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We landed at Samsun, the largest port (with 3/4 million people) on the Southern coast of the Black Sea. Once the final destination for Central Asia trade routes, this is a historic town; but the place has been Houstonized by burying its history deep under modern buildings, leaving us with pleasant views such as this park reaching out into the harbor.
The Genoese flattened the city when they left it in a snit after the Ottomans took it in 1425; they were following the model of "defenders" who burnt the place down long before so the Romans would have ruins when they finally conquered it in 71 BC. They had to destroy the village in order to save it. Here's the town's modern cultural center shaped like a ski slope. It's what you get when you cover an old Greek theater. This place probably had one in the days when it was a colony of Miletus, around the 7th century, BC.
Two museums stand near the piers. The first is the Archeology - Ethnography Museum which features these huge swaths of Roman mosaic flooring in the central hall. Samsun dates back at least to 1500 BC when the Ghaskas established a town near one of the river mouths. They eventually were folded into the Hittite empire.
These mosaics are from the reign of Roman Emperor Alexander Severus in the 3rd century AD. They were restored during Byzantine times, but not here as the museum opened in 1981. Alexander Severus was a disaster as Emperor , but even more so as a Bush league military leader who lost a major war in Iraq but celebrated its victory in Rome. Did anyone say "reality-based"?
Next door was a museum we didn't visit but it honors a much better military leader and statesman named Mustafa Kemal. Eventually he took the name Atatürk. The then 38-year-old Atatürk started the Turkish revolution right here in Samsun.
Samsun struck us as prosperous. Overall, Turkey has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with about 7% annual GDP since 2000. These apartment buildings with their ceramic details struck our fancy.
After WWII, NATO was responsible for upgrading the Samsun area with radar stations, missile launchers, and bases (air force and naval). By air, Samsun was 14 minutes from the Soviet fleet stationed in Sevastopol. The town is also the terminus of a major railroad from the interior of Anatolia which brings iron ore from the mining interior.
We found solar-powered water heaters on almost all newer construction. Most of Turkey's neighbors on the Asian side are flush with oil, but not Turkey. (It has some oil but is a net importer.) The country plans to expand its use of nuclear energy, somewhat to the consternation of the West. Turkey is also connected to a no-longer obscure country called Georgia by the 1100-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the 2nd longest in the world. Georgia invaded South Ossetia the day after this picture was taken, getting themselves into a bit of hot water.
The Samsun plateau appears fertile even if somewhat arid at times. Tilled fields tend to be extremely narrow (and due to their small size, not all that productive.) Each of these strips will often be a different family farm. This will probably be another challenge for Turkey's admission into the EU--but far from their most significant hurdle.
Mosques are obvious throughout the countryside. Because this one has two minarets, it must be an imperial mosque. Building cranes are even more obvious as foreign investment is beginning to flow into the country after a number of changes in government policy.
Samsun is the major port for Turkish tobacco grown nearby and for cigarettes made in its factories. Between these mountains, the plateaus are fertile. Agriculture is about 10% of the Turkish GDP.
We didn't see a lot of evidence of irrigation but did see occassional green spots. Here the orchards begin to sprout up as we approach Amasya, about two hours inland from Samsun and famous for its apples.
New apartments with drop-dead colors edge Amasya, a town renowned for its 19th century Ottoman villas.
Here's the same view without the graffiti. The town is crammed into a narrow gorge carved long ago by the Iris river on its way to the Black Sea. The great majority of the older buildings are on the south side of the river, but new growth is obvious to the east (right in this picture). This place was the seat of the Pontic kings who took over in the chaos left behind by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Nominally it was Greek, but for all practical purposes kept its Persian social structure and customs. Much has survived here despite this being earthquake country.
One of the world's first geographers, Strabos, was born here. He claims the town was named after a fellow denizen who was queen of the Amazons. Surrounded by Smith College girls who brought their own classicist, (and mindful that Camille Paglia is an Eli), we feared lest feminist wars reignite. Luckily, we found the ageless Queen Amasis still wandering the slopes although she appears harmless and claims to be hearing voices. (If you followed all of that, you're good -- or have too much time on your hands.)
The north side appears to be nearly vertical as we scratched our way up bits of the Canik and Pontus mountains. No surprise that this area was a fort for the many conquerors who have traipsed through here, starting with the Bronze Age Hittites around 3200 BC.
Let's discuss one of these groups that have left major tourist attractions on the north gorge of the Iris river: the Pontus kingdom. Pontic hegemony flourished from the 4th century BC collapse of Alexander the Great's empire until Julius Caesar decisively defeated Pharnaces II in 47 BC, characterizing his victory tersely as "Veni, Vidi, Vici."
Five Pontic kings (but not the greatest Mithridates VI) were buried in the now empty tombs high on the north side of the Iris river in Amasya. Mithridates was one of Rome's greatest enemies as he took advantage of the chaos while the dying Roman Republic spawned the birth pangs of the Empire. He killed at least 80,000 Roman citizens (and probably many more Roman allies) as he wrested control of cities from Rome to its east.)
When his soldiers tired of confronting Rome, they forced Mithridates the Great to commit suicide. His son Pharnaces II offered Pompey peace and his father's corpse, both of which were accepted. But 15 years later, Pharnaces rose up again, trying to exploit Roman disorder during the civil war between Pompey and Caesar. After 2 years, he was finally defeated decisively by Caesar at Zela, a few miles south of this tomb. These 5 now empty tombs were built between and 333-26 BC.
A few shots of the citadel (called a Turkish Kale). This fortification was mentioned by native-son Strabos in his geographies.
What's left of the Kale was rebuilt during medieval times.
Other fortress-like ruins still stand high on the northeastern slope. The town continued to be the site of historic events even in the 20th century when he-that-would-become-Atatürk and his fellow conspirators issued the Amasya Circular, similar to the US Declaration of Independence.
The town has expanded to the east, past the narrow gorge that constrains the historic section. Besides orchards, coal mines (Turkey mines over 60 different elements in all) boost the economy but not without havoc. The worst coal mine disaster in Turkey history occurred near here in 1965, killing nearly 70 miners.
Here's a few scenes from daily life. Balconies ripen peppers on their clotheslines and, at right, ...
...dry peppers for later stuffing -- a mainstay of Turkish cuisine. Ottoman cuisine has nearly 40 different recipes just for stuffed peppers (dolma).
Here's a fairly nondescript Turkish bath.
On the narrow north side of the Iris river, the streets provide dramatic views of the tombs of the Pontic kings, often framed by Ottoman-style villas now used mostly for hotels.
Another minaret: this one short and squat and made from wood. Note the light bulbs and the loudspeakers -- a provincial Muslim take on industrial chic.
Lunch time in Amasya! Gas cost the equivalent of about US$11-12 per gallon in Turkey. Our lunch was a little more interesting even though it was not as high-fiber; but, then again, we had to pay a fuel surcharge for the cruise.
The Iris is spanned at Amasya five times. Here's an attempt to bridge the past with the present: The bottom arches have clearly been filled in by silt since the Romans constructed them. The Byzantines added the columns. Modern Turks added the roadbed. It still moves traffic across the Iris river. Old or new, Turkey works.
On the southern shore of the Iris, facing the Ottoman wooden villas across the water, rises the Bayezid II Imperial Mosque. Bayezid the Just banned the new-fangled printing press from the Ottoman empire, a ban that lasted into the 18th century with devastating consequences. On the positive side, in 1492 he had his ships sail the Mediterranean blue -- to Spain where they rescued the Sephardic Jews from the Spanish Inquisition. He relocated them to the Ottoman Empire.
This mosque was built by Bayezid's son Ahmed to honor Bayezid. Ahmed was the crown prince at the time. Often crown princes would be educated in governing by serving stints in Amasya. In fact, Bayezid's father, Mehmed II who was to eventually conquer Constantinople was the 12-year-old governor here when his father abdicated, making him Sultan. Talk about an internship.
Things did not always go well between Bayezid and his son Ahmed; in fact, during Bayezid's last years, his two sons fought over the succession and Bayezid feared both. He eventually abdicated. Ahmed was killed by his brother Selim who succeeded to the throne. Selim tripled the size of the Ottoman empire before dying 8 years later, possibly from anthrax poisoning.
While history did not treat Ahmed well, architecture was more kind. His tribute to his father still stands and is in daily use as a house of worship.
We were told that his letter V represents the fetal position in the womb. It's common on mosques.
The exterior porch
OK, this is a bit kinky but shows the neck-craning vertical views inside...
...with its dome, a standard of classic Mosque architecture...
...and calligraphy, one of the key decorating motifs for a religion that does not allow images of people or animals. Sultans were often expert calligraphers and signed their names on documents with great flourish. (Apparently, they had that kind of time.)
The ablutions fountain -- used by worshipers for the ritual purification that involves washing hands and feet before prayer. Often in Imperial mosques, this is a stone edifice amid a large courtyard. Here we have one made of wood.
The ceiling of the fountain has the town painted on the wood
Note Amasya below the calligraphy.
Our last stop was at an old (1309) Darussifa or Bimarhane which means hospital. We see here the ornamented portal of the Seljuk Architectural style with its multiple decorations and triangular arch above with a muqarnas resembling well-ordered stalactites.
The use of floral motifs was rare in Muslim decoration before 1250, so the portal decorations at the İlhanli Bimarhane Mental Hospital may be one of the earlier survivors. The Seljuks typically confined the ornamentation to doorways and windows to contrast these with the plain stone walls. Limestone was abundant in the area and allowed them to stack tightly fitting stones into rubble-filled walls.
The Seljuks were Central Asian Turks who preceded the Ottomans and ran a large empire (including Anatolia) for about 300 years. Their power here ended about the time this hospital was built at the beginning of the 14th century. They were the first Turkish state in what is today Turkey. In other parts of their empire, they were unwilling (and less-than-gracious) hosts of the first Crusades. In fact, they defeated the Lombards at Amasya in 1101.
The Seljuk sultans frequently intermarried with Byzantine princes and received part of their education at the court in Constantinople. Their power came to an abrupt end with the Mongol invasion a generation after the death of Genghis Khan.
Here in those pre-Ipod days, music was used as a cure for mental illness. Today it's a music school and a cafe. Seljuk buildings typically have ornamented arches opening into arcaded rectangular areas such as this. (But not the domes that the earlier Byzantines and the later Ottomans loved.) Around a courtyard such as this would be one or more iwans -- large vaulted chambers open at one end.
