|
DID YOU KNOW?
§
Istanbul is the only city in
the world located on two continents,
Europe and Asia. In its thousands
years of history, it has been the
capital of three great empires –
Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.
§
The oldest known human settlement in
the world is located in
Catalhoyuk, Turkey, dating back
to 6500 B.C.
|
|
|
Bosphorus, Istanbul
|
§
The earliest landscape painting in
history was found on the wall of a
Catalhoyuk house, illustrating the
volcanic eruption of nearby
Hasandag.
|
|
|
Catalhoyuk |
§
Two of seven wonders of the
Ancient World stood in Turkey – the
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Bodrum.
§
Turks introduced
the coffee to Europe.
§
The
first coins ever minted were done so
at Sardis, the capital of the
ancient kingdom of Lydia, the end of
seventh century BC.
§
The word “turquoise”
comes from “Turk” meaning Turkish,
and was derived from the beautiful
colour of the Mediterranean Sea on
the southern Turkish coast.
§
Turks first gave
the Dutch their famous tulips
that started to craze for the flower
in England and the Netherlands.
Bulbs brought to Vienna from
Istanbul in the 1500s were so
intensely popular that by 1634 in
Holland it was called “tulipmania”.
People invested money in tulips as
they do in stocks today. This period
of elegance and amusement in 17th
century Turkey is referred to as
“The Tulip Age”.
§
The most
valuable silk carpet on the world
is in the Mevlana Museum in Konya,
Turkey. Marco Polo’s journeys in the
thirteenth century took him here,
and he remarked that the “best and
handsomest of rugs” were to be found
in Turkey.
§
Many important
events surrounding the birth of
Christianity occurred in Turkey.
St. John, St. Paul, and St. Peter
all lived and prayed in southern
Anatolia. Tradition has it that
St. John brought Virgin Mary to
Ephesus after the Crucifixion, where
she spent her last days in a small
stone house (Meryemana Evi) on what
is now Bulbuldagi (Mount Koressos).
It remains a popular pilgrimage site
for Christians to this day.
§
Many
archaeologists and biblical scholars
believe Noah’s Ark landed on Agri
Dagi (Mount Ararat) in eastern
Turkey.
§
The Seven
Churches mentioned in the Book of
Revelation are all found in Turkey:
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and
Laodicea.
§
A cave known
today as the Grotto of St. Peter, or
Church of St. Peter, is believed to
be where the Apostle Peter preached
when he visited Antioch (Antakya in
southern Turkey). It’s widely
considered to be one of the earliest
Christian houses of worship. In
1963, the papacy designated the site
as a place of pilgrimage and
recognized it as the World’s
first cathedral. Every year on
June 29, a special service held at
the church, is attended by
Christians from around the world.
§
Anatolia is the
birthplace of many historic figures
and legends, such as the poet Homer,
King Midas, Herodotus (the father of
history) and St. Paul the Apostle.
§
St. Nicholas,
known as Santa Claus today, was
born and lived in Demre (Myra) on
Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The
village contains the famous Church
of St. Nicholas with the sarcophagus
believed to be his tomb.
|
|
|
Church
of St. Nicholas
|
§
The first man
ever fly was Turkish. Using two
wings, Hazarfen Ahmet Celebi
flew from the Galata tower over
Bosphorus to land in Uskudar in the
17th century.
|
