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ICONIUM (mod. Konia)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 272 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ICONIUM (mod. See also:Konia) , a See also:city of See also:Asia See also:Minor, the last of the Phrygian See also:land towards See also:Lycaonia, was commonly reckoned to Lycaonia in the See also:Roman See also:time, but retained its old Phrygian connexion and See also:population to a comparatively See also:late date. Its natural surroundings must have made it an important See also:town from the beginning of organized society in this region. It lies in an excellently fertile See also:plain, 6 m. from the Pisidian mountains on the See also:west, with mountains more distant on the See also:north and See also:south, while to the See also:east the dead level plain stretches away for hundreds of See also:miles, though the distant view is interrupted by See also:island-like mountains. Streams from the Pisidian mountains make the land on the south-west and south of the city a See also:garden; but on the east and north-east a See also:great See also:part of the naturally fertile See also:soil is uncultivated. Trees grow nowhere except in the gardens near the city. See also:Irrigation is necessary for productiveness, and the See also:water-See also:supply is now deficient. A much greater supply was available for See also:agriculture in See also:ancient times and might be re-introduced. Originally a Phrygian city, as almost every authority who has come into contact with the population calls it, and as is implied in Acts xiv. 6, it was in a See also:political sense the See also:chief city of the Lycaonian tetrarchy added to the Galatian See also:country about 165 B.C., and it was part of the Roman See also:province See also:Galatia from 25 B.C. to about A.D. 295. Then it was included in the province See also:Pisidia (as See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus describes it) till 372, after which it formed part of the new province Lycaonia so See also:long as the provincial See also:division lasted.

Later it was a See also:

principal city of the theme of See also:Anatolia. It suffered much from the Arab raids in the three centuries following A.D. 66o; its See also:capture in 708 is mentioned, but it never was held as a city of the caliphs. In later Roman and See also:Byzantine times it must have been a large and wealthy city. It was a See also:metropolis and an archbishopric, and one of the earliest See also:councils of the See also:church was held there in A.D. 235. The ecclesiastical organization of Lycaonia and the country See also:round Iconium on all sides was See also:complete in the See also:early 4th See also:century, and monuments of later 3rd and 4th century See also:Christianity are extremely numerous. The See also:history of See also:Christian Iconium is utterly obscure. The city was thrice visited by St See also:Paul, probably in A.D. 47, 50 and 53; and it is the principal See also:scene of the See also:tale of Paul and See also:Thecla (which though apocryphal has certainly some See also:historical basis; see THECLA). There was a distinct Roman See also:element in Iconium, arising doubtless from the presence of Roman traders. This was recognized by See also:Claudius, who granted the honorary See also:title Claudiconium, and by See also:Hadrian, who elevated the city to the See also:rank of a Roman See also:colony about A.D.

130 under the name Colonia Aelia Hadriana See also:

Augusta Iconiensium. The See also:period of its greatest splendour was after the See also:conquest by the Seljuk See also:Turks about 1072-1074. It soon became the See also:capital of the Seljuk See also:state, and one of the most brilliant cities of the See also:world. The See also:palace of the sultans and the See also:mosque of See also:Ala ed-din Kaikobad formerly covered great part of the See also:Acropolis See also:hill in the See also:northern part of the city. Farther south there is still the great complex of buildings which See also:form the chief seat of the Mevlevi dervishes, asect widely spread over Anatolia. Many other splendid mosques and royal tombs adorned the city, and justified the See also:Turkish See also:proverb, " See all the world; but see Konia." The walls, about 2 m. in circumference, consisted of a core of See also:rubble and See also:concrete, coated with ancient stones, See also:inscriptions, sculptures and architectural See also:marbles, forming a striking sight, which no traveller ever examined in detail. Beyond the walls extended the gardens and villas of a prosperous See also:Oriental population, especially on the south-west towards the suburb of Meram. When the Seljuk state See also:broke up, and the Osmanli or See also:Ottoman See also:sovereignty arose, Konia decayed, its population dwindled and the splendid early Turkish buildings were suffered to go to ruin. As See also:trade and intercourse diminished Konia See also:grew poorer and more ruinous. The walls and the palace, still perfect in the beginning of the 19th century, were gradually pulled down for See also:building material, and in 1882 there remained only a small part of the walls, from which all the See also:outer stones had been removed, while the palace was a ruin. At that time and for some years later a large part of Konia was like a city of the dead. But about 1895 the See also:advent of the Anatolian railway began to restore its prosperity.

A See also:

good supply of drinking water was brought to the city by Ferid See also:Pasha, who governed the vilayet ably for several years, till in 1903 he was appointed See also:Grand See also:Vizier. The sacred buildings, mosques, &c., were patched up (except a few which were quite ruinous) and the walls wholly removed, but an unsightly fragment of a palace-See also:tower still remained in 1906. In 1904—1905 the first two sections of the See also:Bagdad railway, 117 m., to See also:Karaman and Eregli, were built. In the city there is a See also:branch of the Ottoman See also:bank, a See also:government technical school, a See also:French See also:Catholic See also:mission and a school, an Armenian See also:Protestant school for boys, an See also:American mission school for girls, mainly Armenian, and other educational 'establishments. The founder of the Mevlevi dancing dervishes, the poet Mahommed Jelal-ed-Din (See also:Rumi), in 1307, though tempted to assume the See also:inheritance along with the See also:empire of the Seljuk See also:sultan Ala ed-din Kaikobad III., who died without heirs, preferred to pass on the See also:power to See also:Osman, son of Ertogrul, and with his own hands invested Osman and girt him with the See also:sword: this See also:investiture was the legitimate beginning of the Osmanli authority. The heirs of Jelal-ed-Din (Rumi) were favoured by the Osmanli sultans until 1516, when See also:Selim was on the point of destroying the Mevlevi See also:establishment as hostile to the Osmanli and the faith; and though he did not do so the Mevlevi and their chiefs were deprived of See also:influence and dignity. In 1829 Mahmud II. restored their dignity in part, and in 1889 Abd-ul-Hamid II. confirmed their exemption from military See also:duty. The See also:head of the Mevlevi dervishes (Aziz-See also:Effendi, Hazreti-Mevlana, Mollah-Unkiar, commonly styled simply Chelebi-Effendi) has the right to gird on the sultan's sword at his investiture, and is See also:master of the considerable revenues of the greatest religious establishment in the empire. He has also the See also:privilege of corresponding See also:direct with the See also:caliph; but otherwise is regarded as rather opposed to the Osmanli See also:administration, and has no real power. Iconium is distant by See also:rail 466 m. from the See also:Bosporus at Haidar-Pasha, and 389 from See also:Smyrna by way of Afium-Kara-See also:Hissar. It has recently become the seat of a considerable manufacture of carpets, owing to the cheapness of labour. The population was estimated at 44,000 in 1890, and is now probably over 50,000.

See also:

Mercury mines have begun to be worked; other minerals are known to exist. (W. M.

End of Article: ICONIUM (mod. Konia)

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