Turkey In Focus - Discover Turkey: Experience the Best of Turkey - page 672

Anatolian Kingdoms
Post-Hittite Anatolia was a patchwork of
peoples, including the Urartians, who forged a
kingdom near Lake Van, and the Phrygians,
who created a capital at Gordion (near Ankara)
under King Gordius (of Gordian knot fame).
The Lycians established a confederation of city
states on the western Mediterranean coast, and
the Lydians dominated western Anatolia from
Sardis (near İzmir), creating history's first-ever coinage.
Meanwhile, Greek influence spread from the burgeoning Greek colonies on the Medi-
terranean coast: the Lycians borrowed the legend of the Chimera, for example, and Lydian
art combined Greek and Persian styles. The Greeks derided most Anatolian people as
'barbarians', with some exceptions; they were so impressed by the wealthy Lydian king
Croesus that they coined the expression 'as rich as Croesus'.
The Persians later checked the expansion of coastal Greek colonies and Hellenic influ-
ence, subdued the interior and ended the era of home-grown Anatolian kingdoms.

5 XANTHOS ( CLICK HERE )

6 AMASYA ( CLICK HERE )

Alexander & After
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian adventurers crossed the Dardanelles,
intent on liberating Anatolia from the Persians. They rolled the Persians near Troy, be-
sieged Halicarnassus (modern-day Bodrum), swept eastwards and vanquished another
Persian force on the Cilician plain.
Alexander conclusively removed Persian influence and brought Anatolia within the
Hellenic sphere. Pergamum (now Bergama) became the most notable settlement in the
network of municipal communities that spread across Anatolia, driven by trade, and the
Greek language eventually extinguished native Anatolian languages.
The cauldron of Anatolian cultures continued to produce various flavour-of-the-month
kingdoms, including Celtic Galatia, the Armenians and the kingdom of Pontus, respect-
ively centred on Ankara, the Lake Van region and Amasya.