Seljuk’s who captured bit by bit Byzantine lands used to transform churches into mosques without doing anything with fortresses – only minor changes like building new towers and repair of walls were done. As for the Roman constructions, these neither were restored nor demolished by Turks. Hence, many Byzantine temples had been covered with dust and soil, having only revived in 19th-20th century…
Current behaviour of Turks towards antique monuments cannot be described briefly, for it deserves a whole book. Firstly, it is difficult to find something remaining from the deep past in Turkey so that it… is located in one separate place. Here, Artemis temple remainings are now partly in Ephesus, and partly in archaeology museums in Istanbul and Germany. The steps of Zeus temple are still on a mountain near Pergam (currently, Izmir), whereas everything that had been on those steps is in Germany. So, why did the things go this way?
"During Zeus temple diggings," Turks say offended, "Germans offered to divide all the findings into two parts. Our government did not probably quite understand how valuable those findings were, and accepted the offer."
Hence, now the temple basement is standing by Izmir silently blaming for the Ottoman government who could not perceive the whole thing in right time.
I should remind you that in this temple stood Zeus statue made of silver, gold, and jewels – the very statue being a World Wonder. The only World Wonder left to us is now the Pyramids in Egypt...
In fact, Germans still think that they made a big favour to Turks. If all those valuables had not been exported into Germany, they would all have been destroyed during civil war in 1920’s or captured by Englishmen. As we all know, Englishmen did not very much care about archaeological findings of the conquered. Remember the barelief taken from the legendary Greek Parthenon and brought to London by sea. Then, it was also said that the thing was done to "preserve the cultural heritage of Hellenes"… Cordially, it all resembles to robbing a passerby on some dark street, and telling him that this will help him to avoid spending his money on unnecessary things.
Admittedly, there is some slyness in Turks’ feeling offended. They only started to look after their own landmarks after they had understood how many tourists are attracted to Turkey due to its historical valuables. Moreover, Turks should thank Germans because the latter started visiting Turkey really often after they had seen all that beauty brought from Zeus temple. Germans, amazed by wonderful antique things, kept asking where all those came from.
"It’s from Izmir, Turkey," they were told.
That’s when German people rushed into Turkey first to see more beauties of the past, and then just to spend their holidays. They liked service, and weather, and the locals. And – here you are – now German language can be heard any time in Antalya and its surroundings…
INFORMATION
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Sunni Muslim empire established by the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks that once controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. From their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuqs advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. Their advance marked the beginning of Turkic power in the Middle East.
The Seljuq empire was founded by Tugrul Beg in 1037 after the efforts by the founder of the Seljuq dynasty, Seljuq Beg, back in the first quarter of the 11th century. Seljuq Beg's father was in a higher position in the Oghuz Yabgu State, and gave his name both to the state and the dynasty. The Seljuqs united the fractured political scene of the Eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition which "features Persian culture patronized by Turkic rulers".
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