Alexander the Great, The Hellenistic Age and The Roman Age:

He was the king of Macedonia who founded an empire from Greece to India. After conquering the Persian Empire he started to be called Alexander the Great because of this victory. With his death in 323BC the anarchic age of the Diadochi which means successors began. the period between the death of Alexander the Great and the Roman Conquest of Anatolia is the age of Hellenism in which the mixture of Greek and Anatolian cultures combined as a new civilization. Out of the anarchic age of Diadochi, three monarchies emerged which were Macedonia, Egypt and Anatolia. Then a few independent states in Anatolia rised which were Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pergamum and Pontus. Later on all of them were ruled by the Roman Empire. The Roman culture was brought to Anatolia by a Roman administrative reorganization.

Alexander the Great

   Seven Churches of Revelation in Anatolia:
They are Ephesus, Smyrna, Laodicea ad Lycum, Sardis, Pergamum, Philadelphia and Thyatira churches which were associated with St. Paul and Revelations. 

   The Byzantine Period:
Byzantines called themselves as Romans and in 330AD Constantine made Byzantium Rome's second capital with the name Constantinople. The Roman Empire was divided into as the western and the eastern parts in 395AD by Theodosius I. The Eastern part survived more than the Western part and became Christians. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman Period raised by conquering the city in 1453.

   Who are the Turks:
They are the nomads who were coming from Altai Mountains in northern Mongolia. these nomads in the 6th century AD founded a nomadic confederation Gokturk. Their religion was Shamanism.

Kul Tekin Khagan Of Gokturk

Other nomads, Oguz tribes went into Iran. In Central Asia Kirgiz defeated Uighur in Mongolia and settled there. The leaders Tugrul Bey and Cagri Bey of the Oguz Turks who were the grandsons of Seljuk defeated the Ghaznavids in the Dandanakan Battle and as a result founded the Seljuk Empire in 1040. The Byzantine emperor was defeated by Alparslan in 1071 in the Manzikert Battle which is known to be the beginning of the period of Turks in Anatolia. As a part of Great Seljuk Empire, the Turks conquered Anatolia and founded the Anatolian Seljuk State. The Turks were the first to have invaded Anatolia completely. Persians and Romans also conquered it completely however they did not settle like the Turks but they kept it under their political control. Trade became very important in daily life of Seljuks who were the first in history to have created state insurance for the losses of tradesmen. To meet the needs of traders they built kervansaray (caravanserai). After the Crusades, with the collapse of the Anatolian Seljuks some regions fell under the domination of Beyliks one of which founded the Ottoman Empire.

Osman Bey Of The Ottomans

In 1299 the Ottoman Principality was established by Osman Bey in Sogut Domanic, Bursa. However Orhan Bey was accepted as the real founder of the Ottoman Empire due to having his military and administrative organization as well as divan. He was known as the first ruler who used the title Sultan. Ottoman's first capital was Bursa that was conquered by Orhan in 1326. Second capital was Edirne that was conquered by Murat I. In 1452 Mehmet II had Rumeli Fortress built and in 1453 he conquered Constantinople which became the last capital of the empire with the name Istanbul. After the conquer he got the name of Mehmet The Conquerer.

Mehmet The Conquerer

The empire's religion was Islam who conquered Anatolia, Southeastern Europe, the Arab Middle East and North Africa from 14th century to 20th century.

17th Century Ottoman Empire's Borders

These people were among the nomads who immigrated to Anatolia in the 11th century as the soldiers of Seljuks. The end of the 13th century is the foundation date of the Ottoman Empire by Osman I who had given the name Ottoman (Osmanli) to the empire. The aim of the Moslem Ottomans was to subjugate the non-Moslem world with their conquers instead of destroying them. One of the most important events that had put the empire into falling is the First World War. In the Ottomans the sultanate passed from father to son and this led to many executions because of the ambition among the members of the family.

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