1. Name

The origin of the name ‘Cappadocia’, which is recorded for the first time by Herodotus, is attributed by the ancient writers either to a Persian with the same name, who was given this region as a reward for rescuing the Persian king from a lion, or to the Assyrian hero Cappadocus, son of Ninyus or finally to the river Cappadocus. According to modern scholars it is the transliteration in Greek of the probably not Persian place-name ‘Katpatuka’, which means ‘the land of the beautiful horses’. That could also be a survival of the Hittite name ‘Kizzuwatna’.

Ancient written sources refer to the region as ‘Assyria’, ‘Leukosyria’, ‘Leukosyriaki’ and the inhabitants were called not only Cappadoces but also ‘Syrians’, ‘Assyrians’ and ‘Leukosyrians’, national names correlated with the Assyrian domination in the area, as the Greeks called the Assyrians 'Syrians' . On the contrary, the term Syria was not used for this area but for the Palestinian Syria. Regarding the name Leukosyrians in particular, ancient writers believed that its first part (Leuco meaning white) was connected to the pale skin of the people, which was lighter than the inhabitants of south Syria. This theory has only been accepted by some modern historians, while others consider it to be a popular etymology of the ancient Greeks, who transliterated into Greek the prefix ‘Lukki’ or ‘Lyko’ of some names from Asia Minor into ‘Leuko’. Finally, the Armenian place-name ‘Gamirk’ for Cappadocia is related to the raids of Cimmerians to this country.¹

2. Geography

Strabo the geographer, who has delivered the most detailed description of the area, compares Cappadocia to the isthmus of a peninsula, namely Asia Minor, which is defined by the Black Sea in the north and the Issicus bay in the south. According to his description, the Cappadocians lived in an area which bordered to the west Paphlagonia, Phrygia, Galatia and Lycaonia, to the east Colchis, Lesser and Greater Armenia, to the north the Black Sea and to the south Rough Cilicia. The precise borders on the neighbouring areas were altered many times through the ages.² Thus, the placename Cappadocia did not define the same geographical area throughout Antiquity. In addition, the settlements of the people were not limited within the borders of that region.

Regarding the northwest boundaries, we know that in the years prior to the 5^th cent. BC the settlements of the Cappadocian Syrians, as the people were called, extended to the west of Alys river, on coastal areas which later belonged to Paphlagonia. Since the 5^th century, Alys was the natural border to the west, while to the east Cappadocia was defined by the river Thermodontas.³ The south borders of Cappadocia altered considerably within the following years. In the middle of the 5^th century they barely reached north of Alys, while the area to the south of Alys, where the kingdom of Cappadocia was later organized, belonged to Cilicia in that period.⁴ Until the end of the 5^th century the lands to the south of Alys up to the mountain range of Taurus, which became the natural boundary to the south,⁵ were incorporated to Cappadocia. The natural boundaries to the west were river Alys, lake Tatta and Taurus. Finally, to the east the area of Euphrates must have been the east boundary between Cappadocia and Armenia, extending along the line Melitine-Sevasteia-Themiskyra.

Therefore, we can conclude that Cappadocia reached its greatest expansion in the period between the 5^th and the 1^st century BC. In the 1^st cent BC the name Pontus for its northern part is recorded for the first time, which prevailed in the following years. As a result the north boundary of Cappadocia was relocated further south, in the mountain ranges over upper Alys.⁶ Since then the borders of Cappadocia were considered to be the same as those of the Kingdom of Great Cappadocia. The extent of that area is estimated to have been about 80,000 sq. km.⁷

3. Geomorphology

The part of Cappadocia which had that name after the 1^st cent. BC occupied the central plateau of Asia Minor at an altitude of 1,000m. Volcanic mountains dominate the area, with Mt. Argaios (3,196m) being the highest one. Their volcanic activity in combination with the erosion by natural elements has created peculiar conical mountains. These monolithic formations of lava characterize the landscape of Cappadocia, especially west to Caesaria, around Korama.

The west part of Cappadocia is almost treeless-only Mt. Argaios was covered by thick vegetation as well as the mountain ranges of Taurus and Antitaurus, where there were several water springs. Alys to the northwest and Euphrates to the east must have been the natural boundaries of the region. In Cataonia the rivers Saros and Pyramos had their springs. Other rivers in Cappadocia were rivers Melas, which flowed from Mt. Argaios close to Caesaria and Carmalas which flowed through Sargarausine and Cataonia.⁸

4. Economy

The scarce and often contradicting information from the written sources do not permit us to draw a full picture for the agricultural produce in Cappadocia. Cicero calls the area a desert, while other sources mention that it was a fertile land, rich in fruits. The continental climate did not favour the cultivation of vine, olive and fruits. Strabo claims that Melitine was the only place of Cappadocia with cultivated trees, even olives, and that the wine produced there, the so-called ‘monaritis’, was equivalent to the Greek wines.

However, the cultivation of cereals, wheat in particular, was very developed. Cappadocian bread was famous in the Roman world and Cappadocian bakers were considered to be the best. The ‘Cappadocian bread’ was a delicacy made with oil, milk and was rather salty. Nevertheless, the climate with its intense alterations between drought and frost often ruined agricultural produce, resulting in high prices and famine.

Animal husbandry had always been very important for the economy of the area. Cappadocia had a long tradition of horse raising, which were among the best breeds, as well as pack-animals and sheep. Cappadocian horses and mules were exported to Assyria. A hint for the size of animal husbandry in the area is the annual tax the Cappadocians paid to the Achaemenid kings:1,500 horses, 50,000 sheep and 2,000 mules. Its importance remained intact during the Imperial years as well. It is characteristic that the Roman Emperors kept in Cappadocia stables with horses for races.

An important share in the economy of the region was provided by its mineral wealth. The sources mention the existence of precious stones deposits, such as mineral crystal, onyx, alabaster of lesser quality and iaspis. They also mined a white stone which resembled ivory and was used to make hilts for daggers and swords, and another white stone which was called ‘catoptritis’ (meaning reflector) because it was used as a mirror. A diamond stone, which Nero used for the revetment of a temple in Rome, was also brought from Cappadocia. The sinopian miltos, which was called so because it was first exported from Sinope before the traders launched it in the market of Ephesus, was also extracted in Cappadocia. This was a pigment with pharmaceutical properties and according to Strabo it was of excellent quality and equal to the Iberian. Another product from Cappadocia was salt. The production of steel and arsenic is also testified.

The silver deposits in south Cappadocia were very important as they were unique in the entire area. Their exploitation started in the Hittite period and continued throughout Antiquity until modern times. The silver mines supplied the mint of Caesarea, which developed into one of the most important in the Roman Empire. Most mines were personal property of the kings of Cappadocia and later of the Roman emperors.

The natural resources of Cappadocia were so wealthy that when it became a Roman province emperor Tiberius put it under its immediate administration in order to have the exclusive right to collect taxes. The annexation of Cappadocia to the Roman empire was also beneficial for the Roman citizens, as the profits from the new province permitted Tiberius to cut in half the tax which all Roman citizens had to pay as contribution to the Military Fund.⁹

5. History

5.1. Early years

The history of Cappadocia begun in the ancient Assyrian period (circa 2000-1750 BC), as it can be concluded by the most ancient written sources on the prehistory of Asia Minor which were found in modern Kultepe.¹⁰ In the last quarter of the 20^th cent. BC Assyrian traders established themselves in central Asia Minor forming a network of colonies which facilitated trade between Anatolia and the regions of Mesopotamia and northern Syria. In Cappadocia, and particularly in Kanesh or modern Kultepe, was the administration center of the Assyrian colonies which formed a kind of ‘province’ of the ancient Assyrian city-state of Assur.¹¹ Before the end of the ancient Assyrian period the history of Cappadocia and Asia Minor in general is associated with a new tribe the Hittites.¹² Under their domination the small principalities of fragmented Cappadocia were unified and the country became the core of the immense Hittite state. For five centuries and until the abolition of the Hittite empire in c. 1200 BC, Cappadocia was flourishing with Kanesh as the first capital and Hattusha, modern Bogazkoi, later. The intrusion of a new wave of Indo-European tribes into Asia Minor just after 1200 BC was the beginning not only of the decline of the Hittite influence but also signalled a new fragmentation of the country into small hegemonies.¹³ The next five centuries marked a most eventful period in the history of Cappadocia. During this period the east part became the core of the kingdom of Tabal, the country was invaded by Assyrians, Cimmerians and Scythians, new races settled in the region and it came under the influence, if not under the administration for a short interval, of the kingdom of Phrygia.¹⁴ When the Medes conquered Cappadocia in the early 6^th cent. BC, they influenced it dramatically.

5.2. The Persian period

In 546/545 BC Katpatuka is incorporated into the kingdom of the Achemenid Persians by king Cyrus I. According to Herodotus, whose testimony probably reflects the organization of the Persian state in the time of Darius I (522-486 BC), Cappadocia becomes part of the 3^rd prefecture of the Persian state, while a more recent theory suggests the accession of the region into the 13^th.¹⁵ Strabo claims that prior to the Macedonian conquest, Cappadocia was divided into two satrapies, where the subsequent kingdoms of Great Cappadocia and Cappadocia next to Pontus were founded. This development is probably dated after the death of the satrap of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia Datames in 358 BC.¹⁶

5.3. Hellenistic and Roman Period

The fate of Cappadocia during the campaign of Alexander the Great in 334 BC is a controversial matter. Some sources report that Alexander crossed part of it and appointed Savictas or Avistamenes as a satrap. According to another testimony, Alexander did not marched through this country at all. It is highly plausible that the new satrap did not manage to rule the satrapy given to him or that he dominated it but soon lost his authority by submitting to the Persian counter-attack which followed the battle of Issus in 333 BC.¹⁷ It is also reported that after that battle the Persian king Darius offered Cappadocia to Alexander along with his daughter’s hand, hoping to stop Alexander’s advance in his kingdom.¹⁸

After Alexander’s death in 323 BC and during the first half of the 3^rd cent. BC Cappadocia came successively under the power of all Alexander’s generals and successors who ruled for a short period in the greatest part of Asia Minor in that period. Meanwhile, as the successors were devoted to their struggles for the Macedonian reign and the territorial expansion of their states, a gap of authority was created in this frontier and inaccessible country which permitted the establishment of two native dynasties: of Mithridates in northern Cappadocia and of Ariarathes in the south.¹⁹

The kingdom of Great Cappadocia was founded in 255 BC, was abolished in 17 AD and turned into the Roman Province of Cappadocia. In 72 AD Cappadocia, Galatia, northern Pisidia, Lycaonia, Paphlagonia and the former kingdoms of Pontus and Lesser Armenia were unified into one large province named ‘Cappadocian Province’. Between 107 and 113 AD Cappadocia was again named Province of Cappadocia along with Lesser Armenia, part of Lycaonia, a part of the hinterland of Pontus, as well as the kingdom of Polemon.²⁰ The kingdom of Pontus was founded in 281 BC and was abolished in 63 BC. In 62 BC a part of it was incorporated into the Roman Province of Pontus-Bithynia, while another part was ceded to native kings who were client kings to Rome. When the Roman domination began the name ‘Pontus’ was used for the first time for this region of northern Cappadocia.

6. Language and culture

The earliest written evidence from Cappadocia, the clay tablets with cuneiform script, testify that in the ancient Assyrian period (circa 2000-1750 BC) the official language was Accadian. However, already in that period the first Louwian or Hittite names appear in written sources, as groups of Indo-Europeans who are associated with Hittites penetrated into Asia Minor. The Greek definitions ‘Syrians’, ‘Leukosyrians’ or ‘Cappadocian Syrians’ dissociate the Louwian population of northern Syria from the population of the region which was later called Syria and Palestine. Inscriptions in the Phrygian language testify the influence of the ancient Phrygian kingdom during the 7^th/6^th cent. BC.²¹ After the Persian conquest the official language was Aramaic, which prevailed until Late Antiquity and was the only language spoken by the rural population reflecting, as well as the survival of cults of Persian origin, the adoption by the natives of elements of the Persian culture.

According to Strabo, the only people who initially spoke a different language were the Cataones. Ancient writers considered Melitine to be part of Cataonia and the Cataones to be of a different ethnicity from the Cappadocians. However, after the incorporation of Cataonia to the Cappadocian kingdom in the second half of the 3^rd cent. BC, the Cataones were assimilated and the whole region of Cappadocia formed one lingual and national entity. The Greek language, although it was used in administration along with Aramaic, as it can be seen by official papers of the 2^nd cent. AD, was never particularly widespread in Cappadocia. The barbarian accent of the Greek language, even by the members of the highest status and orators, as well as the obsession of the Cappadocians with their own language, were some of the reasons why their complete incorporation to the Greek and Roman civilization is disputed.

Another characteristic of this civilization, the political organization, did not develop in Cappadocia. As in Greek-Roman antiquity the existence of cities was connected to fair and just government, the Cappadocians were viewed as underdeveloped and barbarians. This impression was reinforced by their refusal to accept the abolishment of monarchy which was suggested by Rome in the beginning of the 1^st cent. BC. Moreover, many Cappadocians reached Rome as slaves. For these reasons the national name ‘Cappadox’ implied the non-Greek, the barbarian.

Contrary to what was happening to other regions in Asia Minor, the Hellenization of Cappadocia was a long process, accelerated only by the rapid christianization of its inhabitants. However, even though in the second half of the 3^rd cent. AD a large part of the population had become Christians, in the 4^th cent. AD the local language continued to dominate in the rural population. Cappadocia would become Hellenized only after the complete dominance of Christianity and only then it became an ideological and cultural part of the Roman Empire.²²