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A LITTLE HISTORY OF CAPPADOCIA By Ozan Sağdıç!
It was for May 28, 585 B.C. that Thales of Miletus, the first in history to do so, predicted an eclipse of the sun. But the Lydians ad Medes, locked in the battle that day, were unaware of the epoch-making prediction: When suddenly, at the very pitch of their struggle, the sky grew dark, they took is as a sign of the god’s anger. Laying dawn their arms on the spot, they made a vow friendship, and divided Asia Minor peacefully between them with the River Halys as border.
Only 30 years later the Medes would give way to the Persians, whose custom was to rule their empire through satraps, or governors. To the newly-formed satrapy in Asia Minor they gave the name Cappadocia-pronounced in the Persian that era “Katpatuky” to mean “Land of Beautiful Horses”.
And indeed, this had been the kingdom of Hittites, in whose language is written in the oldest known treaties on the training of horses. Such was Hittite prowess in equine matters that princes even from rival Ahiyyawa traveled thither to receive instruction in riding. Further, the Tabal kingdom which rose on this same land paid tribute to Assyria in the form of horses. Similar testimony to this special grace of Cappadocia has been passed down to us by the Persians and Romans.
Although Alexander the Great was to wrest this territory from Persians, he left it with the name they had bestowed. The region changed hands several times among Alexander’s generals, until the local inhabitants declared the kingdom of their own. Before long the Romans had established a claim, and ultimately made Cappadocia a province of their empire.
The name originally was applied to a broad domain that swept up from slopes of the Tauris on the south, across the central plateau, and on to the shores of the Black sea or Pontus. Later, the north-eastern portion broke off to become a separate Pontic Cappadocia.
In our time the name is associated rather with a central Anatolian region that comprises 4 of modern day Turkey’s 67 provinces [Ed: 81 provinces today], Nevşehir, Niğde, Kayseri and Kırşehir.
“Cappadocia of the Rocks” as the more spectacular region is known, occupies a narrower zone, roughly delineated by a triangle whose corners correspond to Nevşehir, Aksaray ve Niğde, the towns. As for the wonderland vistas of the fairy chimneys, they follow a network of valleys that twist along from Gülşehir to Nevşehir, then Ürgüp and Soğanlı, finally debouching on the Kızılırmak River, as the Halys is today called. The renowned Valley of Göreme is only one link of this weaving chain, while Kılıçlar, Kızılçukur, Güllüdere, Çavuşin, Paşabağı, Zelve and Dervent, each a natural wonder in its own right, are all valleys skirting the great hill of Aktepe.
The Ihlara-Selime Valley (Peristrama) near Aksaray forms a canyon some 8 miles (14 kilometers) long.
Welcome to Cappadocia. Here’s to a smooth but delirious voyage.
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