Page 49 - kayseri-medeniyetlerin-besigi

kayseri tariHi | tariHi maZaka şeHri
vardır, ne de doğal bir şekilde tahkim edilmiştir; ve valilerin ihmali
yüzünden surları da yoktur.
Bir ok atımlık mesafede bulunan ve yararlı tepelerin önünde yaşa- Mazak word became “Mazaka” when passing to Greek language.
yan halk, surlara çok güvenerek yağmacılık yapmasınlar diye, belki de
tahkimat yapılmamıştır. Ayrıca bütün çevredeki toprak düz olduğu
halde çok kıraçtır ve çift sürmeye elverişli değildir, kurumlu ve altı
kayalıktır. Biraz daha ilerleyince içinde ateş çukurları bulunan bir çok
station uzunluğundaki volkanik araziye gelinir. Ayrıca elverişli gibi
**
gözüken bir şey de aslında tehlikelidir. Çünkü bütün Kappadokia’da hiç
** Station: 600 ayak adımıdır. Eski Yunan kültürünce 180–200 metreye denk gelen
bu uzunluk ölçüsü birimidir
hIstory of KayserI | hIstorIcal mazaKa cIty 49
mentioned Armenian “Meschak” or “Muski”. It is also said that Mazaka
comes from an old Turkish word “Başak”. It is claimed that the Armenian
Mazaka is also a Persian name “Mazes, Mazdes”, which is another
claim. According to the Byzantine Etienne; the Greeks called Mazaka
“Edes–Laportien”. Emilion O Ferrer says that the pre–Persian name might
be “Hilakku”.
Archaeologist Nimet Özgüç, carried out examinations in Kalehöyük 3 km
east of the Kaman district of Kırşehir, claims that “Kayseri and Aksaray’s
real name is Sinuhtuyu”. Researcher indicates excavations made in Kay-
seri, Aksaray and Kırşehir, which are known as the most western parts of
the Kızılırmak valley reveal that the Hittite culture was born in the area
around Kızılırmak. Saying that the local people of this country are Hattis,
shows the documents and the findings of Hatti culture in Yassıhöyük in
the Karahıdır district. Özgüç, with Kaman Kalehöyük excavations, states
there appears a presence of Hatti city, Assyrian king of Sargon II captured
the Aksaray and Kayseri regions in 705 B.C..
Kültepe tablets have a city name “Sinahitu”. Tahsin Özgüç emphasizes
that he finds the “Sinuhtuyu”, the hometown of the king named “Kiyaki”,
thus revealing that the names of these regions are “Sinuhtuyu”.
Kayseri was called “Eusebeia” for a while. It is not enough to investi-
gate the date of the city’s departure for Mazaka and the date it took the
name “Eusebeia”. Sources indicate that the name Mazaka is used even
after the name “Eusebeia” as well as “Kaisareia”.
Stephanus Byzantius refers to the city as “the capital city of Cappa-
docia, Kaisareia, the former Eusebeia” and Strabon (B.C. 64–A.D..24) as
*
“Mazaka”.
In another source; “The capital city of I. Cappadocia is not far from
the Melas (Karasu) river. It is on the edge of Mount Erciyes. It is called
the Eusebeia in Greek. It was mentioned “as Mazaka” before the time of
Tiberius Augustus. Therefore, it is expressed in the sources that this name
is the capital of Cappadocia I. Kingdom. It is known that V. Ariarathes
(160–130 B.C.) founded cities named Eusebeia, Nyssia and Anisa.
It has been Mazaka since Eusebeia and Tyana the other, and it is
known as “Eusebeia by the Toros”.
Eusebeia was established as a Helen city very close to Mazaka, and
then the two cities were united.
Strabon’s “Geographika” also gives the following information about
Kayseri:
“Only two governors have cities. Tyana city in Tyanitis, which is located
in the Cilicia Doors under the most used Tauros, giving the easiest passage
to Cilicia and Syria, is also called “Eusebeia near Tauros”.
Soils are usually flat and fertile. Tyana was built in one of the well–
preserved Semiramis Hills.
* “Strabon, Greek historian, geographer and philosopher has earned a reputation for
studies of migrations made to which places, and which nations have settled. He is
the world’s first geographer and is known for his geography book about the ancient
world.”