Driving from the city of Konya, we entered the region of Kapadokya (or in English, Cappadocia).
Cappadocia has a long recorded history; it was known since the time of the Hittites. It was controlled by the Persians of course during their Empire, was never controlled by Alexander the Great (but fell to his successors) and then eventually became a successor kingdom of Cappadocia until conquered by the Romans.
The region is very much associated with Christianity: in Acts 2 pious Jews from Cappadocia are mentioned as being present at the day of Pentecost, and the region became fully Christianized. The nature of the geography there - rock that could be carved - lent itself to the creation of separate churches and monasteries (similar to the Meteora Region we visited in Greece in 2023, here and here). An entire group of church fathers known as The Cappadocian Fathers originated from here, including John the Cappadocian.
This was literally just across the road from where we stopped. You can see the carved portions.
After the Battle of Manzikert in A.D. 1071, the Seljuk Turks began to infiltrate the area. The Greek population remained, in the process creating a dialect of Greek known as Cappadocian Greek. After the Great Population exchange in A.D. 1924, the language slowly dwindled.
For some reason, the word Cappadocia tickles my brain though I don't know from what context I've heard it before. I'm assuming it must be from Christian contexts but that would be odd for me to have a biblical name like that stick in the folds of my brain matter.
ReplyDeleteEd, it appears only twice in Scripture (Acts and 1st Peter), but it has long Christian roots; several church fathers (including the aptly names John the Cappadocian) came from here. It is also very famous for the balloon rides over its very unique geography.
DeleteEchoing Ed the first mention of Cappdocia rung a bell but a dim one since there was a missing "a"......... :) A lot of history lays on that section of the globe TB, good shots of the carving done on the "living rock".
ReplyDeleteEh, thanks Nylon12! Good at producing content, not so good at editing...
DeleteIt is a funny thing. Cappadocia only appears twice in the New Testament (Acts as mentioned above, and then in 1st Peter 1:1), but I suspect a lot of people would know the name at least, though not why.
The rock carvings will only get more amazing.