Ancient Turkey

Found this book to be a great help in putting the many pieces of History of Turkey and Anatolia over the past 4,500 years. Not a dry academic text, but written for the reader to move through the history of places and peoples. Not a stirring account but very comprehensive. Read this with several books on Turkish ancient history in prep for a 3 week tour of the Western Turkish Ancient sites. This proved a good companion to the Blue Guide of Turkey.

Apologies to genuine readers who think politics has no place in this column.But I could not help add a very simple fact. If only this Dutch fellow who has spent years as an archeologist visited Istanbul to find Armenian churches all over the place as the Armenian community who were left intact in Istanbul after the so-called genocide (!). Oh, if it was Asia Minor where he could not find anything left Armenian, he only needed to as far as Erzurum, Erzincan, Kars (eastern provinces of Turkey) to see mass graves of Turks still being uncovered today as the legacy of Armenian gangs.

Seton Lloyd is known to American public by his commentaries on Public Television documentaries about Turkey. He is a well informed scholar, and trustworthy. Therefore I was offended by the Amsterdam, Holland reviewer who, trying to push his own political agenda, tries to kick dirt on Seton Lloyd. Seton Lloyd writes what is Turkey most famous for: its Greco-Roman, ancient Hittite, and Mesopotanian heritage. Most Americans I know want to go Turkey to see the earliest churches of Christianity, likewise many Europeans enjoy discovering their Christian-Greco-Roman heritage as well. There are a lot of Armenian relics in Turkey, a country with the history of many peoples and cultures. Visitors to those regions know where they are and they go to visit them as well.

This was one of our best preparations for our tour of Turkey ( cascoly.com/tours.htm) It covers an enormous period from prehistoric times to the Christian era, yet manages to set everything in perspective. Lloyd traces the exploits of the Hittite kings, the confrontation of Croesus and the Persian king Cyrus, the conquests of Alexander the Great, and Mithridates' epic resistance against Rome. Plus, it addresses the history as a traveler will see it. Archaeological landmarks discussed include the discovery of the Alaca Huyuk tombs, the attempts to establish the location of Troy, and the opening of the Tomb of Midas. Lloyd shows how each successive culture has left its mark on an astonishing variety of sites, from the shrines of Catal Huyuk to the temples of Ephesus and the churches founded by St. Paul. In our month long trip we only managed to visit about half the sites that he discusses, although we saw many of them represented in museums. But that just means we'll still be using this book on our next trip. My only wish would be that he could follow with a book covering the last 2000 years of Turkish history

I read this book prior to and during a recent trip to Turkey and Greece. Although I have studied this area in art history classes, I was blown away by the breadth and scope of what remains today of ancient civilazxations in this part of the world! This book enabled me to undertand the importance of what is currently still in existence, but what had been there before. Ephesus, following this book, was an a truly incredible experience. This book was exaraordinarily readable as well, not overy text book like. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to know more about Turkey and its very imoprtant place in ancient history as the croos roads of many incredible civilizations.