, Küçük Menderes) despite repeated dredges during the city’s history.[18] (Today, the harbor is 5 kilometers inland). The loss of its harbor caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea, which was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster.
Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654-655 by caliph Muawiyah I, and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further.
When the Seljuk Turks conquered it in 1071-1100, it was a small village. The Byzantines resumed control in 1100 and changed the name of the town into Hagios Theologos. They kept control of the region until 1308. Crusaders, passing through, were surprised that there was only a small village, called Ayasalouk, where they had expected a bustling city with a large seaport. Even the temple of Artemis was completely forgotten by the local population.
[edit] Turkish era
The town was conquered in 1304 by Sasa Bey, an army commander of the Menteşoğullari principality. Shortly afterwards, it was ceded to the Aydinoğullari principality that stationed a powerful navy in the harbour of Ayasluğ (the present-day Selçuk, next to Ephesus). Ayasoluk became an important harbour, from where the navy organised raids to the surrounding regions.
The town knew again a short period of flourishing during the 14th century under these new Seljuk rulers. They added important architectural works such as the İsa Bey Mosque, caravansaries and Turkish bathhouses (hamam).
They were incorporated as vassals into the Ottoman Empire for the first time in 1390. The Central Asian warlord Tamerlane defeated the Ottomans in Anatolia in 1402 and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I died in captivity. The region was restored to the Anatolian Turkish Beyliks. After a period of unrest, the region was again incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by sultan Mehmed II in 1425.
Ephesus was eventually completely abandoned in the 15th century and lost her former glory. Nearby Ayasluğ was renamed Selçuk in 1914.
[edit] Ephesus and Christianity
Photo of a 15th Century map showing Ephesus
Ephesus was an important center for early Christianity from the AD 50s. From AD 52-54, Paul lived here, working with the congregation and apparently organizing missionary activity into the hinterlands.[19] He became embroiled in a dispute with artisans, whose livelihood depended on selling the statuettes of Artemis in the Temple of Artemis (Acts 19:23–41). He wrote between 53 and 57 A.D. the letter 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (possibly from the “Paul tower” close to the harbour, where he was imprisoned for a short time). Later Paul wrote to the Christian community at Ephesus, according to tradition, while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 A.D.)
Anatolia was associated with John,[20] one of the chief apostles, and the Gospel of John might have been written in Ephesus, c 90-100.[21] Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in Revelation (2:1–7), indicating that the church at Ephesus was still strong.
Two decades later, the church at Ephesus there was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians in the early 2nd century AD, that begins with, “Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory” (Letter to the Ephesians). The church at Ephesus had given their support for Ignatius, who was taken to Rome for execution.
The house of the Virgin Mary (Turkish: Meryem Ana, meaning “Mother Mary”), about 7 kilometers from Selçuk, is believed to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus. It is a popular place of pilgrimage which has been visited by three recent popes.
The Church of Mary close to the harbor of Ephesus was the setting for the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which resulted in the condemnation of Nestorius. A Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449, but its controversial acts were never approved by the Catholics. It came to be called the Robber Council of Ephesus or Robber Synod of Latrocinium by its opponents.
Pamukkale - Denizli - Turkey
The tectonic movements that took place in the fault depression of the Menderes river basin triggered frequent earthquakes, and gave rise to the emergence of a number of very hot springs. The water from one of these springs, with its large mineral content — chalk in particular — created Pamukkale.
Apart from some radioactive material, the water contains large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, which leads to the precipitation of calcium bi-carbonate. Every second 250 liters of hot water arises from this spring, precipitating 2.20 grams of chalk per liter of water or 0.55 kilograms of chalk every second. In the course of time some sources dried up because of earthquakes, while new ones arose in the neighbourhood.
The effect of this natural phenomenon has left thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall. One type of these formations consists of crescent-shaped travertine terraces with a shallow layer of water, lying in a step-like arrangement down the upper one-third of the slope, with the steps ranging from 1m to 6 meters in height. The other form consists of stalactites, propping up and connecting these terraces.
The oldest of these rocks is crystalline marble, quartzites and schists. These date back to the Pliocene period, while the top layer belongs to the Quaternary. Fresh deposits of calcium carbonate give the site a dazzling white look.
These sources were well-known in the Antiquity. They were described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. The Phrygian Greeks built Hierapolis on top of the hill. They ascribed medical properties to the spring water, bestowed by the gods, especially Asklepios (demigod of medicine) and his daughter Hygieia (goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation), under the protection of Apollo (god of medicine and healing).
Tourist attraction
Hot springs of Pamukkale
Pamukkale is a tourist attraction. It is recognized as a World Heritage Sites together with Hierapolis. A few other places in the world resemble it, including the Mammoth Hot Springs in the USA and Huanglong in Sichuan Province of China (another UNESCO World Heritage Site). Hierapolis-Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site in 1988.[1]
Before the World Heritage designation, Pamukkale went unprotected for decades in the late 20th century and hotels were built on top of the site, destroying parts of the remains of Hierapolis. Hot water from the springs was taken to fill the hotel pools and the waste water was spilled over the monument itself, turning it brownish. A tarmac road ramp was built into the main part. People walked around with shoes, washed themselves with soap and shampoo in the pools and rode bikes and motorbikes up and down the slopes.
By the time UNESCO turned its attention to Pamukkale, the site was losing its attraction. Officials made attempts to restore the site. The hotels were demolished, and the road ramp was covered with artificial pools which today are accessible to bare-footed tourists, unlike most other parts of the site. A small trench was carved along the outside of the ramp to collect the water and prevent it from spilling. The brownish parts have been left to be bleached by the sun without being covered by water to diminish the problem. Therefore many pools are empty. Others parts are covered with water for an hour or two, on a rotating schedule.
The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also forced carbon dioxide into a cave. The result was called the Plutonium meaning place of the god, Pluto. Tadpoles can be found in the pools.
Kanun Taksim
String Keman Hicaz Taksim
Saba Ney Taksim
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
After the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the unfavourable result of the wars with Persia, Sultan Ahmed I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to placate Allah. This would be the first imperial mosque in more than forty years. Whereas his predecessors had paid for their mosques with their war booty, Sultan Ahmed I had to withdraw the funds from the treasury, because he had not won any notable victories. This provoked the anger of the ulema, the Muslim legal scholars.
The mosque was to be built on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors, facing the Hagia Sophia (at that time the most venerated mosque in Istanbul) and the hippodrome, a site of great symbolic significance. Large parts of the southern side of the mosque rest on the foundations, the vaults and the undercrofts of the Great Palace. Several palaces, already built on the same spot, had to be bought (at considerable price) and pulled down, especially the palace of Sokollu Mehmet Paşa, and large parts of the Sphendone (curved tribune with U-shaped structure of the hippodrome).
Construction of the mosque started in August 1609 when the sultan himself came to break the first sod. It was his intention that this would become the first mosque of his empire. He appointed his royal architect Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa, a pupil and senior assistant of the famous architect Sinan as the architect in charge of the construction. The organization of the work was described in meticulous detail in eight volumes, now in the library of the Topkapı Palace. The opening ceremonies were held in 1617 (although the gate of the mosque records 1616) and the sultan was able to pray in the royal box (hünkâr mahfil). The building was not yet finished in this last year of his reign, as the last accounts were signed by his successor Mustafa I. Known as the Blue Mosque, Sultan Ahmet Mosque is one of the most impressive monuments in the world. It is one of the elements included in the complex built by Ahmed I to compete with Ayasofya.[3]
