Malatya

Malatia can also be a misspelling of the medical term Malacia.

Malatya (Greek: Μαλάτεια) is a city in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Malatya Province. It is also known by its older name of Melitene, that dates back to the Roman domination, when Melitene was the base camp of Legio XII Fulminata. An even older name (of the ancient Hittite city) was Milid. Old Malatya lies a few kilometres from the modern city in what is now the villages of Arslantepe (Hittite) and Batalgazi (Byzantine and mediaeval). One of Malatya's most famous sons is the 13th century Syriac polymath Bar-Hebraeus.

The area surrounding Malatya is best known for its apricot orchards, nourished from the alluvial soil of tributaries of the Euphrates. Malatya apricots are often dried in the sun by traditional family-run orchards, collected and shipped throughout the world. Malatya is also the home of İnönü Üniversitesi.

It has a population of 381,081 (2000).

Arslantepe, ancient Malatya

Arslantepe is a site inhabited since the development of agriculture in the fertile crescent. It was called Maladiya, Milid or Meliddu by the ancient people. From the Bronze Age the site became an administrative center of a larger region in the kingdom of Ishuwa. The city was heavily fortified, probably due to the Hittite menace from the west. The Hittites conquered the city in the fourteenth century BC. After the end of the Hittite empire the city became the center of a Neo-Hittite kingdom. A palace was built and monumental stone sculptures of lions and the ruler erected.

The encounter with the Assyrian king of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) resulted in the kingdom of Malatya being forced to pay tribute to Assyria. Malatya continued to prosper however until the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BC) sacked the city in 712 BC. At the same time the Cimmerians and Scythians invaded Anatolia and the city declined.

Arslantepe was first excavated by the French archaeologist Louis Delaporte in the 1930s. Since 1961 an Italian team of archaeologists, today led by Marcella Frangipane, are working at the site.

External links

[Arslantepe] University of Rome's English and Italian webpages on the excavations
[Arslantepe] Pages in Italian, Turkish and English from the Italian Archaeological Mission to Turkey
[Chronology of Malatya's kings]

	Districts of Malatya
Malatya \| Akçadağ \| Arapgir \| Arguvan \| Battalgazi \| Darende \| Doğanşehir \| Doğanyol \| Hekimhan \| Kale \| Kuluncak \| Pötürge \| Yazıhan \| Yeşilyurt

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Malatya

Arslantepe, ancient Malatya

See also

External links