Eskisehir
Encyclopedia
Eskişehir ' onMouseout='HidePop("94722")' href="/topics/Dorylaeum">Dorýlaion
Dorylaeum
Dorylaeum or Dorylaion was an ancient city in Anatolia. It is now in ruins near the city of Eskişehir, Turkey.The city existed under the Phrygians but may have been much older. It was a Roman trading post. It also was probably a key city of the route the Apostle Paul took on his Second Missonary...

) is a city in northwestern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and the capital of the Eskişehir Province
Eskisehir Province
Eskişehir Province is a province in northwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Bilecik to the northwest, Kütahya to the west, Afyon to the southwest, Konya to the south, Ankara to the east, and Bolu to the north. The provincial capital is Eskişehir. Most of the province is laid down in...

. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River
Porsuk River
The Porsuk River also Kocasu-Porsuk River is a Turkish river, that flows for 448 km. The city of Eskişehir is sited on the banks of this river. The river is dammed by the Porsuk I dam and Porsuk II dam forming large reservoirs....

, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...

n Valley. In the nearby hills one can find hot springs. The city is 233 km (145 mi) to the west of Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

, 330 km (205 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 and 78 km (48 mi) to the northeast of Kütahya
Kütahya
Kütahya is a city in western Turkey with 212,444 inhabitants , lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kütahya Province, inhabited by some 517 804 people...

. Known as a university town, both Eskişehir Osmangazi University
Eskisehir Osmangazi University
Eskisehir Osmangazi University , abbreviated as ESOGU, is located in Eskişehir, in the Eskişehir Province of Turkey...

 and Anadolu University
Anadolu University
Anadolu University is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey and the fourth largest university in the world by enrollment.- History :...

 (which has one of the largest student enrollments in the world) are based in Eskişehir. The province covers an area of 2678 km² (1,034 sq mi).

History

The name Eskişehir literally means Old City in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

; indeed, the city was founded by the Phrygians in about 1000 BC. Many Phrygian artifacts and sculptures can still be found in the city's archeological museum. There is also a museum of meerschaum
Meerschaum
Meerschaum , also sepiolite, is a soft white mineral sometimes found floating on the Black Sea, and rather suggestive of sea-foam, whence the German origin of the name, as well as the French name for the same substance, écume de mer.-Overview:...

 stone, whose production remains still notable, used to make high quality meerschaum pipes. In the fourth century AD the city moved about ten km northeast, from Karacahisar to Şehirhöyük.

Whenever it was mentioned by ancient geographers, the city was described as one of the most beautiful in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

.

As with many towns in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 arrived after Constantine the Great made it the official religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. Beginning in the 4th century, records exist of bishops holding office in Eskişehir. The city was known as Dorylaeum in that period. One of these bishops, Eusebius
Eusebius of Dorylaeum
Eusebius of Dorylaeum was a 5th-century bishop who spoke out against heretical teachings, especially those of Nestorius and Eutyches, during the period of Christological controversy. He was bishop of Dorylaeum which is located in Phrygia . The name Eusebius may also be found as Eusebios which...

, was heavily involved in shaping the evolving dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

 of the church.

Economy

Modern-day Eskişehir is one of Turkey's foremost industrial cities. Traditionally dependent on flour milling and brickyards, the city expanded with the building of railway workshops in 1894 for work on the Berlin-Baghdad Railway.

Devrim
Devrim
- Automotive Industry Congress :On 15 May 1961, the Otomotiv Endüstri Kongresi was opened by President Cemal Gürsel. In his inaugural speech, he said:...

, the first Turkish automobile, was produced in 1961 at the TÜLOMSAŞ
Tülomsas
TÜLOMSAŞ is a locomotive and wagon builder in Turkey. It is the main locomotive supplier of the Turkish State Railways and is one of the 2 companies that designs and assembles locomotives in Turkey along with EUROTEM. TÜLOMSAŞ is the largest company in Turkey in rail transport...

 factory in Eskişehir.

Eskişehir was also the site of Turkey's first aviation industry (Aeronautical Supply Maintenance Centre) and its air base was the command center of Turkey's first Tactical Air Force headquarters
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It ranks 3rd in NATO in terms of fleet size behind the USAF and Royal Air Force with a current inventory of 798 aircraft .-Initial stages:...

 on NATO's southern flank during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

.

Eskişehir boasts many modern industries: production of trucks, home appliances, railway locomotives, fighter aircraft engines, agricultural equipment, textiles, brick, cement, chemicals, processed meerschaum
Meerschaum
Meerschaum , also sepiolite, is a soft white mineral sometimes found floating on the Black Sea, and rather suggestive of sea-foam, whence the German origin of the name, as well as the French name for the same substance, écume de mer.-Overview:...

and refined sugar.
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