My History Handicap

I’m starting to feel intellectually small here in Turkey. Put more simply - I just feel stupid. I’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that my grasp on history, at least ancient history, is pathetic at best.

It all started about a week or two after I arrived in Ankara, when I asked an acquaintance of mine what she had done the previous weekend.

“Oh, I took the kids to Troy.”
“Troy!” I exclaimed, “That’s ambitious to go to Greece for the weekend!”

My answer earned me an odd look. Not a look that makes one feel secure.

“Well, I didn’t go to Greece,” she finally said. “Troy is in Turkey.”

Oh. I had no idea.

And it continued. The next weekend a couple of us were trying to decide whether to visit Gordion, a small city an hour from Ankara. I asked what was worth seeing. They replied that it was an important archeological site, containing King Midas’ tomb, among other things. I started to laugh heartily, stopped immediately, remembering my blunder of last weekend, and blurted out, “You’re not joking - there really was a King Midas?”

Apparently there was. News to me – I thought he was a fable. And there was a King Croesus (as in “as rich as Croesus”). He lived in Turkey too, of course.

I’m hoping that at least half of you were a little fuzzy on these historical points as well, or I’m going to feel even sillier than I already do. I consider myself a reasonably well-educated, curious and intelligent woman who has perhaps a slightly diminished intellectual capacity due to rearing small children, but otherwise can hold her own. You know, I speak a couple of languages, used to be able to do calculus, can string a couple of words together without drooling. But obviously I am sorely lacking in the history department. Pathetically, embarrassingly, shamefully lacking.

It doesn’t help (well, actually it does in many instances, but that’s another story) that I have a walking tome of history for a husband. He’ll deny it, but he knows everything. We’ll be talking about some historical reference or issue and he’ll bring up an event completely unknown to me. And not particularly obscure, either. I’m tired of being unfamiliar with the topic at hand, so rather than admit I’ve never heard of said war/invasion/leader/movement/general/innovation, I now give him that overly bright spousal smile and say, “Why yes, yes of course” like I have the least idea of what he’s talking about.

I am now so wary of discussing anything historical. You could probably mess with me quite successfully and claim that Mao Tse Tung, Ponce de Leon and Robert Burns all used to drink Raki together in Constantinople and I’d be scared not to believe it.

Don’t get me wrong – I love history. I would be happy to study it far more extensively than I have. It just doesn’t stick in my brain. I’m a numbers nerd. Can I remember my phone number from when I was seven? Yes. Can I remember random social security numbers from when I worked as an actuary? Yes. Can I remember all our previous license plate numbers? Yes. I have random takeout pizza phone numbers floating around in my head. I might be able to give you the starting and ending dates of most of our major wars, but I’d be pretty vague on how they started, and why they happened.

But Turkey is just a bonanza for a history buff. The scope and breadth of history here is breathtaking, with Turkey playing host to all of the world’s great civilizations at one time or another. Despite being a modern Muslim nation, it boasts the roots of Christianity along with a rich Hellenic and Roman history.

At the risk of sounding like History Lite, let me give you some quick highlights, in general chronological order:

Human remains were found in Turkey that date back to 8000 BC, the oldest in the world outside of Africa.
Turkey has the world’s second oldest known city (after Jericho), Çatal Höyük.
The Trojan Wars, immortalized by Homer, occurred in Anatolia. Hence, Troy in Turkey.
The Phrygians arrive, followed by Lydians, followed by a Persian conquest.
Alexander the Great drives out the Persians.
The Celts arrive in Anatolia.
Then Anatolia becomes the Roman Province of Asia Minor
Caesar prevails in the Battle of Zela (just east of Ankara), about which he writes to the Roman Senate, “Veni, Vidi, Vinci.” Just think, written in Turkey!
Christianity spreads as several of the apostles preach and travel in Turkey.
Constantine moves his capital to present day Istanbul, creating the world’s most glamorous city at that time, Constantinople.
Asia Minor becomes the centre of the Eastern Byzantine Empire
Arab invasions begin and Islam is introduced to Anatolia.
The Selçuk Turks rout the Byzantine Army.
The Mongols defeat the Selçuks.
The Ottoman Empire begins (lasts, oh, 600 years)
Turkey spends WWI as a German ally.
Turkey is neutral during most of WWII, declaring war on Germany in time to qualify for UN Membership, and then joins NATO in 1952.

And I didn’t even mention Turkey’s rich biblical history. You know, I did go to Sunday School. And yes, I did listen. But somehow I missed that all these events in both the Old and New Testament occurred in Turkey. Did you know…

Noah’s Ark was said to land on Mount Ararat.
Abraham was born in Turkey, and God spoke to Abraham in Harran, Turkey.
Apostle Paul was born in Turkey and returned here on many missionary journeys. The city of Ephesus (mentioned in I and II Corinthians and Revelation) in western Turkey is very famous, and a Christian church grew up there.
According to legend, but apparently supported by some archaeological and literary evidence, Apostle John came to Ephesus with Mary, mother of Jesus. There is a House of the Virgin Mary, the last home she lived in for years, on a mountain a couple miles out of town.
Apostle John is buried in Selçuk, in the basilica of Saint John.
The seven churches that St. John mentions in Revelations are in Turkey.

I mean folks, this was a happening place. Obviously if you were anybody in ancient history you rolled through Turkey at some point.

All of this history is extraordinary to me. But I guess what surprises me (although I guess not surprising, given my above admission of historical ignorance) is that I knew NONE of this before I came. Turkey certainly wasn’t on my radar screen in any way. I had no idea that all of this happened here.

Did you? Please let me know this was all news to you…