Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/96

 8o A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud^a. CHAPTER HI. ASIA MINOR. WESTERN IIITTITES. § I. — BoundarieSy Climate, and Natural Divisions, The climatic conditions of Cilicia are those of Syria, with which it is intimately connected by language and national development. The configuration of the country common to both does not lose its character until the narrow defiles of the Taurus range are reached, where Asia Minor may be said to begin. ^ This region was from the earliest times the cradle of many centres of ancient civiliza- tion, the theatre where more events were crowded in than in any other place of equal size. Here Greek genius, fanned and stimu- lated by Oriental breezes, produced its first blossoms, its early fruits. In the fulness of its manhood and middle age it everywhere raised magnificent cities and noble buildings. We propose, in the sequel of this study, to return here more than once and visit every corner. Hence the propriety to define its boundaries, indicate its natural divisions, and state what condi- tions air and earth had prepared for the nations settled on its surface. ^ We do not hesitate to use the appellation /xtKpa 'Acrta, given to the western peninsula of the Asiatic continent by geographers and historians since Orosus in the fourth century of the vulgar era. Strabo calls it "the peninsula" 17 )(€pcrovr]'(T6s, or 17 'Ao-ta rj evTos tov Tavpov^ and 17 'Acrta ivTos rov ^Avo<s kol tov Tavpov. Herodotus is even more vague, and calls it indifferently, rj 'Ao-ta 17 ivrbs "AXvos, or rj Karoi 'Acrta, Lower Asia, in opposition to rj ai^co 'Acrta, Upper Asia, extending to the rear of the Taurus and Lebanon. From the starting-point of the ^gean, the term ava^ao-ts, " ascent," applied to the retreat of the Ten Thousand, including the march of Alexander across the central plateau to the Persian empire, is fully justified. The Greek name Anatolia, Turkish Anadolu, Natolia, for short, may from Natolia city have been extended by the Turks to the whole province. At the present day, the old denomination of Asia Minor has been revived as best calcu- lated to describe the country.