Listed 19 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ANKARA Province TURKEY" .
ANGYRA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Ancyra (Ankura: Eth. Ankuranos, Ancyranus.) (Angora or Engareh), a
town of Galatia, near a small stream, which seems to enter the Sangarius. Ancyra
originally belonged to Phrygia. The mythical founder was Midas, the son of Gordius.
(Paus. i. 4.) Midas found an anchor on the spot, and accordingly gave the name
to the town; a story which, would imply that the name for anchor (ankura) was
the same in the Greek and in the Phrygian languages. Pausanias confirms the story
by saying that the anchor remained to his time in the temple of Zeus. Stephanus
(s. v. Ankura) gives another story about the name, which is chronologically false,
if Ancyra was so called in the time of Alexander. (Arrian. Anab. ii. 4.) The town
became the chief place of the Tectosages (Strab. p. 567), a Gallic tribe from
the neighbourhood of Toulouse, which settled in these parts about B.C. 277. The
Galatae were subjected by the Romans under Cn. Manlius, B.C. 189, who advanced
as far as An. cyra, and fought a battle with the Tectosages near the town. (Liv.
xxxviii. 24.) When Galatia was formally made a Roman province, B.C. 25, Ancyra
was dignified with the name Sebaste, which is equivalent to Augusta, with the
addition of Tectosagum, to distinguish it from Pessinus and Tavium, which were
honoured with the same title of Sebaste. Ancyra had also the title of Metropolis,
as the coins from Nero's time show. Most of the coins of Ancyra have a figure
of an anchor on them.
The position of Ancyra made it a place of great trade, for it lay
on the road from Byzantium to Tavium and Armenia, and also on the road from Byzantium
to Syria. It is probable, also, that the silky hair of the Angora goat may, in
ancient as in modern times, have formed one of the staples of the place. The hills
about Angora are favourable to the feeding of the goat. The chief monument of
antiquity at Ancyra is the marble temple of Augustus, which was built in the lifetime
of the emperor. The walls appear to be entire, with the exception of a small portion
of one side of the cella. On the inside of the antae of the temple is the Latin
inscription commonly called the Monumentum or Marmor Ancyranum. Augustus (Suet.
Aug. 101) left behind him a record of his actions, which, it was his will, should
be cut on bronze tablets, which were to be placed in front of his Mausoleum. A
copy of this memorable record was cut on the walls of this temple at Ancyra, both
in Greek and Latin. We must suppose that the Ancyrani obtained permission from
the Roman senate or Tiberius to have a transcript of this record to place in the
temple of Augustus, to whom they had given divine honours in his lifetime, as
the passage from Josephus (Antiq. Jud. xvi. 10), when properly corrected, shows.
(See Is. Casaub. in Ancyran. Marmor. Animadv.) The Latin inscription appears to
have been first copied by Busbequius about the middle of the sixteenth century,
and it has been copied by several others since. The latest copy has been made
by Mr. Hamilton, and his copy contains some corrections on former transcripts.
A Greek inscription on the outer wall of the cella had been noticed by Pococke
and Texier, but, with the exception of a small part, it was concealed by houses
built against the temple. By removing the mud wall which was built against the
temple, Hamilton was enabled to copy part of the Greek inscription. So much of
it as is still legible is contained in the Appendix to his second volume of Researches
in Asia Minor, &c. This transcript of the Greek version is valuable, because it
supplies some defects in our copies of the Latin original. A Greek inscription
in front of one of the antae of the temple seems to show that it was dedicated
to the god Augustus and the goddess Rome. Hamilton copied numerous Greek inscriptions
from various parts of the town. (Appendix, vol. ii.) One of the walls of the citadel
contains an immense number of portions of bas-reliefs, inscriptions, funereal
cippi with garlands, and the caput bovis, caryatides, columns and fragments of
architraves, with parts of dedicatory inscriptions, resembling indeed very much
the walls of a rich museum. (Hamilton.)
Angora is still a considerable town, with a large population.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GORDION (Ancient city) TURKEY
Gordium (Gorsion), a town of Bithynia, a little to the north of the
river Sangarius, was in later times called Juliopolis. This city must have been
of considerable antiquity, having been the residence of the ancient Phrygian kings;
but in the time of Strabo (xii. p. 568) it had sunk to the condition of a mere
village it appears, however, that it was rebuilt and enlarged in the time of Augustus
under the name of Juliopolis, and thenceforth it continued to flourish for several
centuries. (Strab. l. c. p. 574; Polyb. xxii. 20; Liv. xxxviii. 18; Plin. v. 42;
Ptol. v. 1. § 14.) In the time of Justinian it had suffered from the inundations
of the river Scopas, and was therefore repaired by that emperor. (Procop. de Aed.
v. 4.) Gordium is celebrated in history as the scene of Alexander's cutting the
famous Gordian knot. This adventure took place in the acropolis of the town, which
had been the palace of king Gordius. (Arrian, Anab. i 29, ii. 3; Q. Curt. iii.
1, 12; Justin, xi. 7.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TAVION (Ancient city) TURKEY
Tavium (Taouion, Tauion) or Tavia, a town in the central part of eastern
Galatia, at some distance from the eastern bank of the river Halys, was the chief
town of the Galatian tribe of the Trocmi, and a place of considerable commercial
importance, being the point at which five or six of the great roads met. (Plin.
v. 42; Strab. xii. p. 567; Ptol. v. 4. § 9; Steph. B. s. v. Ankura; Hierocl. p.
696; It. Ant. pp. 201, 203.) It contained a temple with a colossal bronze statue
of Zeus. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 311) is strongly inclined to believe that Tshorum
occupies the site of ancient Tavium; but Hamilton (Researches, i. p. 379, &c.)
and most other geographers, with much more probability, regard the ruins of Boghaz
Kieui, 6 leagues to the north-west of Jazgat or Juzghat, as the remains of Tavium.
They are situated on the slope of lofty and steep rocks of limestone, some of
which are adorned with sculptures in relief. There are also the foundations of
an immense building, which are believed to be remains of the temple of Zeus. (Comp.
Hamilton in the Journal of the Roy. Geogr. Soc. vol. vii. p. 74, fell.; Cramer,
Asia Minor, ii. p. 98.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GORDION (Ancient city) TURKEY
(Gordion, also Gordieion). The ancient capital of Phrygia, situated on the Sangarius; the royal residence of the kings of the dynasty of Gordius, and the scene of Alexander's celebrated exploit of cutting the Gordian knot.
The modern ANGORA, a titular see of Galatia
in Asia Minor, suffragan
of Laodicea. It was said
to have been founded by Midas, was a chief place of the Gallic conquerors of Asia
Minor (c. 277, B.C.), and in imperial times a centre of great commercial importance.
It is also famous for the official record of the Acts of Augustus,
known as the “Monumentum Ancyranum,” an inscription cut in marble
on the walls of an ancient temple, several times copied and edited since the sixteenth
century.
The ruins of Ancyra furnish to-day valuable bas-reliefs. inscriptions,
and other architectural fragments.
Thomas J. Shahan, ed.
Transcribed by: John Fobian
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
EVDOXIAS (Ancient city) TURKEY
ANGYRA (Ancient city) TURKEY
The chief city of the Roman province of Galatia, in central Asia Minor.
Its legendary founder was King Midas, but it does not appear in the historical
record until the time of Alexander the Great. Until Galatia became a Roman province
in 25 B.C., Ancyra remained comparatively insignificant although its commercial
importance increased as that of the old Phrygian capital, Gordion, diminished.
Throughout the period of the Roman Empire the city flourished, and its importance
continued during the Byzantine era when the city was strongly fortified against
invasions from the East.
Most of the Roman city has been destroyed by modern Ankara, but some
monuments have survived, notably the Temple of Rome and Augustus, the Roman baths
and palaestra, and the "Column of Julian."
The temple was octostyle pseudodipteral, with 15 columns down the
flanks, four detached columns in front of the pronaos, and two between the antae
of the opisthodomos. Only the core of the building still stands, preserved through
its later use as a church when the opisthodomos was converted into an apse. The
walls of the pronaos carry the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti and the
S cella wall the Greek, complete except for some areas of damage. Another important
inscription, the list of high priests of the koinon of Galatia under Tiberius,
stands on the left-hand anta of the pronaos. It has been maintained that the temple
was originally dedicated to the god Men and dates to the middle of the 2d c. B.C.,
but for both architectural and historical reasons an Augustan date is preferable.
The Roman baths lie to the W of the temple near the site of the old
Turkish city gate leading to Cankiri (now destroyed). The baths stood behind a
palaestra that was surrounded by a colonnaded portico. Although little of the
superstructure survives, the hypocausts and much of the substructure have been
excavated and restored. The baths were dated by the excavators to the time of
Caracalla, and are notable for their size and for the number of hot rooms, which
the city's winter climate made desirable. The palaestra serves as a depot for
the inscriptions and architectural fragments from Roman and Byzantine Ancyra.
Beside it is a Byzantine burial chamber, decorated with painted frescos. This
was excavated near the railway station and re-erected on its present site. The
"Column of Julian" stands alone between the baths and the temple. Its
attribution to the reign of Julian is uncertain although it is clearly of late
Roman date.
The most striking remnant of ancient Ancyra is the Byzantine citadel.
The inner fortifications were possibly built ca. A.D. 630 after the city had been
recaptured by the emperor Heraclius from Chosroes II. It was restored on several
occasions, most notably by the emperor Michael III in A.D. 859. At some undetermined
date the outer fortifications were added. The walls are largely built from the
debris of the Roman city and are full of architectural pieces and inscriptions.
The most impressive section is the W wall of the inner fortification where the
regular, closely spaced, pentagonal towers give the profile of the blade of a
giant saw.
Ancyra's archaeological museums, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
and the Museum of the Middle East Technical University, contain little from the
Roman or Byzantine period but are chiefly of interest to Classical archaeologists
for their very rich collections of Phrygian material.
S. Mitchell, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
GORDION (Ancient city) TURKEY
A city near the confluence of the Sangarios and Tembris rivers in
Anatolia, about 96 km SW of Ankara. Situated on a natural route from the sea to
the central Anatolian plateau, it was already settled in the Early Bronze Age.
Throughout the Hittite period it was evidently an important provincial town. It
reached its greatest development in Phrygian times during the Dark Age following
the fall of the Hittite Empire (9th and 8th c. B.C.).
The Phrygian city was sacked at the time of a Kimmerian raid dated
to the opening decades of the 7th c. It was rebuilt in the 6th c., probably by
Alyattes the Lydian king, as a market and garrison town. In the early years of
the Persian Empire, Darius reorganized the ancient route to the Aegean sea by
creating the Royal Road, of which stretches have been uncovered at Gordion. Visits
by a number of travelers following the Royal Road are recorded: by the Satrap
Pharnabazos in 411; by Agesilaos in 395; and by Alexander, who is alleged to have
cut the Gordian knot during his visit in 333. Later the king of Bithynia settled
Galatians who had crossed into Asia in the region subsequently known as Galatia.
In B.C. 189 Manlius Volso, leading a Roman army to chastise the Gauls for their
depredations, found the city deserted. It was never resettled as a place of importance;
Strabo speaks of the old Phrygian capital as a mere hamlet in his time.
The Phrygian city, burned about 690 B.C., was surrounded by a massive
wall of coursed masonry pierced by gates at E, N, and W. The E gateway, completely
cleared, still stands to a height of 9 m and comprises a ramped central passageway
with the gate itself at the inner end and flanking courts at either side. Within
the city the palace occupied a large area shut off from the rest of the town by
its own enclosure walls. A number of separate buildings grouped around a central
plaza have been cleared. All were laid out on the same "megaron" plan
of inner room with round central hearth, entered only through a vestibule in front.
The buildings were all constructed of stone or of crude brick strengthened by
frameworks of timber and covered by gable roofs of clay spread over reed beddings.
In the largest megaron, which had a width of more than 15 m, two rows of wooden
posts helped support the roof. At least three of the buildings were adorned by
floors of pebble mosaic laid in geometric patterns; the walls of one were scribbled
over by graffito drawings which illustrate the contemporary 8th c. scene. On a
terrace to the S of the plaza a long building of eight adjoining rooms housed
the service area of the palace. There were clearly several phases and successive
building periods of the town which must extend well back into the 9th c. B.C.
The cemeteries lay around the city on higher ground above the river
valley. Royalty and the wealthy had tumuli heaped over their graves. The greatest
tumulus, 53 m in height, covered a tomb constructed of wood with gabled roof,
admirably preserved. The sole occupant must have been a king, probably the predecessor
of King Midas. With him were buried Phrygian inlaid wooden furniture and many
bronze vessels. The finds from tombs and city are shown at the local Gordion museum
and in the Ankara Museum.
R. S. Young, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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