İskilip, Turkey

History

People have been attracted to the saline springs of İskilip since the earliest times, and the town stands on a route through the mountains to the Black Sea coast. Therefore, this is one of the longest-settled areas of Anatolia; copper was smelted here in ancient times, when the plain was settled by the Hittite and Hatti civilizations (from 3000 BC). Rock carvings on the hill of Yivlik are said to date to the Hittite period. The area which consists of İskilip and Tosya district of Kastamonu Province was known as Tarittara or Turmitta during the Hittite era.

The Hattic city was then possessed by Paphlagonian kings (from 900-700 BC), was mentioned in the Iliad, and was visited by Herodotus. Then came the Galatians and the kings of Pontus, but these were soon displaced by a much stronger civilization. For the ancient Romans, who paid their soldiers in salt, the area had great importance. The Romans and, subsequently, the Byzantines settled here for a thousand years, making İskilip one of their key strongholds on the Kızılırmak. Byzantine rule of Anatolia ended in 1071 following the Byzantines' defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert, and İskilip was soon settled (1074) by the Danishmend Turkomans, who brought Islam to the region. Centuries of fighting ensued between further Turkoman clans and, from the 13th century, waves of Mongol and Tatar invaders.

From the History section of İskilip on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.