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CAPPADOCIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 288 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAPPADOCIA , in See also:

ancient See also:geography, an extensive inland See also:district of See also:Asia See also:Minor. In the See also:time of See also:Herodotus the Capp. docians occupied the whole region from See also:Mount See also:Taurus to the Euxine. That author tells us that the name of the Cappadocians (Katpatouka) was applied to them by the Persians, while they were termed by the Greeks " Syrians," or " See also:White Syrians " (Leucosyri). Under the later See also:kings of the See also:Persian See also:empire the were divided into two satrapies or governments, the one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by See also:Greek geographers, while the other was called Cappadocia Kara IIovrov, or simply See also:Pontus (q.v.). This See also:division had already come about before the time of See also:Xenophon. As after the fall of the Persian See also:government the two provinces continued to be sbparate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland See also:province (sometimes called See also:Great Cappadocia), which alone will be considered in the See also:present See also:article. Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded S. by the See also:chain of Mount Taurus, E. by the See also:Euphrates, N. by Pontus, and W. vaguely by the great central See also:salt " See also:Desert " (Axylon). But it is impossible to define its limits with accuracy. See also:Strabo, the only ancient author who gives any circumstantial See also:account of the See also:country, greatly exaggerated its dimensions; it was in reality about 250 M. in length by less than 15o in breadth. With the exception of a narrow See also:strip of the district called Melitene, on the See also:east, which forms See also:part of the valley of the Euphrates, the whole of this region is a high upland See also:tract, attaining to more than 3000 ft., and constituting the most elevated portion of the great tableland of Asia Minor (q.v.). The western parts of the province, where it adjoins See also:Lycaonia, extending thence to the See also:foot of Mount Taurus, are open treeless plains, affording pasture in See also:modern as in ancient times to numerous flocks of See also:sheep, but almost wholly desolate. But out of the midst of this great upland level rise detached See also:groups or masses of mountains, mostly of volcanic origin, of which the loftiest are Mount Argaeus (still called by the See also:Turks Erjish Dagh), (13,100 ft.), and See also:Hassan Dagh to the See also:south-See also:west (8000 ft.).

The eastern portion of the province is of a more varied and broken See also:

character, being traversed by the See also:mountain See also:system called by the Greeks See also:Anti-Taurus. Between these mountains and the See also:southern chain of Taurus, properly so called, lies the region called in ancient times Cataonia, occupying an upland See also:plain surrounded by mountains. This district in the time of Strabo formed a portion of Cappadocia and was completely assimilated; but earlier writers and the Persian military system regarded the Cataonians as a distinct See also:people. Cappadocia contained the See also:sources of the Sarus and Pyramus See also:rivers with their higher affluents, and also the See also:middle course of the Halys (see ASIA MINOR), and the whole course of the tributary of Euphrates now called Tokhma Su. But as no one of these rivers was navigable or served to fertilize the lands along its torrential course, none has much importance in the See also:history of the province. The See also:kingdom of Cappadocia, which was still in existence in the time of Strabo, as a nominally See also:independent See also:state, was divided, according to that geographer, into ten districts. Of these Cataonia has been described; the adjoining district of Melitene, which did not originally See also:form part of Cappadocia at all, but was annexed to it by Ariarathes I., was a fertile tract adjoining the Euphrates; its See also:chief See also:town retains the name of See also:Malatia. See also:Cilicia was the name given to the district in which Caesarea, the See also:capital of the whole country was situated, and in which See also:rose the conspicuous Mount Argaeus. Tyanitis, the region of which Tyana was the capital, was a level tract in the extreme south, extending to the foot of Mount Taurus. Garsauritis appears to have comprised the western or south-western districts adjoining Lycaonia; its chief town was Archelais. Laviansene or Laviniane was the country south and south-east of See also:Sivas, through which ran the road from Sebastea to Caesarea: Sargarausene See also:lay south of the above, and included Uzun Yaila and the upper See also:basin of the Tokhma Su; Saravene lay west of Laviansene and included the modern district of Ak Dagh; Chamanene lay west again of the above along the middle course of the Halys: Morimene was the See also:north-western district extending along the edge of the central desert as far south as Melegob. The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Mazaca, the capital of the kingdom under its native monarchs (see CAESAREA-MAZACA); and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus, the site of which is marked bya great See also:mound at a See also:place called Kiz (or Ekuz) See also:Hissar, about 12 M. south-west of See also:Nigdeh.

Archelais, founded by See also:

Archelaus, the last See also:king of the country, subsequently became a See also:Roman See also:colony, and a place of some importance. It is now Akserai. Several localities in the Cappadocian country were the sites of famous temples. Among these the most celebrated were those of See also:Comana (q.v.) and Venasa in Morimene, where a male See also:god was served by over 3000 hieroduli. The See also:local sanctity of Venasa has been perpetuated by the Moslem veneration for Haji Bektash, the founder of the See also:order of dervishes to which the See also:Janissaries used in great part to belong. Cappadocia was remarkable for the number of its slaves, which constituted the See also:principal See also:wealth of its monarchs. Large See also:numbers were sent to See also:Rome but did not enjoy a See also:good reputation. The Cappadocian peasants are still in the See also:habit of taking service in the west of the See also:peninsula and only returning to their homes after See also:long absences; their labour is now much valued by employers, as they are a strong sober folk. The province was celebrated for its horses, as well as for its vast flocks of sheep; but from its See also:elevation above the See also:sea, and the coldness of its See also:climate, it could never have been See also:rich and fertile. History.—Nothing is known of- the history of Cappadocia before it became subject to the Persian empire, except that the country was the See also:home of a great " Hittite " See also:power centred at Boghaz-Keui (see See also:PTERIA), which has See also:left monuments at many places, e.g. Nevsheher, Fraktin, Gorun, Malatia, various points about Albistan and Derendeh, Bulgur Maden, Andaval and Tyana. Possibly the princes of the last named See also:city were independent.

With the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians after their defeat by See also:

Croesus, Cappadocia was left in the power of a sort of feudal See also:aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile See also:condition, which later made them See also:apt for See also:foreign See also:slavery. It was included in the third Persian satrapy in the division established by See also:Darius, but long continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributary to the Great King. Thoroughly subdued at last by the See also:satrap Datames, Cappadocia recovered See also:independence under a single ruler, Ariarathes (hence called Ariarathes I.), who was a contemporary of See also:Alexander the Great, and maintained himself on the See also:throne of Cappadocia after the fall of the Persian See also:monarchy. The province was not visited by Alexander, who contented himself with the tributary See also:acknowledgment of his See also:sovereignty made by Ariarathes before the conqueror's departure from Asia Minor; and the continuity of the native See also:dynasty was only interrupted for a See also:short time after Alexander's See also:death, when the kingdom See also:fell, in the See also:general See also:partition of the empire, to See also:Eumenes. His claims were made good in 322 by the See also:regent See also:Perdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions following Eumenes's death, the son of Ariarathes recovered his See also:inheritance and left it to a See also:line of successors, who mostly See also:bore the name of the founder of the dynasty. Under the See also:fourth of the name Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of See also:Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against See also:Perseus of Macedon. The kings henceforward threw in their See also:lot with the See also:Republic as against the Seleucids, to whom they had been from time to time tributary. Ariarathes V. marched with the Roman proconsul See also:Crassus against See also:Aristonicus, a claimant to the throne of Pergammum, and their forces were annihilated (130 B.C.). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by the rising power of Pontus and the intrigues and See also:wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty. The Cappadocians, sup-ported by Rome against See also:Mithradates, elected a native See also:lord, See also:Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 B.C.); but it was not till Rome had disposed at once of the Pontic and Armenian kings that his See also:rule was established (63 B.C.). In the See also:civil wars Cappadocia was now for See also:Pompey, now for See also:Caesar, now for Antony, now against him. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end and a certain Archelaus reigned in its See also:stead, by favour first of Antony, then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence till A.D.

17, when the See also:

emperor Tiberius, on Archelaus's death in disgrace, reduced Cappadocia at last to a province. See also:Vespasian in A.D. 70 joined See also:Armenia Minor to it and made the combined province a frontier See also:bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of the Eastern Empire till See also:late in the rrth See also:century, though often ravaged both by Persians and See also:Arabs. But before it passed into Seljuk hands (1074), and from them ultimately to the Osmanlis, it had, already become largely Armenian in See also:religion and speech; and thus we find the southern part referred to as " Hermeniorum terra " by crusading chroniclers. At this See also:day the north-east and east parts of the province are largely inhabited by Armenians. The native kings had done much to Hellenize Cappadocia, which had previously received a strong Iranian See also:colour; but it was left to See also:Christianity to See also:complete their See also:work. Though pre-Hellenic usages long survived in the local cults and habits, a part of the people has remained more or less Hellenic to this day, in spite of its envelopment by Moslem conquerors and converts. The tradition of its See also:early See also:church, illuminated by the names of the two Gregories and See also:Basil of Caesarea, has been perpetuated by the survival of a native Orthodox See also:element throughout the west and north-west of the province; and in the remoter valleys Greek speech has never wholly died out. Its use has once more become general under Greek propagandist See also:influence, and the Cappadocian " Greeks " are now a flourishing community.

End of Article: CAPPADOCIA

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