INTRODUCTION (1) (Mukaddime)

In Modern English

This section speaks in detail of the old and new names and the location of Amasya and the places attached to it, of its known quarters and famous nahiyes, of its known ancient monuments, religious institutions and lofty buildings.

The "Sanjak of Amasya" is bounded in the east and south by the sanjak of "Tokat," in the north by "Canik," and in the west by "Çorum"; it includes the kazas of "Amasya, Hacıköyü, Havza, Köprü, Lâdik, Mecidözü and Merzifon." It is at present attached to the vilayet of "Sivas."

This sanjak, which today consists of seven kazas, was in past ages a seat of sovereignty, the center of a province comprising ten sanjaks, and later the center of a sanjak ruling eighteen kazas; although it has undergone many changes in administrative divisions, it has kept its ancient fame. Its total population today is around two hundred and eighty thousand.

The "Kaza of Amasya" is bounded in the east by the kazas of "Lâdik and Erbaa," in the west by "Mecidözü," in the south by "Tokat," and in the north by "Havza, Merzifon and Hacıköyü"; it includes the nahiyes of "Ezinepazar, Akdağ, Hakala, Geldiklan" and some one hundred and sixty villages. Its total population is around sixty-eight thousand, and the kaza center is the "City of Amasya."

The "City of Amasya" at present contains fifty-three quarters, some eight thousand households and some thirty-seven thousand people. It is understood from old registers that when it was a seat of sovereignty and the residence of the princes it had some seventy quarters and some sixty thousand people. Later, because it was thought fit that the princes should reside in the capital and that Amasya be attached to the vilayet of Sivas, it lost its former honor, and its quarters and population declined.

"Amasya" is an ancient city in "Anatolia," called "Asia Minor," one hundred and thirty-three kilometers inland to the south of the Black Sea (of Samsun), at the foot of the "Ferhad-Fon-Pont" mountain.

Its site has always been a long valley stretching from northeast to southwest and has never changed. It is built on the two banks of the Yeşilırmak (the Iris). Its middle is flat, and its south and north sides are sloping; its general appearance is exceedingly pleasant.

Amasya is a whole of some thirteen kilometers in length, from the "Zemendû-Semendû-Ziyâre" quarter in the northeast to the "Çalan" locality at the end of the gorge in the southwest. Its width varies from one thousand meters to three kilometers. Its east and west sides are each a broad plain, and its other three sides are, from end to end, a heart-opening garden.

Although its south side is covered by the "Pont" mountain range, its north side by the "Canik and Harşene" range, and its west side by the "Şeyh Cû'î-Kelkis" and "Karaman" ranges, the southwest, the northeast and part of the north are open. This open place is called the "Gorge of Amasya."

The northeast side faces "Sonusa-Taşova," the north side "Arguma-Suluova," and the southwest side "Derbend-Çalan"; they are three gorges in the form of great gates. Although the south and north gorges are narrow, the northeast gorge is rather wide. With these three gates Amasya resembles a great and lofty mansion, a solid and enchanting palace.

The north gorge is about ten kilometers long and the south gorge four. The northeast gorge widens along the river as far as "Taşova." In all three gorges the river flows. The vineyards and gardens on the two banks of these rivers are very valuable. Their pleasant view greatly caresses the senses; the human spirit takes delight in gazing at it. The remains of ancient monuments seen in the open everywhere in Amasya, or coming by chance out of the ground, prove and show that the city attained in past ages great prosperity and splendor, great wealth and order. As these old monuments are brought to light and studied in the future, the historical value of Amasya will gain far greater importance. In the Takvîmü'l-Buldân, Sipâhîzâde Mehmed Efendi describes Amasya thus:

"Amasya belongs to the sixth climate and is a great city of the land of Rum. It has a wall, a fortress, orchards, a great river and water wheels. They call it the 'City of the Wise' (Hükemâ Şehri). There is a silver mine here. It lies to the southeast of Sinop; the distance between the two is six days' journey. Its longitude is fifty-seven degrees thirty minutes, and its latitude forty-five degrees."

Because this description agrees with the descriptions in the books Merâsıdü'l-Ittılâ', Ikdü'l-Cümân, Tarîku'r-Reşâd, Lübâbü'l-İnsân, Lübbü'l-Lübâb and Evzahu'l-Mesâlik, and all are close to one another, the records and descriptions of these were not relayed; instead, the description of the work called Dâ'iretü'l-Ma'ârif was translated and relayed:

"Amâsya" (اماسيه) or "Amâsyâ" (اماسيا) or "Amâsya" (اماصيه) is a city in Asia Minor. It is a town within the vilayet of Sivas, the center of the sanjak bearing its own name. It lies in a beautiful valley at the foot of the "Canik Mountains," on the two banks of the Yeşilırmak, known by the name "Iris." It is fifty miles away, toward the south of the southwest of Samsun. Its people number twenty-five or thirty-five thousand. It is at four degrees fifty minutes latitude north and thirty-three degrees four minutes longitude east.

It is surrounded by sheer rising rocks. On a rock on the left among these there are the remains of a fortress and two Greek towers. The Seljuk Sultan Alâeddin repaired this fortress. The buildings of this city are fine. It has many vineyards, watered by the river and by water wheels. It contains very many ancient monuments, but these have not been brought to light up to now.

Among the French historians, Charles Texier, in his work Küçük Asya'nın Eski Eserleri, Tarihi ve Coğrafyası, whose historical information on Amasya is relayed in the "First Part," describes Amasya thus: "The climate of Amasya is pleasant and healthy, its position is exceedingly secure; since it has been a place through which trade routes pass since ancient times, it preserves its former prosperity and order. Whereas the other secure places of ancient times have been left abandoned and forgotten."

In the Nüzhetü'l-Kulûb, Ebû Bekir el-Müstevfî describes it thus: "Amasya is a great city. The Seljuk Sultan Alâeddin renewed its fortress. Every kind of produce grows. Its water and air are fine." Hamdullah el-Müstevfî also, in his distinguished history, describes Amasya in words close to this meaning.

The famous German field marshal Moltke, in his work Doğu Hatıraları, after visiting Amasya in 1254 [1838] and examining its places worth seeing, said, "Amasya is among the most beautiful of the cities of Anatolia."

The famous poet Ebu't-Tayyib el-Mütenebbî, together with the ruler of Aleppo Seyfüddevle the Hamdanid, to whom he wrote praises, visited Amasya in 342 [953-54], and while viewing its surroundings and gardens, praising the said Seyfüddevle for having conquered the city, he praises and describes Amasya thus:

Here appear two Arabic couplets of Mütenebbî praising Amasya as a city that has gathered in itself every beauty that gladdens a person. The translation of these two couplets is this: "Amasya is a great city that has gathered in itself every beauty and refinement that gladdens and cheers a person by its sight; every eager one who comes and goes here, striving to attain his wish, reaches every kind of aim and has his need met; he does not miss his goal and fall into despair."

"Amasya is like a dwelling that covers a broad area before it; every side of this dwelling is a lofty mountain, and every high side has a horizon. The high place of every horizon is pointed like a piece of the moon."

Tâcîbeyzâde of Amasya, the famous scholar Sa'dî Çelebi, wrote an Arabic literary work called Hayru Ahlâm to describe the vineyards and flowers of Amasya and to tell of the pleasure and joy it gives; this fine stanza has been relayed from that book:

Here appear four Arabic couplets likening Amasya to the gardens of paradise with its rivers, nightingales and flowers. The translation of this is: "Amasya is a heart-opening garden whose place, long and broad like gold-embroidered sword belts, is adorned with flowers; the channels branching from the river that flows through its middle run through the middle of its vineyards. When its nightingales sing with a pleasant voice, no trace of grief and sorrow is left in our hearts."

"Amasya, free of turbidity and unpleasant things, far from the harshness peculiar to cities, resembles the lofty paradises; its nightingales, in the pleasantness of its air and the delicacy of its voice, resemble the morning breeze; its fine trees, in order and height, the palaces of paradise; and its flowers, in their various forms, the lamps that light the palaces of paradise."

Many more poets and historians have praised Amasya in verse and prose. But since I saw it as contrary to the aim of keeping my words brief, I gave up relaying them and arranged an ode (kaside) made up of quatrains to serve as the summary index of this humble work, and under each quatrain I annotated and explained the historical meanings it contains:

Etdikçe tecellî dile envâr-ı Amasya
Şevkile yakar kalbimi bir nâr-ı Amasya
Çeşmimde döner eşk-i şerer-bâr-ı Amasya
Kalbimde durur hasret-i dîdâr-ı Amasya

(As the lights of Amasya appear to my heart, a fire of Amasya burns my heart with longing; in my eye turn the spark-showering tears of Amasya, in my heart stays the yearning to see Amasya.)

The chief reason for this longing-evoking description is "love of homeland." Although this common feeling is found in all living beings, the feeling in the human being is above all. Homeland and native land are always exalted by love and show themselves by service. That "love of homeland is part of faith" was said is clear evidence on this matter. Love of the homeland is proved by serving it. Impelled by this love of homeland, I chose, after racking my brain for years, this service that will be a means of exalting the homeland.

Bu şehri yapan devr-i evâ'ilde Amîsdir
Derler ki Amâsîs'e dahi nâmı enîsdir
Şâ'ir dedi Elmâsiye'den hazfi selîsdir
Elmâsı çıkarmış gibi ahcâr-ı Amasya

(The one who built this city in the earliest age is Amîs; they say that its name is also close to Amâsîs. The poet said the shortening from "Elmâsiye" is fluent; as if the stones of Amasya had yielded diamonds.)

Since the historians have put forward different views about the founder of Amasya, this quatrain summarizes those views. As is understood from most of the historians' views, the one who founded the city of "Amasya" is a person named "Amâs"; this person was later also known by the name "Amîs."

In the Mufassal Kurûn-ı Cedîde, Ahmed Midhat Efendi says, "The old name of Amâsya is 'Amâse'â,' and it is on the river formerly called 'Iris' and today 'Yeşilırmak.'" Charles Texier too, in his work Küçük Asya'nın Eski Eserleri, Tarihi ve Coğrafyası, says, "The old name of Amasya is 'Amâzîs.'" Field Marshal Moltke too, in his book Doğu Hatıraları, records Amasya as "Amâzûs and Amîzûs."

Just as Muhammed bin Ca'fer et-Taberî in the Târîhu'l-Ümem ve'l-Mülûk and Bedreddîn Mahmûd el-Aynî in the Ikdü'l-Cümân, when relating the Islamic conquests in Anatolia, record Amasya under the names "Amâse" and "Amîse," Ebû Nasr İbn Mâkûlâ in the Kitâbü'r-Ruvât also refers to it by the name "Mâse."

That Zekeriyyâ bin Mahmûd el-Kazvînî in the Acâ'ibü'l-Mahlûkât records the river of Amasya as "Nehr-i Amâs" (the Amâs River), and Âlî Çelebi in the Künhü'l-Ahbâr as "Nehr-i Amîs" and "Nehr-i İrîs," confirms that the city of Amasya was formerly known by the names "Amâs" and then "Amîs."

Saîd Pasha of Diyarbekir says in the Mir'âtü'l-İber: "In ancient times the Pontus region was inhabited by Turkish tribes called 'Tîbâr, Sâlîb, Müznîk.' Later the Greeks migrated to the cities of Trabzon and Amîs (Amasya)."

This statement shows that the long-known name of the city called Amîs is "Amasya," that it was inhabited by Turks, and that it existed before the Greek migration. The Turks' taking of the Pontus region, their settling and establishing governments here after prevailing, falls roughly 2450 years before the hijra. The migration of the Greeks falls about 1650 years before the hijra; thus it is understood that Amasya was founded before the migration of the Greeks.

When the relational suffixes "eâ," "îs," "ûs" and "e" at the ends of the words "Amâseâ" (آماسه آ), "Amâzîs," "Amâzûs," "Âmîzûs," "Amâse" and "Amîse" found in these historical records are removed, the names "Amâs" and "Amîs" remain. This relation proves that the founder of the city of Amasya was "Amâs," otherwise called "Amîs."

Although there is no clear record in general histories of the date of the founding of the city of Amasya, it is certain that from the first half of the "first ages" onward the city of Amasya is recorded and known in general histories. Accordingly it is established that Amasya was founded by "Amâs" roughly 2400 years before the hijra. In that case Amasya is a great city some four thousand years old.

Who is "Amâs," who founded the city of Amasya? To which people does he belong? It is difficult to answer these questions. Since the history of the first ages was not committed to record, whatever is said in answer to these questions will undoubtedly count as historical conjecture. But as deduced from the word "Amâs" and from the peoples who lived in the Pontus region in the first ages, he is thought to belong to the great Turkish people.

For it is understood that the word "Amâs" is a noun derived from the infinitive "ammak" (to see something with great attention, to watch over, to protect, to make an effort), from the words derived from the same root: "amac" (a place where a mark is set for observing and which is observed; "amak" is also used in this sense), "amarat," "amak," "aman" (protector, patron), "amud" (the protected ring put on the necks of horses that draw carts, "hamud") and "amur" (the great ancestor of the Turks; in the sense of vanguard, zealous; the name of a river in Turkestan). If one considers that in the first ages the "Hittite-Hıtay" Turks settled in the Pontus region and ruled for a long time, the conjecture that the person named "Amâs" was one of these Turks and their khans gains strength.

These historical conjectures are not counted as certain facts, nor are they of the kind of delusions and legends born of national fanaticism. When the engraved pictures and historical information of the Hittite rulers in the French work Küçük Asya'da Unutulmuş Bir Hükûmet are read and examined, one can appreciate how correct this inference is.

According to the claim of some, "Amasya" was founded and named by one of the rulers of Egypt known by the name "Amasîs." This claim arose because the entry on Amasya in the Dâ'iretü'l-Ma'ârif was written after the entry on this person. Yet this claim does not agree with the general histories.

For although Amasîs came to the throne of Egypt 1191 years before the hijra and reigned 44 years, there is no historical record that he took and occupied the Pontus region. Even if there were, for the city of Amasya and its name, which existed 1650 years before the hijra, to have been founded and named 1191 years before the hijra would be a case of bringing into being what already exists. Although Derviş Ahmed Efendi, relaying from the Armenians in the Câmiu'd-Düvel, writes that "the city of Amasya was founded and named by Amasyus son of Armayus son of Arminak son of Hâyik son of Tucrem son of Cevmer son of Japheth son of Noah (peace be upon him), of the Heykâniye kings," the Mir'âtü'l-İber calls this a legend.

For it is written that "Amasyus" reigned in the city of "Hayka Amar" near Mount Ararat and died 2502 years before the hijra, and it is proven that at these dates a Turkish government called "Hittite" existed in the Pontus region. If one examines that the Flood was 3970 years before the hijra and that Amasyus reached Japheth son of Noah in the sixth generation, one would have to listen to the legend that each generation was born every 241 years.

Besides, since there is no historical evidence to prove that these kings existed at these dates, all European historians call such statements about the first ages "old superstitions." For this reason, attributing the founding of Amasya to the Egyptian ruler Amasîs or to Amasyus, one of the Armenian kings, is merely a similarity of names. The expression "enîsdir" (is close), the rhyme of the second line, is an allusion to this similarity of names.

This similarity gave rise to another saying among the people. Supposedly because diamond stones once came out in Amasya, the city was called "Elmâsiye," and then, from much use, the letter "lâm" was dropped and "Amasya" remained in the people's speech. The famous poet Firdevsî-i Rûmî alludes to this naming and shortening in these couplets in the Şehnâme-i Osmânî:

Persian couplets meaning: "He said: O envoy of the sovereign, I will not leave this place of mine; in Amasya, in whose stone diamonds are found, I have no strength left to dally."

According to another account among the people, "Because 'Ümm-i Âsiye,' the wife of Melik Dânişmend Ahmed Gâzi, the first conqueror of Amasya, lived in Amasya, the city was called 'Ümm-i Âsiye,' and then, shortened, 'Amasya.' Its old name is Harşene."

Although it is written that "Gülnûş Bânû," the wife of the conqueror, mentioned in the Târîh-i Âl-i Dânişmend, lived in Amasya, there is no clear record of "Ümm-i Âsiye." Even if there were, these could not be reasons for the naming. For the name Amasya has been famous and known since the first ages; it was not given afterward.

It is known in history that the pronunciation of such old names changes depending on the mouths of those who speak and on their language habits. Hâfız Ebû Bekir el-Birzâlî in his history, and Abdülkâdir el-Kureşî in his el-Gurefü'l-Aliyye, in the biographies of Şemseddîn Muhammed el-Amâsî and Şerîfeddîn el-Amâsî, record Amasya under the names "Amasya" and "Amâsıyye (عماصيه)."

That in history books, other sharia documents, and scholarly and Sufi licenses (icazetname) Amasya is mentioned and named with such distinguished epithets as "Medînetü'l-Hükemâ, Bağdâdü'r-Rûm, Rûmiyye-i Suğrâ, Ermeniyye-i Kübrâ, Hısnü'l-Mir'ât, Kubbetü'l-Ulemâ, Türbetü'l-Evliyâ, Dârü'n-Nasr, Dârü'l-İzz, Dârü'l-Fütûh and Kasrü's-Selâtîn" shows how great its fame is.

"Medînetü'l-Hükemâ" means the city of men of intellect and wisdom. It was called by this name because "Strabo," the famous founder of so important a science as geography in the first ages, and later an imperial line such as the "Komnenos Dynasty," came from here. It appears with this epithet in the works called Tarîku'r-Reşâd, Lübâbü'l-İnsân, Evzahu'l-Mesâlik and Takvîmü'l-Buldân.

"Bağdâdü'r-Rûm" means the Baghdad of the land of Rum, that is, of the cities of Anatolia. It has a connection in three respects: 1- Just as "Baghdad" in the region of Iraq was the center of the scholars of Islam, so "Amasya" in Anatolia became the center of renowned scholars. 2- Just as "Baghdad" in Iraq was built on the two banks of the Tigris, so Amasya in Anatolia was built on the two banks of the Yeşilırmak. 3- Just as the city of "Baghdad" was the center of the exalted caliphate, so the city of Amasya at that time became a high seat of government. It appears with this epithet in the works called Bezm ü Rezm and Acâ'ibü'l-Makdûr.

"Rûmiyye-i Suğrâ" means "Little Rome." Just as the city of Rome in Europe was the seat of government and of the religion of Jesus in the Christian world, so "Amasya" in Anatolia became the center of a province made up of the regions of "Pontus and Cappadocia" and of Christianity. It appears thus in the books el-Hamîs, Câmiu'd-Düvel and Behcetü't-Tevârîh.

"Ermeniyye-i Kübrâ" means the city of Greater Armenia (Armanyak). In the first ages the center of the government of Pontus was Amasya. When the Romans took the regions of "Cappadocia and Pontus," they united the two regions and counted them as one province and made Amasya the provincial center; they gave this province the general name "Armanyak." When it was conquered in the Islamic period, this provincial name gained fame in connection with Amasya, and for this reason it was called "Ermeniyye-i Kübrâ." It appears with this epithet too in the works named above.

"Hısnü'l-Mir'ât" means "the Mirror Fortress, the Mirrored Citadel." Although this epithet is the special name of the Amasya Fortress, its meaning was extended and it is also used in place of the name "Amasya." The flat and steep caves beneath the wall of the upper fortress to the north of Amasya are thought to be the reason for this naming. That one of these caves is today called "Aynalı Mağara" (Mirrored Cave) strengthens this conjecture. It appears thus in the histories called Heşt Bihişt and el-Kâmil.

"Kubbetü'l-Ulemâ" means the center of the scholars, and "Türbetü'l-Evliyâ" the place where the saints gather and are buried. That Amasya was home to very many great scholars and was favored with the grace of great saints brought it to be called by these epithets. They are written with these epithets in scholarly and Sufi licenses.

"Dârü'n-Nasr" means the house, the center, of help and victory. Since this help and victory was won by the effort and valor of the great sultans who were the greatest commanders and chiefs of the Islamic army, the seats of sovereignty of the Islamic sultans are called "Dârü'n-Nasr." Amasya was called by this epithet in sharia and divan documents at the times when it was the seat of sovereignty of "Sultan Mes'ûd I" of the Seljuks and "Sultan Mehmed Han I" of the great Ottoman sultans.

"Dârü'l-İzz" means the house, the center, of glory and happiness. This title is given to cities that are the administrative centers of honored princes. Since Amasya was the residence and administrative center of very many of the Seljuk and Ottoman princes, it was called by this epithet.

"Dârü'l-Fütûh" means the source of conquests, or the place from which they arose. The sanjak of Amasya earned this title because it was the cause of the great conquests of the exalted Ottoman sultanate in eastern Anatolia, or because it was a means by which scholars and great sheikhs attained divine openings and graces in knowledge and in deed.

"Kasrü's-Selâtîn" means the palace, the residence, of sultans. Amasya earned this title because, over a period of more than five hundred years from the year 467 [1074-75] to the year 980 [1572-73], it was magnificent with the lofty palaces of very many great persons among the Seljuk sultans and Ottoman rulers.

The famous scholar Iydîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi, in most of his letters, referred to Amasya by the name "Selîmiyye" and, although he wished to make an innovation, this name did not become widespread. The birth in Amasya of a sultan who conquered the world, such as His Majesty Sultan Selim Han I, the lord of conjunction (sahibkıran) of his age, gave rise to this innovation.

Cennet gibidir sûy-ı cenûbunda Çakallar
Gûyâ ki beşikdir yed-i Kudret onu sallar
Meşşâta-i eyyâm-ı bahâr vechini allar
Bir la'le döner nâzıra ruhsâr-ı Amasya

(Çakallar on the south side of Amasya is like paradise; as if it were a cradle that the hand of Power rocks. The adorner of the days of spring puts rouge on its face; to the beholder the cheek of Amasya turns into a tulip.)

This quatrain shows one of the four sides of Amasya, namely the qibla side. On the Yukarı Pazar side of Amasya, to the south (in the direction of the qibla), there is a pleasant rose garden known by the name "Çakallar"; it is a flat-topped mountain roughly two hundred meters above the ground. This mountain is at the foot of the famous "Fon (Pont)" mountain range. Because it is wholly long from north to southeast, high on both sides, flat in the middle and rectangular, it resembles a long cradle. Its flat place is called "Hamza Düzü." Its air is very healthy; everywhere it is full of pleasant vineyards.

Çakallar is, like the nature God created, irregular but dazzling; its inner parts are not even, but its view is enchanting. Because in every vineyard there is a tall pavilion, in one or two places abundantly flowing water, beside each water a pleasant lawn, and before each pavilion a fine rose garden, it is a heart-opening garden worthy of the lofty description in the verse "gardens beneath which rivers flow."

Çakallar shows itself in the extraordinary beauty of the spring days; its red roses and its black-spotted tulips almost vie with the cheeks of beauties. In the eyes of the people of purity who watch the smiling view of its roses and the delightful arrangement of its tulips, Çakallar resembles a spring bride wrapped in a rose-colored veil. Where the name Çakallar comes from will be explained shortly.

Sağında bunun Karakaya cennet-i diğer
Bir hûb ferîdin iki ruhsârına benzer
Yıldız gibi ezhâr ile mestûr serâser
Bunlardan alır hep suyu gülzâr-ı Amasya

(To the right of this, Karakaya is another paradise; it resembles the two cheeks of a peerless beauty. It is covered from end to end with flowers like stars; the rose gardens of Amasya take their water all from these.)

To the right of Çakallar, that is, on its west side, there is another garden of joy known by the name "Karakaya"; this is a part of the single mountain that wholly encircles the qibla side in the "Yukarı Pazar-Simre" section of Amasya, and a complement of Çakallar. This mountain too is at the foot of the "Ferhad-Fon-Pont" mountain and, above the "Gökmedrese Quarter," extends roughly four kilometers from west to southeast as far as "Söğütlü Kaya" near "Zincirli Kaya."

Because this single mountain is divided in two, the part falling to the east side, from the line of the road passing in front of "Hoca Sultan" above the "Dârüsselâm Quarter," is called "Çakallar," and the part falling to the west side is called "Karakaya." The famous "İplik Çözen" picnic ground beneath "Köşk Kayası" is counted as part of "Çakallar"; the "Çanaklar" beneath "Kurt İni" and the "Kaşık Pınarı" picnic grounds above the "Küpceğiz" quarter are counted as part of "Karakaya."

The black rock jutting out toward the city above the quarter "Pîr Sinan," otherwise called "Şehre Küstü," is called "Karakaya"; this name became the special name of the vineyards above that black rock. This jutting rock is called "Burun" (Nose). Although both sides of it are counted as "Karakaya," they resemble two bright faces in pleasantness and freshness.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mülhakât: places attached to a center
• mahdûd: bounded, surrounded
• kazâ: administrative unit corresponding to today's district
• livâ / sancak: administrative unit below the vilayet and above the kazas
• nâhiye: small administrative unit attached to a kaza, subdistrict
• kurâ: villages
• a'sâr-ı sâlife: past ages
• defâtir-i atîka: old (survey) registers
• tenâkus: gradual decline
• dervâze: great gate, city gate
• ravza-i dilârâ: a heart-adorning garden
• iklîm-i sâdis: the sixth of the seven climate zones in old geography
• tûl / arz: longitude / latitude
• vech-i tesmiye: the reason a name was given
• müştak: derived (word)
• edât-ı nisbet: suffix indicating belonging
• zünûn-ı târîhiyye: historical conjectures, surmises
• tahsîl-i hâsıl: trying to obtain again what already exists
• batn: generation
• icâzet: license of learning or of a Sufi order, permission to teach
• mesîre: place for outings and recreation

Hüsameddin's Amasya and What Is Known Today

This first part of the introduction begins by describing Amasya within the administrative order of the years in which it was written. The picture Hüsameddin calls "at present" is the picture of the years around 1912, when the first volume was printed: Amasya is a sanjak attached to the vilayet of Sivas, and places that today are attached to another province, such as Köprü (Vezirköprü), are also within this sanjak. Amasya's becoming a province bearing its own name took place in the Republican period, on 20 April 1924.

It is instructive to compare the population and quarter figures the author gives with the Ottoman survey registers. Hüsameddin says he deduced "from old registers" that in the period of the princes Amasya had some seventy quarters and some sixty thousand people. Yet according to the survey records known today, in 1525 the city consisted of fifty-five quarters, five of them non-Muslim, and its population was an estimated 8000 or so. At the end of the sixteenth century the number of quarters was again fifty-five, and the population around 10,000. In the seventeenth century Evliya Çelebi counts a total of fifty-three quarters and five thousand households, which corresponds roughly to twenty thousand people. In the nineteenth century the population is estimated at between 25 and 30 thousand. These figures show that Amasya of the period of the princes was a far smaller city than Hüsameddin thought, and that the city's population, far from declining, grew in the following centuries. The fifty-three quarters and thirty-seven thousand people the author gives for his own time are consistent with the nineteenth-century estimates. The feeling of "loss of former honor" is correct in terms of political importance; in terms of population it is not supported by documents.

The "three gorges" description the author uses in describing the geography of the city remains valid today. Amasya is founded at an elevation of about 400 meters above sea level, in a narrow valley opened by the Yeşilırmak and surrounded on both sides by high cliffs. The royal tombs carved into the steep cliffs rising to the north of the river and the fortress above them are the city's most distinctive sight; since the south of the river is less steep, settlement has developed mostly on this bank. The northern mountain Hüsameddin calls the "Harşene range" is Harşena Mountain, on which the fortress stands. The fortress is about 300 meters above the Yeşilırmak; according to some historians it was built by Mithridates, King of Pontus, according to others by a commander named Karsan or Harsana, and the name "Harşena" is explained by this account. Who had the fortress built is still not known with certainty today.

On the Authors Cited in the Introduction

In some of the sources Hüsameddin cites, the pairings of names and works have become confused; it is useful to draw the reader's attention to these. Takvîmü'l-Buldân is in fact the name of the work Ebü'l-Fidâ completed in 721 [1321]. Bursalı Sipâhîzâde Mehmed Efendi (d. 997/1589), on the other hand, wrote the geography book Evzahu'l-mesâlik ilâ ma'rifeti'l-büldân ve'l-memâlik and in this work used as his main sources Ebü'l-Fidâ's Takvîmü'l-büldân and İbn Abdülhak el-Bağdâdî's Merâsıdü'l-ıttılâ'. The work was completed in 980 [1572] and presented to Murad III, and by order of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha it was abridged and translated into Turkish. The text Hüsameddin calls "Sipâhîzâde's Takvîmü'l-Buldân" is most probably this Turkish abridgment; the description he relays being almost identical to those of the other works also comes from this common source.

A similar confusion applies to the Nüzhetü'l-Kulûb. The author of this Persian work of geography and cosmography is Hamdullah el-Müstevfî, the historian of the Ilkhanid period born in Qazvin in 680 [1281]; he completed the work in 740 [1340]. Because his father's name was Ebû Bekir, he also appears in the sources as "Hamdullah b. Ebû Bekir el-Kazvînî." That Hüsameddin gives the Nüzhetü'l-Kulûb to "Ebû Bekir el-Müstevfî" and the Târîh-i Güzîde to Hamdullah el-Müstevfî appears to arise from his having divided two works of the same author between father and son. Both works are Hamdullah's; the Târîh-i Güzîde is a general history in Persian written in 730 [1330].

Moltke's visit to Amasya is confirmed by documents. The German officer Helmuth von Moltke was appointed in 1838 as adviser to the Ottoman army in Anatolia, landed at Samsun, and traveled through Amasya, Tokat and Sivas. The date 1254 Hüsameddin gives corresponds to this year. Moltke's letters are generally known in Turkish under the title Türkiye Mektupları; the Şark Hâtırâtı Hüsameddin cites must be an old translation title of these letters.

The information that Mütenebbî visited Amasya together with Seyfüddevle in 342 must be approached with caution. It is known that Mütenebbî was with Seyfüddevle in Aleppo between 337 [948] and 346 [957], that he took part in his Byzantine campaigns and in his panegyrics told of these wars in an epic language. The date 342 therefore falls within the years when Mütenebbî was in Seyfüddevle's service. However, in the sources we examined we did not come across a record confirming that the Hamdanid armies reached Amasya that year or that the couplets relayed were said specifically for this city. That the couplets belong to Amasya remains an interpretation belonging to Hüsameddin or to a source he used that is not known.

Present knowledge about Sa'dî Çelebi's work Hayru Ahlâm likewise rests largely on Hüsameddin. Tâcîzâde Sa'dî Çelebi (d. 922/1516) was the son of Tâcî Bey, the treasurer (defterdar) of Prince Bayezid in Amasya, and the brother of Câfer Çelebi; born in Amasya, he served as a madrasa professor (müderris) in the madrasas of Bursa and Istanbul and was known especially for his mastery of Arabic poetry and composition. This work of his describing the beauties of Amasya is cited in encyclopedic sources directly with reference to this page of Hüsameddin; no information was found about a manuscript copy of the work.

On the Name and Founding of the City

The longest and most disputed part of the introduction is devoted to the origin of the name Amasya and the founding of the city. Hüsameddin first collects the forms of the name in the historical sources, then, by dropping the suffixes in them, arrives at a founder named "Amâs" or "Amîs," and derives this name from the Turkish root "ammak." Present knowledge does not support this inference. The city's oldest known name is Amaseia; on Greek and Roman coins the name is written Αμάσεια (Amaseia) first of all, and in the forms Amassia and Amasia. The form "Amasya" in Turkish is the shape this ancient name took over time. A widespread account links the name to the Amazon queen Amasis; some sources base this account on the geographer Strabo, who is accepted as having been born in Amasya. Strabo, in his Geographika, speaks of the city as Amaseia. In short, the forms "Amâzîs, Amîse, Amâse" that Hüsameddin collected are reflections of this ancient name in different languages; there is no evidence that they point to the name of a founding person.

Hüsameddin's account of the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis, on the other hand, is surprisingly accurate. The reign of the pharaoh known today as Ahmose II (Amasis) is dated 570-526 BCE, that is, lasted exactly 44 years. The author's saying "he came to the throne 1191 years before the hijra" corresponds, reckoned in solar years, to about 569 BCE. His finding that there is no record of Amasis's taking northern Anatolia is also correct; this pharaoh is known rather for the alliances he made with the Greek world, with Lydia, Samos and Cyrene. In counting the linking of the city's name to this pharaoh as merely a similarity of names, Hüsameddin is right.

The author's calculations that "the Turks settled in the Pontus region 2450 years before the hijra" and that Amasya was founded "2400 years before the hijra," that is, roughly in the 1780s BCE, reflect an understanding of his own period. Seeing the Hittites as a Turkish people ("Hittite-Hıtay") was a widespread opinion among some Turkish historians in the early twentieth century; in present research the Hittites are defined as an Indo-European people. Even so, Hüsameddin's taking Amasya's history back to the Hittites meets present research at one point, though for different reasons. The land and city of Hakmiš (Hakmiş) named in Hittite cuneiform texts is sought by a significant part of researchers in Amasya or its near surroundings. According to Leyla Murat's study based on Hittite texts, Hakmiš must lie north of the line of Ortaköy (Šapinuwa) and Maşat Höyük (Tapikka), at or near Amasya. Hakmiš was an important center of the northern frontier against the Kaška tribes; King Muwatalli gave the administration of this region to his brother Hattušili III, and Hattušili drove the Kaška away from here and reestablished order. In a Hittite festival text it is also told that the storm god moved to Hakmiš, "to his house." For this reason it is accepted today as a strong probability that the city has a past reaching back to the second millennium BCE; but its date of founding and its founder are not known with certainty. Encyclopedic sources content themselves with stating that the city existed before the time of Alexander the Great and that its history is thought to reach back to the Hittite period.

Hüsameddin's linking the name "Amâs" to words such as "ammak," "amac," "aman" and "amud" shows the most criticized side of the author. The researchers who have assessed the work note that on some subjects Hüsameddin went in for excessive etymological analogies and that this gives rise to hesitation about the scholarly value of what he wrote. The author himself says plainly that these inferences are not "certain facts" but "historical conjectures"; this honesty must be acknowledged. His refuting the genealogy that links the Armenian account's king Amasyus to Noah, by calculating that it assigns 241 years per generation, is also a fine example of the author's critical mind.

Hüsameddin himself regards the "Elmâsiye" and "Ümm-i Âsiye" explanations as folk etymology and rejects them. A detail needs to be pointed out here: in his footnote the author says that he wrote Firdevsî-i Rûmî's Persian couplets to relate the excuse of Prince Bayezid, who objected to being appointed from Kütahya to Amasya in 965 [1557-58]. It is known that Prince Bayezid, son of Süleyman the Magnificent, interpreted this appointment as meaning that his brother Selim had been chosen as heir instead of himself, and rebelled. Yet Firdevsî-i Rûmî was a poet born in 1453, who lived in the reigns of Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II; there is no information that he was alive in the time of Süleyman. In that case either the couplets belong to another poet or the event related concerns another prince. In the light of the sources it must be said that this point remains open.

The Epithets of Amasya

Of the eleven epithets Hüsameddin lists, some are also used for Amasya in present sources. Local and foreign authors have used for the city such expressions as "the pearl of the cities of Anatolia," "Bağdâdü'r-Rûm," "Medînetü'l-hükemâ" and "city of madrasas"; it is also recorded that in the Anatolian Seljuk period the city was known by the title "Dârü'l-izz." The traveler G. Perrot, who came to Amasya in 1861, described the city as "the Oxford of Anatolia" and wrote that nearly 2000 students studied in its madrasas. Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi, who wrote a work on Amasya at the beginning of the nineteenth century, also notes that this is a city of students. The identity as a center of learning that Hüsameddin foregrounds in explaining the epithets "Kubbetü'l-Ulemâ" and "Bağdâdü'r-Rûm" is confirmed by these testimonies.

In the explanation of the epithets, the author's interpretation must be separated from documented fact. Associating the epithet "Medînetü'l-Hükemâ" with Strabo is a reasonable interpretation; Strabo is also cited in encyclopedic sources as the first great name Amasya produced. His linking the epithet "Hısnü'l-Mir'ât" (Mirrored Citadel) to the rock tombs, especially the "Aynalı Mağara," is also interesting. This rock tomb, 3.3 kilometers from the city center today, took this name because its facade was polished smooth and shines when the sun strikes it. From the phrase "Great Priest Tes" in the inscription at the entrance of the tomb, it is thought to belong to a priest who lived in Amasya in the Hellenistic period. The view that the fortress's name comes from this shining facade is Hüsameddin's own conjecture.

We could not verify in the sources we examined the details of the Roman provincial order in the explanation of "Ermeniyye-i Kübrâ." What is known is this: Amasya served for a time as capital of the Kingdom of Pontus founded in 281 BCE, was annexed to Roman territory in 70 BCE by the Roman general Lucullus, and from the third century CE became an important episcopal center. The explanation of the epithet "Rûmiyye-i Suğrâ" by its being a center of Christianity is consistent with this last information. The range 467-980 given for "Kasrü's-Selâtîn" covers the period from the Danishmendid conquest to the end of the period of the princes' sanjak. Indeed, Amasya became a city where, starting with Çelebi Mehmed, Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II served as sanjak governors; after the killing of Prince Mustafa, son of Süleyman the Magnificent, with the rise to prominence of the sanjaks near Istanbul, it lost this character in the middle of the sixteenth century. The year 980 [1572-73] that Hüsameddin takes as his limit falls a little after this break.

Çakallar and Karakaya

At the end of the section, Hüsameddin begins, with the quatrains of the ode he wrote himself, to describe the southern slopes of the city, the vineyards of Çakallar and Karakaya. This description is an image of the Amasya the author himself lived in and continues in the next section with the water sources. Quarter names such as Gökmedrese, Dârüsselâm, Pîr Sinan (Şehre Küstü) and Küpceğiz appear on this page. The Gökmedrese Mosque, which gave its name to the Gökmedrese Quarter, is known to stand as a Seljuk building of the year 1266-67. No reliable source was found on the present condition of the vineyards of Çakallar and Karakaya.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 1, p. 75–81. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• İlhan Şahin – Feridun Emecen, "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, İstanbul 1991. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya
• Turgut Akpınar, "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, İstanbul 1998, p. 551-552. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huseyin-husameddin-yasar
• Mahmut Kaya, "Sipâhîzâde Mehmed", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 37, İstanbul 2009, p. 258-259. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sipahizade-mehmed
• Casim Avcı, "Takvîmü'l-büldân", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/takvimul-buldan
• Abdülkerim Özaydın, "Hamdullah el-Müstevfî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hamdullah-el-mustevfi
• İsmail Durmuş, "Mütenebbî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mutenebbi
• İsmail E. Erünsal, "Tâcîzâde Sâdî Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/tacizade-sadi-celebi
• Leyla Murat, "Hitit Tarihi-Coğrafyasında Hakmiš ve İštahara Ülkelerinin Konumu", DergiPark. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/782149

Official sources

• Amasya Belediyesi, "Amasya'nın Tarihi". https://amasya.bel.tr/sayfalar/amasyanin-tarihi

Other sources

• "Amasya (şehir)", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasya_(şehir)
• "Moltke'nin Türkiye Mektupları", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moltke'nin_Türkiye_Mektupları
• "Firdevsî-i Rûmî", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firdevsî-i_Rûmî
• "Amasis II", Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amasis_II
• "Hititler", Vikipedi. https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hititler