Ancient name for the mountainous region of C Turkey, between the Black Sea and the Taurus Mts; a poor area without good natural defences, it tended to be ruled by whatever power was dominant in Asia Minor; a province of the Roman Empire from AD 17; noted for its eroded landscape features and cave dwellings in the Göreme valley; carpet making; largest town, Nev?ehir.
In ancient geography, Cappadocia (from Persian: Katpatuka meaning "the land of beautiful horses", Greek: Καππαδοκία;
Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of Mount Taurus, to the east by the Euphrates, north by Pontus, and west vaguely by the great central salt lake.
Etymology
The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia dates from the late 6th century BC where it appears in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid Kings, Darius I and Xerxes, as one of the countries (Old Persian dahyu-) which are part of the Persian Empire.
Herodotus 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 "White Syrians" (Leucosyri).
Under the later kings of the Persian empire they 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 Greek geographers, while the other was called Pontus. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be separate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be the focus of this article.
The kingdom of Cappadocia was still in existence in the time of Strabo as a nominally independent state. The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Caesarea (originally known as Mazaca) and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus.
History
Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age, and was the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa. After the fall of the Hittite Empire, with the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians (Moschoi) after their defeat by Croesus in the 6th century, Cappadocia was left in the power of a sort of feudal aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile condition, which later made them apt for foreign slavery. Thoroughly subdued at last by the satrap Datames, Cappadocia recovered independence under a single ruler, Ariarathes (hence called Ariarathes I), who was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, and maintained himself on the throne of Cappadocia after the fall of the Persian monarchy.
The province was not visited by Alexander, who contented himself with the tributary acknowledgment of his sovereignty made by Ariarathes before the conqueror's departure from Asia Minor;
Under Ariarathes IV Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon.
The Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithradates, elected a native lord, Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 BC); In the civil wars Cappadocia was now for Pompey, now for Caesar, now for Antony, now against him. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end and a certain Archelaus reigned in its stead, by favour first of Antony, then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence till AD 17, when the emperor Tiberius, on Archelaus's death in disgrace, reduced Cappadocia at last to a province.
Cappadocia contains several underground cities, largely used by early Christians as hiding places.
Tourism in Cappadocia
There are many "must see" places in Cappadocia, such as the various "Fairy chimneys", Göreme Valley, Göreme National Park, rock churches, the underground cities of Kaymakli, Derinkuyu (or Ozkonak), Zelve Valley, Avanos, with its pottery, the Uchisar rock fortress, the Ihlara Valley, and Soganli.
Cycling, walking and horseback tours are becoming very popular in the region.
Over the years, the landscape of Cappadocia has been used in such movies as Yor, the Hunter from the Future.
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