On our map, we see data compiled from Ancient sources regarding the ethnic and linguistic structure of Anatolia around the year 0.
Sources: The primary sources are the Geography of Strabo of Amasya, completed around 17 AD, and the encyclopedic work Naturalis historia, penned by Pliny the Elder around the year 70. In addition, the linguistic distribution of historical place names in Nişanyan Yer Adları has been taken into account. Useful sources regarding the eastern provinces, on the other hand, only become abundant toward the end of the 4th century AD.
1. In my opinion, the most striking graphic element of the map is the distribution of Greek cities.
The Greeks did not multiply in Anatolia through mass migration and reproduction. They expanded by founding cities, which represented an entirely new form of social organization. A city (polis) means specific institutions (temple, theater, gymnasium, assembly), a shared belief system (Greek mythology), and a common written language (Greek). The city populace was probably overwhelmingly indigenous. However, the shared language is Greek, and the common religion is the Olympian religion. ALL cities are Greek cities. A non-Greek city was, I believe, an unheard-of concept until the mid-3rd century.
The first Greek cities worthy of the designation “city” appeared on the Ionian coast in the 6th century BC. From the 4th century BC onward, they spread along the coasts and advanced inland through the Aegean valleys. Beginning in 66 BC, cities founded on the Greek model, such as Nicopolis and Pompeiopolis, emerged in the interior of Anatolia through Roman military power. Those settled here were partly Roman soldiers and partly the indigenous servant class. Yet these cities were Greek cities in terms of language, religion, culture, and allegiance.
During the imperial era, urban culture would spread across the entire country (partly aided by tax incentives), and the language of the cities (Greek) and their new religious synthesis (Christianity) would become standardized throughout all of Anatolia toward the 4th century.
2. The Thracians possessed settled kingdoms in Southern Bulgaria and Thrace whose roots dated back to the second millennium BC. We know some 20-25 words, about 60 place names, and a few personal names from their language. It is an Indo-European language. Its degree of kinship with the Anatolian languages remains unknown.
We know that there were Thracian settlements in Bithynia (the Kocaeli peninsula, Yalova, etc.).
The place names Byzantion, Silivri, Çorlu, and Vize are Thracian.
3. Homer recounts that the people of the Anatolian side of Çanakkale descended from an ancestor named Dardanos. The element Dardan- appears as a place name and personal name throughout the entire Balkan geography. It signifies being of Dardania, meaning belonging to the Illyrian-origin population of modern-day Kosovo.
Toward the year 0, the indigenous population of Çanakkale (Anatolian side) and Balıkesir was called Mysian. They are probably the same tribe or its continuation.
4. Bithynia possessed a powerful kingdom until the year 74 BC. The royal dynasty was of indigenous (Bithynian) origin, but bore Greek or Persian names from the 3rd century BC onward.
Perhaps all the districts of Bursa, Bilecik, and Sakarya could have been shown as Bithynian on the map.
5. The Mygdones, who gave their name to the district of Mudanya, arrived by sea, clashed with the Bithynians, and settled on the coast. The name is probably the Macedonian equivalent.
6. The Mariandyni were the indigenous inhabitants of Karadeniz Ereğli. Their borders are designated as the Sakarya River in the west and the Filyos River in the east. Some time before the Christian era, they were defeated by the Paphlagonians and merged with them.
7. The region between the Bartın River and the Kızılırmak was Paphlagonian territory. The Paphlagonians are probably the continuation of the Kaskian people mentioned in the 2nd millennium BC. They had a language belonging to a branch within the Indo-European group distinct from Hittite.
8. 9. 10. 12. 13. The Lydians, Carians, Lycians, Pisidians, and Lycaonians probably possessed distinct Anatolian languages that were continuations of the ancient Luwian language. The homeland of the Lydians was Salihli; that of the Carians was the area between Söke and Bodrum and the south bank of the Büyük Menderes; that of the Lycians was the Teke Peninsula between Dalaman and Adrasan; that of the Pisidians was the Lakes Region; and that of the Lycaonians was the Konya Plain.
11. 14. Strabo reports that four localities around Cibyra in Burdur Gölhisar spoke Lycian and Greek, but possessed a separate language of their own. The Solymoi, who inhabited the eagle's nest-like city of Telmessos west of Antalya, were a ferocious tribe that struck fear into all surrounding peoples. We have no knowledge regarding their language.
15. The population of Pamphylia is recorded as having consisted of diverse tribes. The name of the region means “all tribes”: Pan “all”, phylē “tribe”.
16. The Isaurians living in the Ermenek-Hadim region preserved a strong ethnic identity and probably a distinct language until as late as the end of the 5th century. In the year 476, a local potentate named Tarasis, son of Kodissas, became Eastern Roman Emperor through a military coup.
17. On the small map, we see the distribution of ancient place names in Old Anatolian languages (that is, in languages related to Hittite and Luwian). We may assume that the indigenous population in this area spoke various Anatolian languages. However, our information concerning the period around the year 0 is insufficient.
18. The Phrygians, probably arriving from the Balkans in the early 1st millennium BC and spreading terror across all of Anatolia, settled in the Inner Aegean region. They formed a ruling class over the populace speaking indigenous Anatolian languages. Almost all ancient place names in the region are in Anatolian languages.
The Moschoi/Mushki tribe, whose names were heard in the 8th century BC in Kayseri, Elazığ and Palu, the Muş Plain, and even in Artvin and Göle, was also most likely a branch of the Phrygians.
19. The Galatians were Western or Central European Celts. In 278 BC, after burning and pillaging the Balkans in a massive horde, they crossed over to Anatolia. They established three tribal kingdoms in Pessinus (Eskişehir Ballıhisar), Ancyra (Ankara), and Tavium (Yozgat Büyüknefes). They preserved their language until the 4th century AD. Most place names, including Ancyra, are not in Galatian, but in old Anatolian languages.
20. The population of the Cilicia region extending from Alanya to Ceyhan was probably not a single tribe. Place names exhibit a structure distinct from Anatolian Languages. Some display Semitic (Phoenician? Aramaic?) characteristics. It is understood that an archaic Hellene (Danaoi) element dating back to the Bronze Age was also present in the region.
21. The Cappadocians, who formed two distinct groups centered on Kayseri and Samsun, are an enigma. In the 8th century BC, the Cimmerians, an Iranian tribe, settled or established hegemony between Kayseri and Gürün-Darende. (Armenian historians call Cappadocia the “Land of the Cimmerians” – Kamirk.) In contrast, the Mushki founded the city of Mazaca/Majak (Kayseri). (According to Ancient Armenian historians, the Mushki were Armenian or subjects of the Armenian king.)
In the 4th–3rd centuries BC, Persian or Median culture appears dominant in the Cappadocian kingdom. The rulers bore Iranian names.
Yet according to Strabo and his contemporaries, the people of Cappadocia and Pontus (Amasya-Samsun) were “White Syrians” (Leukosyrioi). Countless academic articles have been written on what this signifies.
In this region, place names belonging to Anatolian Languages do not exist, or there are only one or two.
22. The Mardaites living in Maraş and the Amanus Mountains to its south are mentioned only after the Islamic conquest at the earliest. However, the name Jarajima (those of Jurjum) given to this people by the Arabs must be an archaic name. We have no knowledge regarding their origins or language. The name Mardaite recalls the Medes. During the Umayyad era, a portion of this people, who remained Christian, would be exiled to Lebanon and Yemen, while another portion was exiled to Antalya, the Dodecanese, the southern Peloponnese, and the vicinity of Preveza.
23. The people who are referred to in ancient sources as Gordy, Kordy, or Kyrdoi are very clearly localized to the north and east of Mount Cudi (Kurd Mountain). This corresponds to present-day central Şırnak and neighboring districts. Jezire (Cizre) is not included. Hakkari is uncertain. It is unknown who the “cave-dwellers” inhabiting the Norduz country between Hakkari and Van-Gürpınar were.
24. The Medes (Medoi, Mardoi), who possessed a vast domain in Western Iran and ruled the world briefly in the early 7th century BC, probably spoke the same language as the Kurds or a language similar to it. Yet in all ancient (Greek, Roman, Armenian, Syriac) sources, they are represented as a distinct tribe from the Gordy/Kordy. There were dynasties of Median origin (or tracing their descent to Median rulers) that held sway in the Armenian lands and in the territory extending westward as far as Kayseri. However, we possess no data indicating that the Median language and culture continued to survive in this sphere. In many instances, it is understood that they adopted the Armenian language and political culture.
It is recounted that when the Urartian kingdom fell in the 6th century BC, the Median king appointed his brother or relative as king of the Armenians, thereby settling Medes in Ağbak (Başkale) and the Gürpınar-Edremit valley. By the 4th century AD, however, the rulers of this region clearly belonged to the Armenian language and political culture.
The Georgian Chronicle records that, in the legendary age, the Georgian king built the fortress of Ardahan and settled “devil-tongued Medes” in the region.
25. There is no doubt that Armenian was the common and dominant language in the country the Romans named Armenia Major. Nearly all the ancient place names in the region we have indicated with 25 are Armenian. The legends of local dynastic families were recorded extensively after the 4th century.
26. The Sivas and Şebinkarahisar region, designated by the Romans as Armenia Minor, came first under the sway of the kings of Pontus and subsequently under that of the Romans in the 1st century BC, and was, by all accounts, Hellenized to a greater or lesser degree. This region plays no role in early Armenian history. No activity of the Armenian church founded in the 4th century is recorded in this region (prior to the era of Turkish conquests).
27. Herodotus and other Ancient Greek historians record that a tribe named the Saspeires lived in İspir. The name is structurally Georgian or in a similar language. However, at an uncertain date before or after the Christian era, Armenians conquered this region. All ancient place names that have survived to the present day are Armenian.
28. 29. Ancient Armenian historians state that there were tribes in Pasinler (Paseank, 28) and Kars (29) who were not originally Armenian, but had adopted the Armenian language and culture to a greater or lesser extent. According to the same historians, the people of Kars were among the peoples of the northern Caucasus. They may be of Caucasian, Iranian, or Turkic origin.
30. 31. Kings bearing Persian names, declaring allegiance to a Median or Persian lineage, yet maintaining close kinship and cultural ties with Armenian kings, ruled in Sophene (Çemişgezek, Pertek; later Elazığ, Ergani, and Eğil) and Commagene (Adıyaman). We have no knowledge regarding the composition of the population. The Romans always designate Sophene as Armenia. This term is not used for Commagene. Judging from subsequent developments, one may assume that the population of Commagene was predominantly Aramean/Syriac, and that the southern provinces Sophene later acquired were also at least partly Aramean/Syriac.
32. Our knowledge regarding the areas we have shown in pale brown is very limited. These places are shown among the possessions of the Armenian kings, but information concerning individuals, events, and settlements is practically non-existent.
33. Nomadic tribes bearing the name “Arab” are recorded in Harran and its environs starting from the pre-Christian era. However, there is no consensus in academic literature as to what the Arab mentioned here signifies. According to some views, the name Arab was given to Aramaic-speaking nomadic tribes or rebellious clans not subject to settled political entities.
34. The southeastern provinces belonged to the Aramean/Assyrian culture, the dominant culture of the ancient Middle East. The Silvan-Batman-Sason-Bitlis region was a principality or kingdom periodically subject to Armenian kings but boasting descent from Assyrian kings. The kingdom of Osroene in Urfa, which lasted until the 3rd century AD, is the homeland of the Aramaic written language termed ‘Syriac’. However, in the 1st century, the Roman Pliny defines the land of Urfa remaining on the left of the Euphrates as “Arabia”.
35. It is said that the indigenous populace forming a settled culture in Şemdinli and the central district of Hakkari were Assyrians speaking another Aramaic dialect. Leaving aside the pre-Christian era, finding reliable information concerning the detailed history of the region prior to the 19th century is impossible.
36. The provinces of Artvin and Ardahan were subject to the kingdom of Iberia, which later took the name “Georgian”. Place and personal names are referred to in the compilation of archaic texts called the Georgian Chronicle.
37.-42. Greek and Roman historians refer to tribes named Taokhi in the Yusufeli district, Kolkhi on the Atina-Hopa-Batumi coast, Mossynoikoi (“wooden-house dwellers”) or Heptakometes (“seven-villagers”) in the mountains of Hemşin and Of, Chalybes or Khaldi in Gümüşhane and Torul, Macrones around Trabzon and Maçka, and Tibareni in Ordu and Giresun. Based on tribal and place names, one may consider that they possessed Kartvelian languages such as Georgian (or were named by speakers of Kartvelian languages, or adopted Kartvelian names for themselves).