Malatya
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Malatya is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of years.
Variants
- Melitene (Pliny.vi.3)
- Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή
- Armenian: Մալաթիա,
- romanized: Malat'ya
- Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná
- Kurdish: Meletî[1]
- Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή
- Malidiya (Hittite)
- Midduwa
- Meliddu (Akkadian)
- Meliṭeia (Urar̩tian)
Jat Gotras Namesake
- Mali = Malīṭīná = Melitene (Pliny.vi.3)
- Maltiya = Malatya = Melitene (Pliny.vi.3)
History
In Hittite, melid or milit means "honey", offering a possible etymology for the name, which was mentioned in the contemporary sources of the time under several variations (e.g., Hittite: Malidiya[2] and possibly also Midduwa;[3] Akkadian: Meliddu;[4] Urar̩tian: Meliṭeia[5]).
Strabo says that the city was known "to the ancients"[6] as Melitene (Ancient Greek Μελιτηνή), a name adopted by the Romans following Roman expansion into the east. According to Strabo, the inhabitants of Melitene shared with the nearby Cappadocians and Cataonians the same language and culture.
The site of ancient Melitene lies a few kilometres from the modern city in what is now the village of Arslantepe and near the district center of Battalgazi (Byzantine to Ottoman Empire). Present-day Battalgazi was the location of the city of Malatya until the 19th century, when a gradual move of the city to the present third location began. Battalgazi's official name was Eskimalatya (Old Malatya); until recently, it was a name used locally. In Turkey the city is renowned for its apricots, as up to 80% of the Turkish apricot production is provided by Malatya, giving Malatya the name kayısı diyarı ("apricot realm").[7]
Mention by Pliny
Pliny [8] mentions....That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene,16 and Cammanene, before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the river Cappadox,17 from which this people have taken their name; they were formerly known as the Leucosyri.18 From Neocæsarea above mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus.
References
- ↑ Dr Abdulla Ghafor (2000). Kurdistan: Dabeshî Kargêrî Terrîtorî 1927-1997. Stockholm.
- ↑ "Melid." Reallexikon der Assyriologie.
- ↑ KBo V 8 IV 18. Op. cit. Puhvel, Jaan. Trends in Linguistics: Hittite Etymological Dictionary: Vol. 6: Words Beginning with M. Walter de Gruyter, 2004.
- ↑ Hawkins, John D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Vol. 1: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, 2000.
- ↑ Hawkins, John D. Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions. Vol. 1: Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, 2000.
- ↑ Strabo Geographica, Translated from the Greek text by W. Falconer (London, 1903); Book XII, Chapter I
- ↑ "Melid." Reallexikon der Assyriologie
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 3
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