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AMASIA (anc. Amasia)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 782 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMASIA (anc. Amasia) , the See also:chief See also:town of a sanjak in the See also:Sivas vilayet of See also:Asia See also:Minor and an important See also:trade centre on the See also:Samsun-Sivas road, beautifully situated on the Yeshil Irmak (See also:Iris). Pop. 30,000; Moslems about 20,000, of whom a large proportion are Kizilbash (Shia); Christians (mostly Armenians), io,000. It was one of the chief towns of the See also:kingdom of See also:Trebizond and of the See also:Seljuks, one of whose sultans, Kaikobad L, enriched it with See also:fine buildings and restored the See also:castle, which was thus enabled to stand a seven months' See also:siege by Timur. It was also much favoured by the See also:early Osmanli sultans, one of whom, See also:Selim I., was See also:born,there. Bayezid II. built a fine See also:mosque. The See also:place was modernized about a See also:generation ago by Zia See also:Pasha, the poet, when See also:governor, and is now an unusually well built See also:Turkish town with See also:good, See also:bazaar and khans and a fine See also:clock-See also:tower. The Americans and the See also:Jesuits have missionary See also:schools for the Armenian See also:population. Amasia has extensive orchards and See also:fruit gardens still, as in See also:Ibn Batuta's See also:time, irrigated by See also:water wheels turned by the current of the See also:river; and there are See also:steam See also:flour-See also:mills. See also:Wheat, flour and See also:silk are exported. See also:Ancient Amasia has See also:left little trace of itself except on the castle See also:rock, on the left of the river, where the See also:acropolis walls and a number of splendid rock-cut tombs, described by See also:Strabo as those of the See also:kings of See also:Pontus, can be seen.

The cliff is cut away all See also:

round these immense sepulchres so that they stand See also:free. The finest, known from its polished surfaces as the " See also:Mirror See also:Tomb," is about 2 M. from the See also:modern See also:city. Amasia See also:rose into See also:historical importance after the time of See also:Alexander as thecradle of the See also:power of Pontus; but the last See also:king to reign there was the See also:father of See also:Mithradates Eupator " The See also:Great." The latter, however, made it the See also:base of his operations against the See also:Romans in 89, 72 and 67 B.C. See also:Pompey made it a free city in 65, after Mithradates' fall. It was the birthplace of Strabo. (D. G.

End of Article: AMASIA (anc. Amasia)

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