A Traveller's History of Turkey

by Richard Stoneman

Throughout the millennia Turkey formed the core of several Empires—Persia, Rome, Byzantium—before becoming the center of the Ottoman Empire. All these civilizations have left their marks on the landscape, architecture and art of Turkey—a place of fascinating overlapping cultures. A Traveller's History of Turkey offers a concise and readable account of the region from prehistory right up to the present day. It covers everything from the legendary Flood of Noah, the early civilization of Catal Huyuk seven thousand years before Christ, through the treasures of Troy, Alexander the Great, the Romans, Seljuks, Byzantines and the Golden Age of the Sultans, to the twentieth century's great changes wrought by Kemal Ataturk and the strong position Turkey now holds in the world community.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

"I was born just a few miles from Exeter and have been an Honorary Fellow in the department since 1996. I spent thirty years as a classics editor, most of those years for Routledge; since retiring from that role in 2006, and returning from London to live in Devon, I have been taking an active part in university affairs, including teaching, research and a planned conference.

The core of my research interests has been the continuity of the Greek world and Greek tradition up to the present day. I have written anthologies and travel guides reflecting this interest. Since the early 1980s the main focus of my research has been Alexander the Great, especially in later legend. I have recently participated in several international conferences on the Ancient Novel and on Philip and Alexander. I am currently writing a biography of Xerxes and a study of Megasthenes.

Besides Latin and Greek, my languages include fluent German and adequate French, Italian and Modern Greek. I am taking classes in Turkish and Persian.

I am also Chairman of Westminster Classic Tours (www.westminsterclassictours.com), a company which runs gület tours to classical sites around the Turkish coast and Greek Islands.

In 2009 I was appointed Consulting Editor in Classics to I.B. Tauris Publishers in London, and am actively seeking new authors for their classics programme, and for the series I edit, 'Understanding Classics'.

In 2010 I organised a conference at Exeter University, in conjunction with the Institute of Arab and islamic Studies, on 'The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East'. There were delegates from every continent."

Reviews

[Aya Fareha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informational book about how Turkey came to be. There is a verse in the Quran telling the fall of Persia by the Byzantine (New Romans) and they are depicted in the book. So many forces want to invade Turkey I had no idea! What I like particularly is Alexander the Great conquest and the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. So many histories. There was one Sultan who had recorded number of 130 children from all his wives and unknown mistresses! All in all, an informational read.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in preparation for a trip to Turkey (which never came off). The Traveller's History series never disappoints - not great literature, but a straightforward way to ground yourself in the history of a country you're about to visit. Just academic enough to be honest and balanced, but not so much as to be tedious.

[Joyce]

Turkey's location guaranteed that it would have a complex and fractured history, but the modern visitor (especially to Istanbul) will find most of it covered over with a thick layer of Ottomanic Islam. I mean this both literally -- e.g. the horrid mustard-yellow plaster with which the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia were erased -- and figuratively, in the sense that the sultans appeared to have not the slightest interest in preserving any remnants of the past. I got the sense from visiting that modern Turkey is still struggling with the issue of how to best preserve and present its own rich history.

The biggest surprise of this book is learning just how frequently Turkey slipped through the hands of one ruler or another. Greeks, Lydians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Armenians, and countless others took their shot -- but often for surprisingly short periods. Second biggest surprise was how relatively unimportant Constantinople/Istanbul was for the entire ancient era. I'd sort of always thought of it as the belly button of the world, but apparently much of the action in ancient Turkey was on the Mediterranean side.

Although there is a great deal of information crammed into this slender volume, it's a classic example of the "and then... and then... and then..." school of historical writing dreaded by all schoolchildren. By the time you get to the 40th obscure ancient general, tribal chieftain, or vague and constantly-shifting area of historical geography, your eyes are glazing over. Much more of a quick reference than an actual reading experience.

[Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There have been so many cultures and empires and peoples over such a long period of time that have played a role in the history of the part of the world now known as Turkey that those without a PhD in Near-Eastern Studies really need a book that lays them all out in chronological order with sufficient background description to stick in memory.

This is that book.

It's not a great work of art, but it is eminently serviceable, and the only really weak part is the description of modern Turkey in the last chapter, which suffers from having been first written in 1993 and then clumsily updated in the 2009 edition. So skip the last chapter and read something like "Crescent and Star" by Stephen Kinzer instead.

[Kelly Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very useful in order to understand the complex history of Turkey. Agreed it was a bit dry, but gave me context when visiting the diverse ruins and historical sites of huge differences in timeline on my two week trip to Turkey.

[Alberto Neto · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is intended to be an introduction to the history of Turkey and does it well. Without going into details, it paints the roots of current issues as well as explaining the origins of modern Turkey. Easy to read, it is Definitely worth as an introductory book on the subject.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

You always wonder how much has changed in reading travel books. I was reading this as part of an Ottoman history grand slam, so it was a minor player.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book served its purpose as a quick overview/refresher at times of the sweep of civilization in Turkiye, but boy do I have some notes:

* First, general sloppy editing both many word typos and one historical issue. This edition is 2006, yet referred to one of the Soviet Socialist Republics as if it were still an SSR.
* Lots of names get bandied about as would be expected, but there are some cases where they come out of nowhere yet written as if there might've been a prior reference the reader missed. Unless there are errors in the index too, nope.
* Gross: scurrilous gossip about a detail of Empress Theodosia's prior career presented without disclaimer that it is ancient gossip we can't be sure about. Felt misogynistic to include it in this manner.
* Finally: the general mood that Greek/Roman/Christian peoples are good and the feeling that it was not a great thing when the Selcuk Turks arrived in the region. You know, the people who are the ancestors of the Turkish people.

Like I said, this served its purpose and I'll have better context for more specific reading, but I wish there were an alternate title with fewer of these issues.

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was having a hard time getting through this, and I thought it was really dry. I'm not a big non-fiction reader, though, so I was willing to keep plowing through it. Part way through, I lent it to my mom, who reads almost exclusively non-fiction. She said that it was dull beyond belief.

That's when I decided that I didn't need to finish it.

[Juliew. · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more interesting guide books I have come across.It certainly offered up quite a bit more than an ordinary one and has an expansive history of the region.It covers prehistory until 1993 with discussion being focused on government,wars,religion,culture and the arts.Surprisingly,there is also a chronology of major events and a native rulers chart in the back.

[Jody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was sooooo dry. I was relieved when I was finally finished. I was looking for a concise history of Turkey to prepare for our vacation this fall. This turned out to be a fairly complete history but too many lists of battles and rulers and not enough color to make it interesting.

[MaryJohanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry, dry, dry..... at least for the non-historian!
Good for a quick, no-nonsense (by "nonsense" I mean "flavor") review of the historic timeline.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a very useful and quick overview of a complex history while on a whirlwind one visit to Turkey.

[Chris Lira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The slant seemed to be towards ancient history and I was more interested in the 1400's on, but it was still a good introduction for my upcoming trip.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave a good historical synopsis of the history of Turkey.