Asia Minor -- Ancient History Encyclopedia

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Timeline

6200 BC

First copper smelting in Anatolia.
c. 1380 BC

First instances of iron working in the Hittite Empire.
1350 BC - 1250 BC

The Hittite empire is at its peak.
1334 BC

Trojan War, according to Duris of Samos.
1285 BC

Peak of Hittite power.
c. 1250 BC

Trojan War, according to Herodotus.
1200 BC

Phrygians invade Anatolia and destroy the Hittite empire.
1200 BC

Lydia arises as a Neo-Hittite kingdom.
1184 BC

Trojan War, according to Eratosthenes.
700 BC

Homer writes the Iliad and the Oddysey.
687 BC - 546 BC

Mermnad dynasty rules Lydia.
609 BC - 560 BC

Reign of Alyattes of Lydia. Minting of first coins.
560 BC - 547 BC

Reign of Croesus of Lydia.
547 BC - 546 BC

Cyrus II of Persia conquers Lydia.
513 BC

Darius I of Persia invades southeastern Europe.
499 BC - 494 BC

Ionian cities rebel against Persian rule.
499 BC - 494 BC

Ionian cities rebel against Persian rule.
448 BC

Ionian cities become independent from Persia.
430 BC

Herodotus completes his Histories.
279 BC

Celts invade Thrace and Anatolia.
262 BC

Eumenes rebels and win against the Seleucid Antiochos I. Beginning of the Pergamon Empire.
218 BC

The Aegosages Celts enter Anatolia under Attalos of Pergamon.
c. 189 BC

The treaty of Apameea Kibotos. Peace and alliance is established between the Seleucid Kingdom and Rome joined by her allies, such as Pergamon and Rhodes. The Seleucids have to evacuate all the land and the cities from Asia Minor and to pay a huge war indemnity.
188 BC

Maximum extent of the Pergamon Empire after Apamea peace.
133 BC

Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, bequeathes the whole of Pergamon to Rome.
25 BC

Galatia is peacefully absorbed into the Roman Empire.
42 AD - 62 AD

St. Paul goes on missionary journeys across Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.

Definition

Asia Minor is a geographic region in the south-western part of Asia comprising most of what is present-day Turkey. The earliest reference to the region comes from tablets of the Akkadian Dynasty (2350-2150 BCE) where it is known as “The Land of the Hatti” and was inhabited by the Hittites. It was called, by the Greeks, “Anatolia” (literally, 'place of the rising sun’, designating those lands to the east of Greece). The name 'Asia Minor’ was first coined by the Christian historian Orosius (c.375-418 CE) in his work Seven Books of History Against the Pagans in 400 CE to differentiate the main of Asia from that region which had been evangelized by the Apostle Paul (which included sites known from Paul’s Epistles in the Bible such as Ephesus and Galicia).

In the ancient world, Asia Minor was the seat of the kingdoms and cities of Thrace, Bythinia, Paphlagonia, Aeloia, Phrygia, Galicia, Pontus, Armenia, Urartu, Assyria, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Pisidia, Lycanoia, Caria, Mysia, Ionia, Lydia and, most famously, Troy.

According to the historian Philo of Byzantium (writing in 225 BCE) and later writers, Asia Minor was the site of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (in the region of Ionia) and the Tomb of Mauslos at Halicarnassus (also known as The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, in Caria). The city of Miletus, the birthplace of the philosopher Thales, regarded as the first Western Philosopher, was also in Ionia. Cilicia included the city of Tarsus where the Apostle Paul was born, a region known for its expertise in tent making, which was Paul’s vocation. Lydia was the kingdom of the great King Croesus who defied the Persian Empire under Cyrus and claimed to be the happiest man in the world until his defeat and capture by the Persians. Phrygia was the mythological birthplace of Rhea, the Greek Mother of the Gods and the City of Troy was made famous in Homer’s 8th century works The Illiad and The Odyssey. The region of Asia Minor is regarded as the birthplace of coinage and the first to use coined money in trade; which of the kingdoms were the first to do this, however, is much disputed.

Written by JPryst.

Articles

History of the Hittites

Hittites is the conventional English-language term for an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language and established a kingdom centered in Hattusa (Hittite URUḪattuša) in northern...
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The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: A Tomb for a King and a Testament to Greek Architecture

The term mausoleum, since the Roman era, has meant any large-scale tomb. It is what we think of today as a big marble building...
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Herodotus on Lydia

I:93. Of marvels to be recorded the land of Lydia has no great store as compared with other lands, excepting the gold-dust which is carried down from Tmolos; but one work it has to show which is larger...
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