Tyana
Encyclopedia
Tyana or Tyanna was an ancient city in the Anatolia
n region of Cappadocia
, in modern south-central Turkey
. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite
kingdom in the 1st millennium BC.
archives as Tuwanuwa. During the Hittite Empire period in mid 2nd millennium, Tuwanuwa was among the principal settlements of the region along with Hupisna, Landa, Sahasara, Huwassana and Kuniyawannni. This south-central Anatolian region was referred to as the Lower Land in Hittite sources and its population was mainly Luwian speakers. Following the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tuwanuwa/Tuwana was a major city of the independent Neo-Hittite kingdoms. It is not certain whether or not it was initially subject to the Tabal
kingdom to its north, but certainly by the late 8th century BC it was an independent kingdom under a ruler named Warpalawa
(in Assyrian sources Urballa). He figures in several hieroglyphic Luwian
inscriptions found in the region, including a monumental rock carving in Ivriz
. Warpalawa is also mentioned in Assyrian texts, under the name Urballa, first in a list of tributees of Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III
and later in a letter of Sargon II
. Warpalawa was probably succeeded by his son Muwaharani whose name appears in another monument found in Niğde
.
king, was its founder (Arrian
, Periplus Ponti Euxini, vi); it was in Cappadocia
, at the foot of Taurus Mountains
and near the Cilician Gates (Strabo
, XII, 537; XIII, 587).
Xenophon
mentions it in his book Anabasis
, under the name of Dana, as a large and prosperous city. The surrounding plain was known after it as Tyanitis.
It is the reputed birthplace of the celebrated philosopher (and reputed saint, god, or magician) Apollonius of Tyana
in the first century AD. Ovid
(Metamorphoses
VIII) places the tale of Baucis and Philemon
in the vicinity.
Under Roman Emperor
Caracalla
, the city became Antoniana colonia Tyana. After having sided with Queen Zenobia
of Palmyra
, it was captured by Aurelian
in 272, who would not allow his soldiers to sack it, allegedly because Apollonius
appeared to him, pleading for its safety.
split the province
of Cappadocia in two, and Tyana became the capital and metropolis of Cappadocia Secunda. In Late Antiquity
, the city was also known as Christoupolis .
Following the Muslim conquests
and the establishment of the frontier between the Byzantine Empire
and the Caliphate
along the Taurus Mountains
, Tyana became important as a military base due to its strategic position on the road to Cilicia
and Syria
via the Cilician Gates
, which lie some 30 km to the south. Consequently, the city was frequently targeted by Muslim raids. The city was first sacked
by the Umayyads after a long siege in 708, and remained deserted for some time before being rebuilt. It was taken again by the Abbasid
caliph Harun al-Rashid
in 806. Harun began converting the city into a military base and even erected a mosque
there, but evacuated it after the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I
bought a peace.
The city was again taken and razed by the Abbasids under Al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun
in 831. Abbas rebuilt the site three years later as an Abbasid military colony in preparation for Caliph al-Ma'mun
's planned conquest of Byzantium, but after Ma'mun's sudden death in August 833 the campaign was abandoned by his successor al-Mu'tasim
and the half-rebuilt city was razed again.
The city fell into decline after 933, as the Arab threat receded. The ruins of Tyana are at modern Kemerhisar
, three miles south of Niğde
; there are remains of a Roman
aqueduct
and of cave cemeteries and sepulchral grottoes.
created the province of Cappadocia Secunda, of which Tyana became the metropolis. This aroused a violent controversy between Anthimus
, Bishop of Tyana, and St. Basil of Caesarea
, each of whom wished to have as many suffragan sees as possible. About 640 Tyana had three, and it was the same in the tenth century (Heinrich Gelzer
, "Ungedruckte ... Texte der Notitiae episcopatum", 538, 554).
Le Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 395-402) mentions 28 bishops of Tyana, among whom were:
In May 1359, Tyana still had a metropolitan
(Mikelosich and Müller, "Acta patriarchatus Constantinopolitani", I, 505); in 1360 the metropolitan of Caesarea secured the administration of it (op. cit., 537). Thenceforth the see was titular.
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n region of Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
, in modern south-central 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...
. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite
Syro-Hittite states
The states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of the Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC...
kingdom in the 1st millennium BC.
History
Tyana is the city referred to in HittiteHittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
archives as Tuwanuwa. During the Hittite Empire period in mid 2nd millennium, Tuwanuwa was among the principal settlements of the region along with Hupisna, Landa, Sahasara, Huwassana and Kuniyawannni. This south-central Anatolian region was referred to as the Lower Land in Hittite sources and its population was mainly Luwian speakers. Following the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tuwanuwa/Tuwana was a major city of the independent Neo-Hittite kingdoms. It is not certain whether or not it was initially subject to the Tabal
Tabal
Tabal was a Luwian speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom of South Central Anatolia. According to archaeologist Kurt Bittel, the kingdom of Tabal first appeared after the collapse of the Hittite Empire....
kingdom to its north, but certainly by the late 8th century BC it was an independent kingdom under a ruler named Warpalawa
Warpalawas
Warpalawa was a late 8th century BC Late Hittite king of Tabal in south-central Anatolia . The political center of this Early Iron Age regional state was probably Tuwanuwa .Among other commemorative monuments, Warpalawas most notably commissioned the carving of a rock-relief at the site of Ivriz...
(in Assyrian sources Urballa). He figures in several hieroglyphic Luwian
Luwian language
Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, and was among the languages spoken during the second and first millennia BC by population groups in central and western Anatolia and northern Syria...
inscriptions found in the region, including a monumental rock carving in Ivriz
Ivriz
Ivriz is an Iron Age archaeological site of a Neo-Hittite rock-relief monument and cult place in south-central Anatolia . The rock relief depicts the late 8th c...
. Warpalawa is also mentioned in Assyrian texts, under the name Urballa, first in a list of tributees of Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
and later in a letter of Sargon II
Sargon II
Sargon II was an Assyrian king. Sargon II became co-regent with Shalmaneser V in 722 BC, and became the sole ruler of the kingdom of Assyria in 722 BC after the death of Shalmaneser V. It is not clear whether he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III or a usurper unrelated to the royal family...
. Warpalawa was probably succeeded by his son Muwaharani whose name appears in another monument found in Niğde
Nigde
Niğde is a small city and the capital of Niğde Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is 109,724 per the 2010 statistics...
.
Greek and Roman periods
In Greek legend, the city was first called Thoana because Thoas, a ThracianThrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
king, was its founder (Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
, Periplus Ponti Euxini, vi); it was in Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
, at the foot of Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
and near the Cilician Gates (Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, XII, 537; XIII, 587).
Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
mentions it in his book Anabasis
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
, under the name of Dana, as a large and prosperous city. The surrounding plain was known after it as Tyanitis.
It is the reputed birthplace of the celebrated philosopher (and reputed saint, god, or magician) Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Little is certainly known about him...
in the first century AD. Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
(Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses (poem)
Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Completed in AD 8, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature...
VIII) places the tale of Baucis and Philemon
Baucis and Philemon
In Ovid's moralizing fable , which stands on the periphery of Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Baucis and Philemon were an old married couple in the region of Tyana, which Ovid places in Phrygia, and the only ones in their town to welcome disguised gods Zeus and Hermes , thus embodying the...
in the vicinity.
Under Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Caracalla
Caracalla
Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
, the city became Antoniana colonia Tyana. After having sided with Queen Zenobia
Zenobia
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267...
of Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
, it was captured by Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
in 272, who would not allow his soldiers to sack it, allegedly because Apollonius
Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Little is certainly known about him...
appeared to him, pleading for its safety.
Late Roman and Byzantine periods
In 372, Emperor ValensValens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
split the province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Cappadocia in two, and Tyana became the capital and metropolis of Cappadocia Secunda. In Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, the city was also known as Christoupolis .
Following the Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
and the establishment of the frontier between the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
along the Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
, Tyana became important as a military base due to its strategic position on the road to Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
via the Cilician Gates
Cilician Gates
The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m....
, which lie some 30 km to the south. Consequently, the city was frequently targeted by Muslim raids. The city was first sacked
Siege of Tyana (707–708)
The Siege of Tyana in 707–708 was carried out by the Umayyads in retaliation for the heavy defeat of an Umayyad army under Maimun the Mardaite shortly before by the Byzantine Empire. The Arab army invaded Byzantine territory in summer 707 and laid siege to the city...
by the Umayyads after a long siege in 708, and remained deserted for some time before being rebuilt. It was taken again by the Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
caliph Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766)....
in 806. Harun began converting the city into a military base and even erected a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
there, but evacuated it after the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I
Nikephoros I
Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I, Logothetes or Genikos was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811, when he was killed in the Battle of Pliska....
bought a peace.
The city was again taken and razed by the Abbasids under Al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun
Al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun
Al-Abbas ibn al-Ma'mun was an Arab prince and general, the son of the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun . A distinguished military leader in the Byzantine–Arab Wars, he was passed over in the succession in favour of his uncle al-Mu'tasim...
in 831. Abbas rebuilt the site three years later as an Abbasid military colony in preparation for Caliph al-Ma'mun
Al-Ma'mun
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...
's planned conquest of Byzantium, but after Ma'mun's sudden death in August 833 the campaign was abandoned by his successor al-Mu'tasim
Al-Mu'tasim
Abu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun was an Abbasid caliph . He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun...
and the half-rebuilt city was razed again.
The city fell into decline after 933, as the Arab threat receded. The ruins of Tyana are at modern Kemerhisar
Kemerhisar
- Geography :Kemerhisar at is a part of Bor district of Niğde Province. Distance to Bor is and to Niğde is . It is only west of Bahçeli another town of Niğde. The population is 5,449 as of 2010.- History :...
, three miles south of Niğde
Nigde
Niğde is a small city and the capital of Niğde Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The population is 109,724 per the 2010 statistics...
; there are remains of a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
and of cave cemeteries and sepulchral grottoes.
Ecclesiastical history
As noted, in 372 Emperor ValensValens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
created the province of Cappadocia Secunda, of which Tyana became the metropolis. This aroused a violent controversy between Anthimus
Anthimus of Tyana
Anthimus of Tyana was a Christian bishop of the Cappadocian city of Tyana. Tyana increased in prominence when Roman Emperor Valens divided Cappadocia into two provinces and Tyana became the capital of Cappadocian Secundus in 371...
, Bishop of Tyana, and St. Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, was the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor . He was an influential 4th century Christian theologian...
, each of whom wished to have as many suffragan sees as possible. About 640 Tyana had three, and it was the same in the tenth century (Heinrich Gelzer
Heinrich Gelzer
Not to be confused with the German classical scholar Matthias Gelzer, who wrote on Julius Caesar and the Late Roman Republic.Heinrich Gelzer was a German classical scholar. He wrote also on Armenian mythology. He was the son of the Swiss historian Johann Heinrich Gelzer...
, "Ungedruckte ... Texte der Notitiae episcopatum", 538, 554).
Le Quien (Oriens christianus, I, 395-402) mentions 28 bishops of Tyana, among whom were:
- Eutychius, at Nice in 325
- Anthimus, the rival of St. Basil
- Aetherius, at Constantinople in 381
- Theodore, the friend of St. John Chrysostom
- Eutherius, the partisan of NestoriusNestoriusNestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...
, deposed and exiled in 431 - Cyriacus, a SeverianSeverianSeverian is the narrator and main character of Gene Wolfe's four-volume novel The Book of the New Sun, as well as its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun. He is a Journeyman of the Guild of Torturers who is exiled after showing mercy to one of his clients.Severian claims to have perfect memory...
Monophysite.
In May 1359, Tyana still had a metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
(Mikelosich and Müller, "Acta patriarchatus Constantinopolitani", I, 505); in 1360 the metropolitan of Caesarea secured the administration of it (op. cit., 537). Thenceforth the see was titular.
External links
- Tyana in Turkey Nigde city. Tyana and Apollonius
- Tyana (Kemerhisar)