DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4679#0052
12; THE TRIUMPH OF MOHAMMEDANISM. 27
Analogous cases may throw some light on the relation between
Denizli and Eski-Hissar. Near Prymnessos we find a village Mi-
khayil, which preserves the name of the local saint. This would
suggest that the Christian population retired thither from the exposed
site of Prymnessos, while the fortress Akroenos, close to Prymnessos,
became the Mohammedan city Kara-Hissar. But Mikhayil has
become a Turkish village. Again, at the Phrygian Sebaste, we have
the two villages, Sivasli, a turcized form of the ancient name1, and
Seljiikler. The latter is obviously the Mohammedan village, 'the
Seljuks,' as distinguished from the village which preserved the
ancient name, and probably for a time the ancient religion ; but both
are now purely Mohammedan villages.
As the nomads spread over the valley, population must have
decreased, for the land passed out of cultivation, and there was no
commerce to supply food. Hierapolis became deserted, and a small
Turkmen village on the plain below the site of the city is now the
only sign of human life about it. But still it remains a difficult
question, what became of the Christians of the valley 1 how was it
that in place of several hundreds of thousands (for we cannot esti-
mate the population lower in the flourishing Byzantine times), there
remained little more than a thousand2 in this century ? They could
not migrate, for the whole country was exposed to the Turks; and,
as we have seen, Christians under the Seljuk rule were happier than
in the heart of the empire ; and most miserable of all were the
Bj'zantine frontier lands, exposed to continual raids. As to religious
persecution, there is not a trace of it in the Seljuk period, and even
the more fanatical Osmanli government has never been given to open
persecution, though it made the position of the Christians more dis-
advantageous and dishonourable than it had been under the Seljuks.
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that many of the Christians
became Mohammedan, and that the Moslem population of Denizli is
to a considerable extent descended from that of the Christian Lao-
diceia. Similarly one would expect that in the people of Kadi-Keui
we find the remains of the Christians of Trapezopolis or Attouda.
1 See § 13 on Mikhail and Sivasli. Denizli-Kaza (including Khonas) as
" According to Arundel there were 1200 (and the Armenian 430), of Serai-
a few Greek houses in Serai-Keui, and Keui 450, of Tchal 420. Of these the
70 in Denizli (Hamilton about ten years Armenians and every Christian in Serai-
later says 120); Khonai can hardly Keui and Tchal are recent commercial
have had more than 150 or 200 Greek immigrants. How many of the Greeks
houses. Cuinet Turquie d'Asie III p. 616 in Denizli are immigrant ?
gives the Greek population in 1894 of
Analogous cases may throw some light on the relation between
Denizli and Eski-Hissar. Near Prymnessos we find a village Mi-
khayil, which preserves the name of the local saint. This would
suggest that the Christian population retired thither from the exposed
site of Prymnessos, while the fortress Akroenos, close to Prymnessos,
became the Mohammedan city Kara-Hissar. But Mikhayil has
become a Turkish village. Again, at the Phrygian Sebaste, we have
the two villages, Sivasli, a turcized form of the ancient name1, and
Seljiikler. The latter is obviously the Mohammedan village, 'the
Seljuks,' as distinguished from the village which preserved the
ancient name, and probably for a time the ancient religion ; but both
are now purely Mohammedan villages.
As the nomads spread over the valley, population must have
decreased, for the land passed out of cultivation, and there was no
commerce to supply food. Hierapolis became deserted, and a small
Turkmen village on the plain below the site of the city is now the
only sign of human life about it. But still it remains a difficult
question, what became of the Christians of the valley 1 how was it
that in place of several hundreds of thousands (for we cannot esti-
mate the population lower in the flourishing Byzantine times), there
remained little more than a thousand2 in this century ? They could
not migrate, for the whole country was exposed to the Turks; and,
as we have seen, Christians under the Seljuk rule were happier than
in the heart of the empire ; and most miserable of all were the
Bj'zantine frontier lands, exposed to continual raids. As to religious
persecution, there is not a trace of it in the Seljuk period, and even
the more fanatical Osmanli government has never been given to open
persecution, though it made the position of the Christians more dis-
advantageous and dishonourable than it had been under the Seljuks.
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that many of the Christians
became Mohammedan, and that the Moslem population of Denizli is
to a considerable extent descended from that of the Christian Lao-
diceia. Similarly one would expect that in the people of Kadi-Keui
we find the remains of the Christians of Trapezopolis or Attouda.
1 See § 13 on Mikhail and Sivasli. Denizli-Kaza (including Khonas) as
" According to Arundel there were 1200 (and the Armenian 430), of Serai-
a few Greek houses in Serai-Keui, and Keui 450, of Tchal 420. Of these the
70 in Denizli (Hamilton about ten years Armenians and every Christian in Serai-
later says 120); Khonai can hardly Keui and Tchal are recent commercial
have had more than 150 or 200 Greek immigrants. How many of the Greeks
houses. Cuinet Turquie d'Asie III p. 616 in Denizli are immigrant ?
gives the Greek population in 1894 of