In European Turkey, according to fashionissupreme, İstanbul retains not many remains of the city founded by Constantine (Constantinople) and the oldest Greek and later Roman city (Byzantium). The archaeological picture of Anatolia is, on the other hand, exceptionally large and complex, a bridge of passage and a meeting point for the civilizations of Asia and Europe. One of the oldest cities in the world is Çatal-Hüyük, with overlapping mud-brick houses accessible through openings in the roofs and numerous sanctuaries (possibly 6000 BC). Among other things, the Assyrian commercial colonies of Cappadocia from 1950-1750 BC date back to the Pre-Titian period. C. ca. (Kültepe, ancient Kanis, Acemhöyük N of Aksaray, ancient Burušhanda etc.), the first palace of Beycesultan, the oldest layers of Karahüyük near Konya, of Boǧazkale and other archaeological centers, the elegant polychrome pottery of Alishar II (Alishar Hüyük), the royal tombs of Alaca Hüyük. The architecture and sculpture of the Hittites (c.1700-1200 BC) are witnessed by various locations in central Anatolia, and above all by the imposing remains of Boǧazkale (huge walls with ornate doors, royal palace, temples), from the nearby rock sanctuary of Yazııaya, with large bas-reliefs of Hittite gods and kings, from the new settlement of Alaca Hüyük (walls, gate of the Sphinxes). The so-called neo-Hittite or Syrian art that followed, in the first centuries of the first millennium BC. C., the end of the Hittite Empire, is instead attested in southeastern Turkey in Zincirli (ancient Sam’al), Sakçagözü, Karatepe, Malatya (Arslantepe) and above all Karkemis, whose monumental complexes and whose reliefs show the succession of different styles, from the Hittite to the Assyrian one. The black castle of Afyon is also of Hittite origin. In eastern Turkey there are also archaeological centers of the Urartu civilization (9th-6th century BC), famous for its metallurgical production, especially in the region of Lake Van (Toprak-Kale, Tilkitepe, Çavustepe) and in Altintepe. The people of the Phrygians it has left numerous archaeological testimonies that go back to the century. Street. C.: characteristic are the rock sanctuaries with carved facades and the burial mounds with rich furnishings, as well as the ceramics close to the contemporary Greek ones. Of particular interest are the excavations of the capital Gordio (walls, city buildings, necropolis in the Sakarya valley with the tomb called Midas from the end of the 8th century BC); among other places with Phrygian finds are Küyükkale (the citadel of Boǧazkale), Alishar, Yalincak and Gawurkalesi near Ankara, the so-called City of Midas, Pazarli, Topakli near Kayseri, as well as the shrine of Aslankaya near Afyon.

With the Phrygians, Anatolia, which previously looked mainly to the East, turned to Greek culture, which was brought to Asia by the already numerous Greek colonies of the coast. Even closer to Greek art was the art of Lycia, whose most important archaeological center is Xanthus (older monuments of the acropolis, tombs). The same can be said of the art of Lydia, known above all from the excavations of the Sardis capital(buildings, Bin Tepe necropolis with King Aliatte’s tomb). The Persian dominion has left remains mainly to Gordio and Sardis; minor works of art appear worked in the so-called “Greco-Persian” style. In western Anatolia the oldest urban settlement of Troy (Troia I) dates back to the beginning of the third millennium BC. C. The most important archaeological centers are the numerous Greek colonies of the Aegean coast, largely after the Doric invasion, although there is no lack of Mycenaean settlements in Miletus and in other locations. The Greek cities of Asia Minor participated in the development of Greek art with a wealth of manifestations and with original contributions; Greek-oriental art is essentially characterized by a decorative taste. In the Ionian cities of the Aegean coast, the order called “Ionic” was fixed in its canons in grandiose constructions (Artemision of Ephesus of the sixth century BC) long before that in Greece. Greek-oriental are also the Aeolian capital, the painted sarcophagi of Clazomenes and, in general, the burials in sarcophagi (heròon). In the Hellenistic period some cities underwent new development, others were also founded in Inner Anatolia and their ruins are often notable examples of Hellenistic urban planning and architecture. Of exceptional interest are the excavations of Pergamum, arranged like other Hellenistic cities on various terraces from the lower city to the acropolis; of Ephesus, with its imposing Greek and Roman ruins and its early Christian memories; of Miletus, with the important monuments of its urban districts and the sanctuary of Apollo in Didime; of Priene, with its perfect checkerboard layout and the temple of Athena Poliade. Izmir preserves the agora in its modern settlement of the Hellenistic-Roman city and to Bayrakli the remains of the more ancient Smyrna (mainly remains of the seventh and sixth centuries BC).

Of considerable archaeological interest on the Aegean coast are also Assos (temple of the 6th century BC), Larissa sull’Ermo (palaces of the 6th century BC with clear oriental influences), Mirina (necropolis with Hellenistic clay statuettes), Clazomenes (painted clay sarcophagi of the 6th-5th centuries BC), Cnidus (known for its sanctuary of Aphrodite) and also Colofone, Magnesia al Meandro, Eraclea Al Latmo, Iaso, Halicarnassus. Further to S Xanto preserves monuments both of the sec. V and IV a. C. both of the Hellenistic age and therefore Roman and Paleochristian. On the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean we can remember Telmesso, with its Lycian rock necropolis, Antalya, with notable Roman monuments, Side (agorá, colonnaded street, large theater), Perge, with an urban layout determined in Roman times by the intersection of two roads colonnades, and Aspendo, with its grandiose Roman theater; further east is Tarsus in Cilicia, near which there are considerable Hittite remains; along the Black Sea coast, Sinope. Of many ancient cities of Caria thereare also important Roman remains (Aphrodisias, Alabanda, Tralle). Sardis in Lydia also had a new development in Roman times (Roman and Christian monuments). Monuments in Phrygia preserve Aizani (temple of Zeus, stadium, theater), Hierapolis and Laodicea, which were also seats of Christian communities. In Pisidia, Termesso, built at 1000 m high with a parchment-type terraced layout, and the analogous Sagalasso, with its Roman theater, are interesting examples of large mountain cities. Ankara, the Roman Ancyra, has grandiose baths and the temple of Rome and Augustus, famous for the Monumentum Ancyranum engraved on its walls. In Turkish territory there is also Antioch whose remains only partially testify to the exceptional importance of the ancient Syrian city. A grandiose isolated monument is the Nemrut dag, sanctuary-sepulcher of Antiochus I of Commagene with colossal statues of Greek and Persian divinities.