Antalya History

• Evidence of human habitation dating back over 200 000 years has been unearthed in the Carain caves 30 km to the north of Antalya city. Other findings dating back to Neolithic times and more recent periods show that the area has been populated by various ancient civilizations throughout the ages. • Records from the Hittite period (when the first recorded political union of Anatolian cities was set up calling itself the Lycian league) refer to the area as the Lands of Arzarwa and document the lively interaction going on between the provinces in 1700 BC. • Historical records document how cities developed independently, how the area as a whole was called Pamphilia and how a federation of cities was set up in the province. There is also a record of the migration of the Akha Clan to the area after the Trojan war. • The reign of the Kingdom of Lydia in the west Anatolia came to an end in 560 BC after the Persians defeated it during the battle of Sardis in 546 BC. • From 334 BC until his death, Alexander the Great conquered the cities of the area one by one - leaving out Termessos and Silion- and so continued the sovereignty of the Persians. • With the defeat of the Seleucid army at Apamaea began the reign of the Kingdom of Pergamon. In 150 BC Attalos the 2nd, king of Pergamon, founded the city of Attalaia (today’s Antalya) to base his powerful naval fleet. • When Attalos the 3rd, the last king of Pergamon, died in 133 BC he left his kingdom to the Romans. The Roman and subsequent Byzantine Empires ruled the area for the next 13 centuries. • In 1207 A.D. the Selchuk Turks conquered Antalya and then Alanya in 1220 A.D.This marked the end of Roman/Byzantine rule. • Ottoman rule began in 1391. The brief occupation of the area by the Italians came to an abrupt end after the First World War with the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The area is now registered as a province of the Republic of Turkey.