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Overview[edit]
The Konya region has been inhabited since the third millennium BC and fell at different times under the rule of the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Greeks, the Persians and the Romans. In the 11th century the Seljuk Turks conquered the area and began ruling over its Rûm (Byzantine Greek) inhabitants, making Konya the capital of their new Sultanate of Rum. Under the Seljuks, the city reached the height of its wealth and influence. Following their demise, Konya came under the rule of the Karamanids, before being taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. After the Turkish War of Independence the city became part of the modern Republic of Turkey.
Ancient history[edit]
Hercules Sarcophagus (c. 250–260) in the Konya Archaeological Museum
A marble statue of Nike, the Ancient Greek goddess located in Konya Archaeological Museum
“Barbarossa’s victory at Iconium” at the Battle of Iconium, whereby Frederick I Barbarossa captures Iconium by Hermann Wislicenus c. 1890.
Marble Sarcophagus, typical of Pamphylia. Roman period, 3rd century AD, in the Konya Archaeological Museum
Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, around 3000 BC.
The Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the eighth century BC and Xenophon describes Iconium (as the city was originally called) as the last city of Phrygia. The region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC. Later it formed part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator.
Historical affiliations
Hittites c. 1600–1200 BC
Phrygia c. 800–695 BC
Achaemenid Empire c. 547–333 BC
Macedonian Empire 333–323 BC
Kingdom of Lycaonia c. 323–17 BC
Roman Empire 17 BC–395 AD
Byzantine Empire 395–1077
Seljuk Empire 1077–1080s
Sultanate of Rum 1080s–1308
Karamanids 1308–1467
Ottoman Empire 1467–1922
Turkey 1923–present
During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon. As Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, was about to die without an heir, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Republic. Once incorporated into the Roman Empire, under emperor Claudius, the city's name was changed to Claudiconium. During the reign of emperor Hadrianus it was known as Colonia Aelia Hadriana.
John Henry Haynes. Konya's Ince Minareli Medrese. 1901.
Üçler Cemetery in Konya. In the background are the Mausoleum of Mevlana and the Sultan Selim Mosque.
Saint Paul and Iconium[edit]
Paul and Silas probably visited Konya during Paul's Second Missionary Journey in about AD 50, as well as near the beginning of his Third Missionary Journey several years later.
According to the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, Iconium was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla, who saved the city from attack by the Isaurians in 354.
An old photo of Konya with an unknown date.
Byzantine Era[edit]
Kılıç Arslan II Kiosk, Konya Seljuk Palace. 19th century, by Garabed K. Solakian.
Under the Byzantine Empire, the city became the seat of a bishop, and in c. 370 was raised to the status of a metropolitan see for Lycaonia, with Saint Amphilochius as the first metropolitan bishop. In the 7th century it became part of the Anatolic Theme and was, together with the nearby (Caballa) Kaballah Fortress (Turkish: Gevale Kalesi) (location) a frequent target of Arab attacks during the Arab–Byzantine wars in the eighth to tenth century, being captured by Arabs in 723–724. The rebellious general Andronikos Doukas used the Kaballah fortress as his base in 905–906. During the tenth or eleventh century the church of Saint Amphilochius was constructed inside the citadel of Kaballa, housing the tomb of the saint which the Turks later believed to be the tomb of Plato, renaming the church to Eflâtun Mescidi (mosque of Plato). The monastery of Saint Chariton, another local from Iconium, was located a few miles away in Sylata.
An old photograph of the Aziziye Mosque in Konya.
The Seljuk commander Afshin attacked Iconium in 1069, but was defeated by Manuel Komnenos. However, he returned a few months later, defeated a force led by Philaretos Brachamios and sacked the city. Following the Seljuk victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Norman mercenary leader Roussel de Bailleul rose in revolt at Iconium. The city was conquered by the Seljuks in 1084.
Seljuk and Karamanid eras[edit]
Main articles: Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate and Karamanids
Late evening view of Mevlana Fountain opposite the Selimiye Mosque, Konya. Turkey
Ince Minaret Medrese (1279) in Konya
Iconium became the second capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum after the fall of Nicaea until 1243. It was briefly occupied by the army of the First Crusade (August 1097) and Frederick Barbarossa (May 18, 1190) after the Battle of Iconium (1190). The area was reoccupied by the Turks after the Crusaders left.
Established in 1273, the Sufi Mevlevi Order and its Whirling Dervishes are renowned symbols of Konya and Turkey.
Konya reached the height of its wealth and influence in the second half of the 12th century when the Seljuk sultans of Rum also subdued the Anatolian beyliks to their east, especially that of the Danishmends, thus establishing their rule over virtually all of eastern Anatolia,. They also acquired several port towns along the Mediterranean (including Alanya) and the Black Sea (including Sinop) and even gained a brief foothold in Sudak, Crimea. This golden age lasted until the first decades of the 13th century.[citation needed]
Many Persians and Persianised Turks from Persia and Central Asia migrated to Anatolian cities either to flee the invading Mongols or to benefit from the opportunities for educated Muslims in a newly established kingdom.
The Mevlana Museum (1274) is the last resting place of the Sufi mystic and poet Rumi in Konya, the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate.
Following the fall of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate in 1307, Konya became the capital of the Eshrefids, a Turkish beylik, which lasted until 1322 when the city was captured by the neighbouring Beylik of Karamanoğlu. In 1420, the Beylik of Karamanoğlu fell to the Ottoman Empire and, in 1453, Konya was made the provincial capital of the Karaman Eyalet.
Ottoman Empire[edit]
Main articles: Ottoman Empire, Karaman Eyalet, and Vilayet of Konya
Under Ottoman rule, Konya was administered by the Sultan's sons (Şehzade), starting with Şehzade Mustafa and Şehzade Cem (the sons of Sultan Mehmed II), and continuing with the future Sultan Selim II.
Between 1483 and 1864, Konya was the administrative capital of the Karaman Eyalet. During the reforming Tanzimat period, it became the seat of the larger Vilayet of Konya which replaced the Karaman Eyalet, as part of the new vilayet system introduced in 1864.
In 1832 Anatolia was invaded by Mehmed Ali Paşa of Kavala whose son, İbrahim Paşa, occupied Konya. Although he was driven out with the help of the European powers, Konya went into a decline after this, as described by the British traveller, William Hamilton, who visited in 1837 and found a scene 'of destruction and decay', as he recorded in his Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus and Armenia, published in 1842.
Konya's textile and mining industries flourished under the Ottomans.
Turkish Republic[edit]
Greeks from nearby village of Sille in the 19th century
During the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) Konya was a major air base. In 1922, the air force, renamed as the Inspectorate of Air Forces, was headquartered in Konya.
Before 1923, 4,000 Orthodox, Turkish-speaking and Greek-speaking Christians lived there. The Greek community numbered approximately 2,500 people who maintained, at their own expense, a church, a boys' school and a girls' school.
In 1923 during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the Greeks of the nearby village of Sille were forced to leave as refugees and resettle in Greece.
