DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0050
10. THE TURKISH CONQUEST, 1178-1210. 25
last became almost wholly dependent on their Turkish neighbours for
food. This gave the Turks the opportunity of surprising the city by
stratagem, and it was captured shortly before 13061.
The Lycos valley was defended for so long against the Turks, not
by military skill and national armies, nor yet by any special display
of courage, devotion, and self-help among its inhabitants2, but simply
by the strength of inertia that belongs to a society long organized
according to Roman law and church law. With the Phrygian door-
way (see p. 1) always open, the Turks had the entire valley of the
Maeander at their mercy; and the same lack of energy and power of
se]f-help is conspicuous in this whole region. Each city stood until
the Turks gathered power to overthrow it3. But at the head of the
Hermos valley, Philadelpheia affords a striking example of the strength
which civilization possesses against barbarism, when aided by energy
and personal bravery. Until 1379 or 13904, when the united power
of the Byzantine Emperor and the Osmanli Sultan4 compelled it to
surrender to the Turks, it maintained its independence, 'cut off,' as
Finlay says, ' from the central administration of the Greek empire,
and relieved from fiscal oppression and commercial monopolies,' which
ruined the Byzantine cities to support the Byzantine court.
§ 12. The Triumph of Mohammedanism. We have traced in
outline the history of the Lycos valley as a part of the Roman empire
(to which it had belonged since 133 B.C.), until it finally passed into
Turkish hands. At that time it was inhabited by a large population
of Christians. When railway enterprise began to penetrate into the
valley again5, the population was almost entirely Mohammedan,
1 Muralt places the capture in 1306, among the population; and in 1282 it
after the relief of Philadelpheia by was destroyed by the unexpected ap-
Roger the Catalan. But, though that pearance of a Turkish army. The story
is the order of description in Pachymeres brings forcibly before us the slightness
II 426, 433, he expressly says that the of the Seljuk hold on the country as
hard straits from which Philadelpheia well as the decay of Byzantine organi-
was relieved had been caused by the zation and civilization.
fall of Tripolis shortly before. * The date is doubtful: Finlay gives
2 Tripolis alone is known to have 1390, Muralt 1379, Von Hammer 1391 ;
shown any energy and courage. in 1390 Bayazid was sultan, in 1379
3 In 1279 Michael Palaeologus sent Amurath (Murad).
his son Andronicus to the Maeander 5 This was when the railway reached
valley, which had long been abandoned Philadelpheia. At that time competi-
to the Turks, and had become almost tion between that line and the Ottoman
a wilderness. He rebuilt Tralleis, and Railway (which had penetrated up the
called it Andronicopolis ; but neither Maeander valley as far as Tralleis-Aidin)
military strength nor engineering skill began for the trade that came from the
to maintain or defend a city were found interior through the Lycos valley. The
last became almost wholly dependent on their Turkish neighbours for
food. This gave the Turks the opportunity of surprising the city by
stratagem, and it was captured shortly before 13061.
The Lycos valley was defended for so long against the Turks, not
by military skill and national armies, nor yet by any special display
of courage, devotion, and self-help among its inhabitants2, but simply
by the strength of inertia that belongs to a society long organized
according to Roman law and church law. With the Phrygian door-
way (see p. 1) always open, the Turks had the entire valley of the
Maeander at their mercy; and the same lack of energy and power of
se]f-help is conspicuous in this whole region. Each city stood until
the Turks gathered power to overthrow it3. But at the head of the
Hermos valley, Philadelpheia affords a striking example of the strength
which civilization possesses against barbarism, when aided by energy
and personal bravery. Until 1379 or 13904, when the united power
of the Byzantine Emperor and the Osmanli Sultan4 compelled it to
surrender to the Turks, it maintained its independence, 'cut off,' as
Finlay says, ' from the central administration of the Greek empire,
and relieved from fiscal oppression and commercial monopolies,' which
ruined the Byzantine cities to support the Byzantine court.
§ 12. The Triumph of Mohammedanism. We have traced in
outline the history of the Lycos valley as a part of the Roman empire
(to which it had belonged since 133 B.C.), until it finally passed into
Turkish hands. At that time it was inhabited by a large population
of Christians. When railway enterprise began to penetrate into the
valley again5, the population was almost entirely Mohammedan,
1 Muralt places the capture in 1306, among the population; and in 1282 it
after the relief of Philadelpheia by was destroyed by the unexpected ap-
Roger the Catalan. But, though that pearance of a Turkish army. The story
is the order of description in Pachymeres brings forcibly before us the slightness
II 426, 433, he expressly says that the of the Seljuk hold on the country as
hard straits from which Philadelpheia well as the decay of Byzantine organi-
was relieved had been caused by the zation and civilization.
fall of Tripolis shortly before. * The date is doubtful: Finlay gives
2 Tripolis alone is known to have 1390, Muralt 1379, Von Hammer 1391 ;
shown any energy and courage. in 1390 Bayazid was sultan, in 1379
3 In 1279 Michael Palaeologus sent Amurath (Murad).
his son Andronicus to the Maeander 5 This was when the railway reached
valley, which had long been abandoned Philadelpheia. At that time competi-
to the Turks, and had become almost tion between that line and the Ottoman
a wilderness. He rebuilt Tralleis, and Railway (which had penetrated up the
called it Andronicopolis ; but neither Maeander valley as far as Tralleis-Aidin)
military strength nor engineering skill began for the trade that came from the
to maintain or defend a city were found interior through the Lycos valley. The