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54-673: The province is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges: the Taurus Mountains , Mount Hasan , and the Melendiz Mountains . Niğde province is divided into 6 districts (capital district in bold ): Some of the towns within these districts are Bademdere , Bahçeli , Çiftehan , Darboğaz , Fertek and Kemerhisar . Known in antiquity as Nakita or Nahita the name derived from the Iranian goddess Anahita . It has mutated through Nekidâ , Nekide , Nikde and lastly to Niğde by

108-464: A külliye is a 17th-century structure. Niğde also has a number of mineral hot-springs and other attractions, so with a little investment in hotels and other infrastructure the province could attract more tourists than at present. 37°54′57″N 34°41′37″E  /  37.91583°N 34.69361°E  / 37.91583; 34.69361 Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish : Toros Dağları or Toroslar, Greek : Ταύρος) are

162-800: A mountain complex in southern Turkey , separating the Mediterranean coastal region 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. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia . The mountain range under the current name was mentioned in The Histories by Polybius as Ταῦρος ( Taûros ). Heinrich Kiepert writes in Lehrbuch der alten Geographie that

216-529: A 1,600 year-old octagonal church was discovered in the excavations of the ancient city of Tyana. The Aladağlar and Bolkar mountain ranges in the Taurus mountains are popular for winter sports, climbing and trekking through the high meadows and mountain villages. The mountains are particularly attractive when the hills are covered in spring flowers. Niğde is part of Cappadocia and does attract some tourists to its historical sites, although nothing like as many as

270-498: A Luwian inscription of king Saruanis from Andaval as was pointed out by Ignace Gelb (Hittite Hieroglyphs II [1935] pp. 17–18). Then came Assyrians and Phrygians , Greeks , Armenians , Persians , Alexander the Great , Romans , who built the city of Tyana with its palaces and waterworks. Roman rule persisted from the Eastern capital of Byzantium until the area was occupied by

324-424: A Neo-Assyrian vassal during the rules of Warpalawas II and his son and successor, Muwaḫḫaranis II. Some cities in these new territories from Bīt-Burutaš which Sargon II had assigned to Warpalawas II were later attacked and occupied by Atuna and Ištuanda in c.  710 BC . The last known king of Tuwana was Muwaḫḫaranis II, the son of Warpalawas II. As in the latter part of his father's reign, Tuwana during

378-621: A base from which the Hittite forces reconquered the Lower Land from Arzawa. Several Hittite texts associated Tūwanuwa with the cities of Nenašša and Ḫupišna , attesting that they were located close to each other. The city of Purušḫattum was also located close to Tūwanuwa. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tūwanuwa became the centre of the Luwian -speaking Syro-Hittite state of Tuwana in

432-597: A result of a campaign of Tiglath-pileser III in Tabal. Consequently, the longest reigning king of Tuwana, Warpalawas II , was mentioned in the records of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as one of five kings who offered tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III in 738 and 737 BC. Tuwana was a powerful state under Warpalawas II, under whose reign it contained one sub-kingdom whose capital was at the site corresponding to present-day Porsuk , and whose ruler Tarḫunazzas declared himself to be

486-464: A temple dating back to the late Persian era. In 2018, they discovered an ancient Hellenistic temple and a bull statue made from ceramics. Niğde benefits from its rich agriculture, its apples are particularly famous, and its location between the wealthy regions of Konya and Adana on the Mediterranean coast. Also because the province is near the tourist attractions of Cappadoccia it is close to

540-559: Is a 98-metre-high (322 ft) railway bridge constructed in the 1910s by Germans . Tyana Tyana , earlier known as Tuwana during the Iron Age, and Tūwanuwa during the Bronze Age, was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia , in modern Kemerhisar , Niğde Province , Central Anatolia , Turkey . It was the capital of a Luwian -speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom in

594-580: Is a natural frontier: west is Cilicia , east is Syria. There are several passes, like the Amanian Gate (Bahçe Pass) , which are of great strategical importance. In 333 BC at the Battle of Issus , Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the foothills along the coast between these two passes. In the Second Temple period, Jewish authors seeking to establish with greater precision the geographical definition of

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648-504: Is in the province. Niğde has a rich tradition of folk culture including song and dance and the famous proverb (the Turkish equivalent of "the early bird catches the worm") - "Bor's eastern market is over, ride your donkey to Niğde" . Another Niğde tradition is to plum someone (Erikletmek) meaning if you have visitors sit them in the garden and fill them up with plums (or other fruit) so you don't have to give them dinner. As recently as 2020,

702-725: The Promised Land , began to construe Mount Hor as a reference to the Amanus range of the Taurus Mountains, which marked the northern limit of the Syrian plain . During World War I , the German and Turkish railway system through the Taurus Mountains proved to be a major strategic objective of the Allies. This region was specifically mentioned as a strategically controlled objective slated for surrender to

756-783: The Seljuk Turks from 1166 onwards. By the early 13th century Niğde was one of the largest cities in Anatolia and a number of impressive mosques and tombs date from this period. The area was brought within the Ottoman Empire in 1471 and thus passed into the territory of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s. In 2016, archaeologists discovered in Kınık Mound, an archeological site located in Yeşilyurt village of Altunhisar district at Niğde province,

810-610: The kingdom of Tabal , while to the south it extended to the south until the Cilician Gates so that Tuwana was the first area travellers would reach after leaving Ḫiyawa to the north by passing through the Cilician Gates to cross the Taurus Mountains. Tuwana thus corresponded to the region which later in Classical Antiquity was called Tyanitis. Tuwana was therefore located in the southern Tabalian region, of which it

864-769: The region of Tabal , in whose southernmost regions it was located. The kingdom of Tuwana was located in southern Cappadocia and covered the territory located in the present-day province of Niğde in Turkey, lying to the east of the Konya Plain and the Obruk Plateau across Lake Tuz and the Melendiz Mountains until the Hasandağ volcano to the north, where the Erdaş and Hodul mountains formed its northern boundary by separating it from

918-496: The "servant" of Warpalawas. By the time of the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II ( r.  722 – 705 BC ), Tuwana was one of the last still independent Tabalian kingdoms, although it was coming under the pressure of both the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the kingdom of Phrygia because of its location between these two powers, and some Old Phrygian inscriptions on basalt, possibly dated from Warpalawas II's reign, as well as

972-729: The 1st millennium BC. The name of the city was Tūwanuwa ( 𒌷𒌅𒌋𒉿𒉡𒉿 ) during the Hittite Empire, and Tuwana ( 𔑢𔗬𔐤𔔂 ‎ ) in the Luwian language during the Syro-Hittite period. From the Luwian name Tuwana were derived: The location of the Hittite Tūwanuwa/Neo-Hittite Tuwana/Classical Tyana corresponds to the modern-day town of Kemerhisar in Niğde Province , Turkey . The region around Tyana, which corresponded to roughly

1026-578: The 8th century BC, Tuwana's territory included the Mount Mudi, which was likely identical with the "alabaster mountain," Mount Mulî, which the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III climbed and from where he extracted alabaster during his campaign in the Tabalian region in 837 BCE. The name Mulî ( 𒈬𒇷𒄿 ) was the Akkadian form of a Luwian original name Mudi ( 𔑿𔑣 ‎ ) which had experienced

1080-516: 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. Tyana finally entered into a permanent phase of decline after 933 and

1134-580: The Allies in the Armistice , which ended hostilities against the Ottoman Empire . In addition to hiking and mountain climbing, there are two ski resorts on the mountain range, one at Davras about 25 km (16 mi) from the two nearest towns of Egirdir and Isparta , the second is Saklıkent 40 km (25 mi) from the city of Antalya . The Varda Viaduct , situated on the railway lines Konya - Adana at Hacıkırı village in Adana Province ,

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1188-747: The Central Taurus Mountains. It has many peaks rising above 3,000–3,700 m (9,800–12,100 ft). Mt. Kizlarsivrisi , 3,086 m (10,125 ft), in the Bey Mountains is the highest peak in the Western Taurus. The Central Taurus Mountains are roughly defined to include northern Mersin Province and northwestern Adana Province . The highest point in the Central Taurus is Mt. Demirkazık (3,756m). The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass has been

1242-469: The Graeco-Roman period, the city became known as Tyana ( Ancient Greek : Τυανα , romanized :  Tuana ; Latin : Tyana ), and the country around it as Tyanitis ( Ancient Greek : Τυανιτις , romanized :  Tuanitis ; Latin : Tyanitis ). In Greek legend, the city was first called Thoana because Thoas, a Thracian king, was its founder ( Arrian , Periplus Ponti Euxini , vi); it

1296-454: The Luwian sound shift from / d / to / l / . Based on the close association of the "silver mountain," Mount Tunni, with Mount Mulî in the Neo-Assyrian records, both of these mountains were located close to each other, in the northeastern end of the Bolkar and Taurus Mountains, where are presently located the silver mines of Bulgarmaden and the gypsum mine at Porsuk - Zeyve Höyük . Tuwana

1350-507: The Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III's invasion of the Tabalian region which he conducted in 837 BC. By c.  738 BC , the Tabalian region, including Tuwana, had become a tributary of the Neo-Assyrian Empire , either after the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III 's ( r.  745 – 727 BCE ) conquest of Arpad over the course of 743 to 740 BC caused the states of the Tabalian region to submit to him, or possibly as

1404-484: The Phrygian robe depicted as worn by Warpalawas II in his İvriz monument , suggest that aspects of Phrygian culture were arriving into Tuwana during the late 8th century BC in the time of Warpalawas II. Warpalawas II nevertheless appears to have carried out a policy of cooperation with the Neo-Assyrian Empire, thanks to which he was able to keep his throne until the c.  700s BC . And, after Sargon II had annexed

1458-426: The airports of Kayseri and Nevşehir . As well as apples important crops include potatoes, cabbages, grain and sugar beet. Niğde is Turkey's biggest potato growing region and has the most apple trees (although newer plantings in other provinces are achieving greater production). Meat and dairy are also important activities along with beekeeping and more recently trout farms. The country's second largest solar farm

1512-610: The centre of the area in Nevşehir . Sites of historical importance in Niğde include many churches, mosques and underground cities (safe-havens cut deep down into the soft volcanic rock). Another important site is the ancient city of Tyana and a number of Roman waterways in the district of Bor . An important underground city and ancient monastery is located in Gümüşler, Niğde , called Gümüşler Monastery . In Ulukışla, Öküz Mehmet Pasha Complex ,

1566-484: The city was its strategic importance in a fertile plain and as a major stop linking Anatolia with Cilicia. In 372, Emperor Valens split the province of Cappadocia in two, and Tyana became the capital and metropolis of Cappadocia Secunda , and the city was sometimes referred to as Christoupolis ( Medieval Greek : Χριστούπολις , lit.   'city of Christ') in Late Antiquity . Due to its location,

1620-578: The city was on one of the major Christian pilgrim routes in the empire and also had its own local saints such as Orestes, who according to tradition was martyred in Late Antiquity in Tyana and remained a venerated figure in Cappadocia up to the tenth century at least. In the fifth century, Cooper and Decker estimate that the city had possibly a population of no more than 10,000. Being located around 30 km to

1674-509: The forces of Arzawa after it had invaded the Lower Land. Tūwanuwa itself was attacked by Arzawa, and Hittite records of this development associated Tūwanuwa with the town of Tupazziya and Mount Ammuna. Hittite descriptions of the city suggest that Tūwanuwa itself might have been located on a hill or a mountain at this time. The prince Suppiluliuma fought a battle against the Arzawan forces near Tūwanuwa and recaptured Tūwanuwa, which then became

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1728-465: The king Iškallû of Tabal proper, after which it became part of the united kingdom of Tabal and Melid of the king Mugallu. The situation of Tuwana following the loss of Neo-Assyrian control over the Tabalian region after 705 BC is unknown, although the survival of the city's name until the Classical period suggests that there was no significant cultural break there after the end of the 8th century BC. By

1782-450: The king of another state (he is commonly assumed to have been a ruler of Tunna), or whether he ruled in Tuwana after Muwaḫḫaranis II. Masauraḫissas's name might possibly have been a Luwianisation of a Phrygian name Masa Urgitos . By c.  675 BC , Neo-Assyrian sources no longer referred to the local Tabalian kings, suggesting that they, including Tuwana, might have been annexed by

1836-533: The kingdom of Bīt-Burutaš, and the deportation of its king Ambaris in 713 BC, after which Sargon II appointed one Aššur-šarru-uṣur as governor of Que based in Ḫiyawa who also held authority on Ḫilakku and the Tabalian region, including both Bīt-Burutaš and Tuwana. Thus Tuwana and other nearby Anatolian kingdoms were placed the authority of Aššur-šarru-uṣur. Following the appointment of Aššur-šarru-uṣur, Warpalawas II of Tuwana and Awarikus of Ḫiyawa became largely symbolic rulers although they might have still held

1890-431: The kingdom of Tabal, then reorganised as the kingdom of Bīt-Burutaš, and deported its king Ambaris in 713 BC, he increased Tuwana's territory in the broader Tabalian region by giving Warpalawas II part of the territory of Bīt-Burutaš. Tuwana however appears to have come under direct Assyrian rule during the later years of Warpalawas II's reign, especially following the annexation of the kingdom of Tabal, then reorganised as

1944-423: 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 mentions 28 bishops of Tyana, among whom were: In May 1359, Tyana still had

1998-583: The name was borrowed into Ancient Greek from the Semitic ( Old Aramaic ) root טורא ( ṭūrā ), meaning "mountain". The Taurus Mountains are divided into three chains from west to east as follows; The Western Taurus Mountains form an arc around the Gulf of Antalya . It includes the Akdağlar, Bey Mountains, Katrancık Mountain, Kuyucak Mountains, and Geyik Mountains. The East Taşeli Plateau and Goksu River divide it from

2052-659: The north of the Cilician Gates, Tyana lied on the main road between Constantinople and the Levant. Following the Muslim conquests and the establishment of the frontier between the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate along the Taurus Mountains , this made Tyana a recurrent target of raids by the Umayyad and then Abbasid Caliphates in 708, 806 and 831: The city was again taken and razed by

2106-666: The northern regions of the Lower Land . According to the Telipinu Proclamation , Tūwanuwa was part of the territories that the 17th century BC founder-king of the Hittite Old Empire, Labarna I , had conquered and which his sons divided among each other and established their rule there. During the reign of the Hittite Middle Empire's king Tudhaliya III , the cities of Tūwanuwa and Uda had become border towns of

2160-476: The power to manage their kingdoms locally. The reason for these changes was due to the fact that, although Warpalawas II and Awarikus had been loyal Neo-Assyrian vassals, Sargon II considered them as being too elderly to be able to efficiently uphold Neo-Assyrian authority in southeastern Anatolia, where the situation had become volatile because of encroachment by the then growing power of Phrygian kingdom . Tuwana nevertheless appears to have continued to thrive as

2214-676: The principal pass through the Eastern Taurus since ancient times, connecting the coastal plain of Cilicia with Central Anatolia . The Tarsus-Ankara Highway ( E90 , O-21 ) passes through it. Mountain ranges in the Central Taurus include: The Southeastern Taurus Mountains form the northern boundary of the Southeastern Anatolia Region and North Mesopotamia . They include the Nurhak Mountains, Malatya Mountains, Maden Mountains, Genç Mountains, and Bitlis Mountains. They are in

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2268-503: The republican regime of Turkey. The area has been settled since the Neolithic period of 8000-5500 BC, as proved excavations of burial mounds höyük in the district of Bor , and tin mines on the district of Çamardı -Keste. The area was later settled by the Hittites , who lived here for a thousand years up until 800BC. The name Nig˘de first occurs in written sources in the form na-hi-ti-ia in

2322-399: The rule of Muwaḫḫaranis II was under direct rule of the Neo-Assyrian governor Aššur-šarru-uṣur. Muwaḫḫaranis II might have continued to rule in Tabal into the 7th century BC, by which time Neo-Assyrian control of the Tabalian region had ended. A late 8th century BC king named Masauraḫissas is also attested from an inscription at Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük, although it is uncertain whether he was

2376-558: The same area as the former Iron Age kingdom of Tuwana, was known in Classical Antiquity as Tyanitis. According to later Hittite sources, Tūwanuwa was an important cult centre, and its local pantheon was headed by the Storm-god Tarḫunzas of Tūwanuwa and his consort, the goddess Šaḫḫaššara of Tūwanuwa. The city of Tūwanuwa was first mentioned in the texts of the Hittite Empire , as a city located in southeastern Anatolia, in

2430-719: The southern slopes of the Beydaglari range. The mountains have a Mediterranean climate , with dry summers and rainy winters. Temperatures vary with elevation, with warm winters on the lower coastal slopes and cold winters in the high mountains and in the interior. At lower elevations, the predominant vegetation forest and woodland of evergreen oaks and Turkish pine ( Pinus brutia ), and areas of maquis shrubland . Above 1200 meters elevation are montane forests of black pine ( Pinus nigra ), Lebanon cedar ( Cedrus libani ), Taurus fir ( Abies cilicica ), and juniper ( Juniperus spp.). The high peaks are home to alpine meadows. The bull

2484-457: The tale of Baucis and Philemon in the vicinity. Under Roman Emperor Caracalla , the city became Antoniana colonia Tyana . After having sided first with the Sassanid ruler Shapur in 260 and then Queen Zenobia of Palmyra , it was captured by emperor Aurelian in 272, who would not allow his soldiers to sack it, allegedly because Apollonius appeared to him. It is more likely though that

2538-478: The various storm-gods of the ancient Near East, were a people whom modern scholars place in the Taurus Mountains at their probable earliest origins. A Bronze Age archaeological site, where early evidence of tin mining was found, is at Kestel . The pass known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus . The Amanus range in southern Turkey is where the Taurus Mountains are pushed up as three tectonic plates come together. The Amanus

2592-573: The watershed of the Euphrates River and Tigris River . The Taurus Mountains were formed by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates . The predominant underlying rock is limestone . In the Aladaglar and Bolkar mountains, limestone has eroded to form karstic landscapes of waterfalls , underground rivers , and some of the largest caves of Asia . The Manavgat River originates on

2646-410: Was a state whose population was descended from the largely Luwian inhabitants of the former Hittite region of Tūwanuwa. Tuwana might have been ruled by a single dynasty consisting of the kings Warpalawas I, followed by his son Sarruwannis, who was succeeded by his own son Muwaḫḫaranis I, himself succeeded by his son Warpalawas II , whose son and successor was Muwaḫḫaranis II. Tuwana was spared by

2700-451: Was commonly the symbol and depiction of ancient Near Eastern storm gods , hence Taurus the bull, and hence the name of the mountains. The mountains are a place of many ancient storm-god temples. Torrential thunderstorms in these mountains were deemed by the ancient Syrians to be the work of the storm-god Adad to make the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise and flood and thereby fertilise their land. The Hurrians , probably originators of

2754-436: Was in Cappadocia , at the foot of the Taurus Mountains and near the Cilician Gates ( Strabo , XII, 537; XIII, 587). According to Strabo the city was renamed as "Eusebeia at the Taurus", likely due to its refoundation by Ariarathes V Eusebes . In the first century B.C., the city had a gymnasium . Xenophon mentions it in his book Anabasis , under the name of Dana , as a large and prosperous city. The surrounding plain

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2808-406: Was known after it as Tyanitis . In the first century of Roman rule of Cappadocia, the city was one of the only four major "cities" in the region and among those the most hellenised and therefore the closest to a Roman city. Tyana is the reputed birthplace of the celebrated philosopher (and reputed saint or magician) Apollonius of Tyana in the first century AD. Ovid ( Metamorphoses VIII) places

2862-442: Was replaced by a number of nearby settlements. In the Middle and Late Byzantine periods the city recovered somewhat as a place of relative agricultural and commercial importance, but it never hosted more than a few thousand inhabitants. Insignificant ruins of the Byzantine city are still visible at the site of Tyana in the present. As noted, in 372 Emperor Valens created the province of Cappadocia Secunda , of which Tyana became

2916-452: Was the largest and most prominent kingdom, with its territory consisting of several settlements surrounding the royal capital at the city of Tuwana, although the city of Naḫitiya (modern Niğde ; possibly Hittite period Naḫita ) might have temporarily acted as capital under the reign of the king Sarruwannis. Another important settlement in Tuwana was the location known in Classical Antiquity as Tynna and presently as Porsuk-Zeyve Höyük. By

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