At sunrise, the Dubai desert looks less like a place and more like a promise. The dunes hold onto the night's cool breath, a pale ribbon of light grows along the horizon, and for a few quiet minutes the city's glass and noise are far away. This is the moment people travel for: the hush before a hot air balloon lifts, the flare of the burner, the slow and steady rise that makes the world widen beneath you. But that magic depends on something practical: choosing a hot air balloon Dubai trusted operator.
Trust, in this context, isn't just a feeling. It's a combination of rigorous safety standards, experienced pilots, clear communication, and a guest experience that puts care ahead of convenience. Hot air balloon Dubai warm colors The best balloon companies in Dubai are licensed by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). That license means audited procedures, approved maintenance schedules, and pilots with the correct commercial ratings and up-to-date medicals. Hot air balloon Dubai online booking . A trusted operator will volunteer this information, not bury it in fine print. If you ask about certifications, weather limits, or maintenance, you should get straightforward answers, not marketing gloss.
Safety begins long before you step into the basket. In the desert, flying conditions are most stable just after sunrise, when the air is cool and winds are light. Reputable operators only schedule flights in these early hours and cancel when the weather doesn't cooperate. Hot air balloon Dubai aerial tour They never make guarantees against nature. If an operator promises to fly in “all conditions,” that's a red flag. A trustworthy company will have clear weather minimums, explain them in simple language, and offer fair rebooking or refund policies when conditions fall short.
On the day of the flight, you'll usually be collected from your hotel well before dawn and driven out past the last roundabouts of the city to a launch site on firm desert ground. The crew arrives ahead of you to lay out the envelope (the fabric balloon), test burners, and measure wind with handheld instruments and pilot balloons. Before boarding, there should be a proper safety briefing: how to climb in and out of the basket, where to hold on, landing positions, what to do-and not do-around open burners. A trusted operator takes this briefing seriously and makes sure every passenger understands it, regardless of excitement or language barriers.
Pilots are the quiet heartbeat of a safe flight. Hot air balloon Dubai medical conditions In Dubai, the most respected pilots have hundreds, often thousands, of hours in command, and they're intimately familiar with desert microclimates-how wind layers change with altitude, where turbulence can build as the sun warms the surface, how to choose landing sites that are smooth and accessible for the ground crew. Ask about your pilot's experience; it isn't intrusive. A professional will be proud to share their background and operating philosophy.
Equipment matters, too. Balloons are simple in concept but exacting in upkeep. The envelope fabric is inspected for wear, burners are pressure-tested, and hoses and valves are checked on strict schedules. Trustworthy operators keep meticulous logbooks and follow manufacturer and GCAA maintenance intervals. While you may never see those documents, you can see signs of good practice: a clean, well-organized setup; crew who work with calm coordination; radios squawking softly between pilot and chase vehicle; protective gloves and eyewear where needed. Disorder on the ground often reveals disorder in the back office.
Of course, trust isn't just about safety; it's also about respect-toward guests, the environment, and the desert's quiet residents. Much of Dubai's ballooning happens over protected areas where Arabian oryx and gazelles move in small herds. Hot air balloon Dubai scenic horizon Ethical operators brief guests to observe wildlife without intrusion, avoid litter, and stay on established tracks during any post-landing drives. Many include a light breakfast after the flight-sometimes a traditional spread served camp-style-and the better companies partner with conservation initiatives or support local suppliers rather than staging contrived experiences that stress animals or the land.
The best hot air balloon Dubai trusted operator also respects your time and expectations. From the first message you send, you should receive clear information: what to wear (layers and closed-toe shoes; the desert starts cool and warms quickly), weight and age limits, accessibility considerations, insurance coverage, and whether hotel pickup is included. They'll remind you to bring a valid ID, explain the early start, and outline how photos and videos are handled-whether a professional is onboard or you're free to bring your own camera. Their policies will be transparent: no hidden surcharges for fuel, no last-minute upsells that turn a simple flight into a complicated invoice.
Group size shapes the experience. Large baskets can carry many passengers, and that keeps costs down. Smaller baskets feel more intimate and give you better room to move and photograph the landscape. A trusted operator will be honest about capacity and won't cram extra guests aboard beyond certified limits. If you're traveling with young children or someone with limited mobility, ask about boarding aids, minimum height requirements, and whether the landing sites are suitable; professionals will guide you toward a safe and comfortable option rather than defaulting to “yes.”
How do you separate marketing from merit when booking from afar? Start with independent reviews that mention safety briefings, weather-related cancellations handled fairly, and crew professionalism during landings-those are the moments when a company's true culture shows. Look for consistent mentions of pilot names; reputations in ballooning are built one careful flight at a time. Visit the operator's own website to confirm licensing, insurance, and contact details in the UAE, not just a generic form. If possible, call and ask practical questions: What's your surface wind limit? How do you decide to cancel? Who maintains your balloons, and how often? Real operators answer crisply because these are daily concerns, not awkward topics.
There's also value beyond the hour aloft. Some companies include desert transfers in vintage vehicles, falconry demonstrations conducted by licensed handlers, or breakfast in a Bedouin-style camp. These touches can be memorable, but they shouldn't distract from the fundamentals. A poor flight wrapped in fancy trimmings is still a poor flight. A great flight-calm lift-off, unhurried navigation across burnished dunes, a gentle stand-up landing, laughter in the basket-doesn't need ornament.
If you've never flown, a final word of reassurance: hot air ballooning feels less like a thrill ride and more like an exhale. Heights bother fewer people than you might expect, because you rise slowly and there's no sensation of edges or speed. If you're anxious, tell your pilot. The good ones carry an extra dose of calm for their passengers.
In the end, choosing a hot air balloon Dubai trusted operator is a blend of homework and instinct. Verify the credentials. Read the unvarnished feedback. Ask the questions that matter. Then, when the hour comes, let the experts do what they do best. The burners will roar, the ground will drift away, and the sun will lift the color back into the world. Trust is what makes that simple, ancient magic safe-and unforgettable.
About Camel
Genus of mammals
This article is about the hoofed mammal. For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation).
Camel
Temporal range: Pliocene–Recent[1]
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
↓
Dromedary
(Camelus dromedarius)
Bactrian camel
(Camelus bactrianus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Camelidae
Tribe:
Camelini
Genus:
Camelus
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Camelus dromedarius[6]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Camelus bactrianus
Camelus dromedarius
Camelus ferus
†Camelus grattardi (fossil)[2]
†Camelus knoblochi (fossil)[3]
†Syrian camel (fossil)
†Camelus sivalensis (fossil)[4]
†Camelus thomasi (fossil)[5]
Distribution of camels worldwide
Synonyms
List
Camellus Molina, 1782
Dromedarius Gloger, 1841
A camel (from Latin: camelus and Ancient Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Ancient Semitic: gāmāl[7][8]) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The wild Bactrian camel is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel, and is now critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals.
The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña, which belong to the separate tribe Lamini.[9] Camelids originated in North America during the Eocene, with the ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrating across the Bering land bridge into Asia during the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago.
Taxonomy
[edit]
Extant species
[edit]
Three species are extant:[10][11]
Genus Camelus – Linnaeus, 1758 – nine species
Common name
Scientific name and subspecies
Range
Size and ecology
IUCN status and estimated population
Bactrian camel
Camelus bactrianus
Linnaeus, 1758
Domesticated; Central Asia, including the historical region of Bactria and Turkey.
Size:
Habitat:
Diet:
NE
Unknown
Dromedary / Arabian camel
Camelus dromedarius
Linnaeus, 1758
Domesticated; the Middle East, Sahara Desert, and South Asia; introduced to Australia
Size:
Habitat:
Diet:
NE
Unknown
Wild Bactrian camel
Camelus ferus
Przewalski, 1878
Remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia
Size:
Habitat:
Diet:
EN
Unknown
Biology
[edit]
The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years.[12] A full-grown adult dromedary camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump.[13] Bactrian camels can be a foot taller. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph).[14] Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg (660 to 1,320 lb). The widening toes on a camel's hoof provide supplemental grip for varying soil sediments.[15]
The male dromedary camel has an organ called a dulla in his throat, a large, inflatable sac that he extrudes from his mouth when in rut to assert dominance and attract females. It resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of the camel's mouth.[16] Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind.[17] The male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session.[18] Camelids are the only ungulates to mate in a sitting position.[19]
Ecological and behavioral adaptations
[edit]
Camel humps store fat for when food is scarce. If a camel uses the fat, the hump becomes limp and droops.
It is a common myth that a camel stores water in its hump,[20] but the humps in fact are reservoirs of fatty tissue, which can be used as a reserve source of calories, not water. When this tissue is metabolized, it yields a greater mass of water than that of the fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water.[21][22]
A camel's thick coat is one of its many adaptations that aid it in desert-like conditions.A camel in Somalia, which has the world's largest camel population[23]
Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water.[24] The dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every 10 days even under very hot conditions, and can lose up to 30% of its body mass due to dehydration.[25] They can drink as much as 30 imperial gallons (140 litres) at a time[26] but this is stored in the animal's bloodstream, not, as popularly believed, in its humps.[20]
Unlike other mammals, camels' red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration[27] and makes them better at withstanding high osmotic variation without rupturing when drinking large amounts of water.[28][29]
Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other mammals. Their temperature ranges from 34 °C (93 °F) at dawn and steadily increases to 40 °C (104 °F) by sunset, before they cool off at night again.[24] In general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1.3 liters of fluid intake every day while the other livestock lose 20 to 40 liters per day.[30] Maintaining the brain temperature within certain limits is critical for animals; to assist this, camels have a rete mirabile, a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other which utilizes countercurrent blood flow to cool blood flowing to the brain.[31] Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49 °C (120 °F).[32] Any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat; the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat. Camels can withstand losing 25% of their body weight in water, whereas most other mammals can withstand only about 12–14% dehydration before cardiac failure results from circulatory disturbance.[29]
When the camel exhales, water vapor becomes trapped in their nostrils and is reabsorbed into the body as a means to conserve water.[33] Camels eating green herbage can ingest sufficient moisture in milder conditions to maintain their bodies' hydrated state without the need for drinking.[34]
Camels have three-chambered stomachs and perform rumination as part of their digestive process, even though they are not part of the ruminant sub-order.[35]
Domesticated camel calves lying in sternal recumbency, which aids heat loss
The camel's thick coat insulates it from the intense heat radiated from desert sand; a shorn camel must sweat 50% more to avoid overheating.[36] During the summer the coat becomes lighter in color, reflecting light as well as helping avoid sunburn.[29] The camel's long legs help by keeping its body farther from the ground, which can heat up to 70 °C (158 °F).[37][38] Dromedaries have a pad of thick tissue over the sternum called the pedestal. When the animal lies down in a sternal recumbent position, the pedestal raises the body from the hot surface and allows cooling air to pass under the body.[31]
Camels' mouths have a thick leathery lining, allowing them to chew thorny desert plants. Long eyelashes and ear hairs, together with nostrils that can close, form a barrier against sand. If sand gets lodged in their eyes, they can dislodge it using their translucent third eyelid (also known as the nictitating membrane). The camels' gait and widened feet help them move without sinking into the sand.[37][39]
The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at reabsorbing water. Camels' kidneys have a 1:4 cortex to medulla ratio.[40] Thus, the medullary part of a camel's kidney occupies twice as much area as a cow's kidney. Secondly, renal corpuscles have a smaller diameter, which reduces surface area for filtration. These two major anatomical characteristics enable camels to conserve water and limit the volume of urine in extreme desert conditions.[41] Camel urine comes out as a thick syrup, and camel faeces are so dry that they do not require drying when used to fuel fires.[42][43][44][45]
The camel immune system differs from those of other mammals. Normally, the Y-shaped antibody molecules consist of two heavy (or long) chains along the length of the Y, and two light (or short) chains at each tip of the Y.[46] Camels, in addition to these, also have antibodies made of only two heavy chains, a trait that makes them smaller and more durable.[46] These "heavy-chain-only" antibodies, discovered in 1993, are thought to have developed 50 million years ago, after camelids split from ruminants and pigs.[46]
The parasite Trypanosoma evansi causes the disease surra in camels.[47]: 2
Genetics
[edit]
The karyotypes of different camelid species have been studied earlier by many groups,[48][49][50][51][52][53] but no agreement on chromosome nomenclature of camelids has been reached. A 2007 study flow sorted camel chromosomes, building on the fact that camels have 37 pairs of chromosomes (2n=74), and found that the karyotype consisted of one metacentric, three submetacentric, and 32 acrocentric autosomes. The Y is a small metacentric chromosome, while the X is a large metacentric chromosome.[54]
Skull of an F1 hybrid camel, Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma
The hybrid camel, a hybrid between Bactrian and dromedary camels, has one hump, though it has an indentation 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) deep that divides the front from the back. The hybrid is 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.32 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the hump. It weighs an average of 650 kg (1,430 lb) and can carry around 400 to 450 kg (880 to 990 lb), which is more than either the dromedary or Bactrian can.[55]
According to molecular data, the wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) separated from the domestic Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus) about 1 million years ago.[56][57] New World and Old World camelids diverged about 11 million years ago.[58] In spite of this, these species can hybridize and produce viable offspring.[59] The cama is a camel-llama hybrid bred by scientists to see how closely related the parent species are.[60] Scientists collected semen from a camel via an artificial vagina and inseminated a llama after stimulating ovulation with gonadotrophin injections.[61] The cama is halfway in size between a camel and a llama and lacks a hump. It has ears intermediate between those of camels and llamas, longer legs than the llama, and partially cloven hooves.[62][63] Like the mule, camas are sterile, despite both parents having the same number of chromosomes.[61]
Evolution
[edit]
The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the Eocene).[18] It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.[64][65] By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.[66][67] The hoofed Stenomylus, which walked on the tips of its toes, also existed around this time, and the long-necked Aepycamelus evolved in the Miocene.[68] The split between the tribes Camelini, which contains modern camels and Lamini, modern llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos, is estimated to have occurred over 16 million years ago.[69]
The ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrated into Eurasia from North America via Beringia during the late Miocene, between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago.[70][71][72] During the Pleistocene, around 3 to 1 million years ago, the North American Camelidae spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange via the newly formed Isthmus of Panama, where they gave rise to guanacos and related animals.[18][64][65] Populations of Paracamelus continued to exist in the North American Arctic into the Early Pleistocene.[71][73] This creature is estimated to have stood around nine feet (2.7 metres) tall. The Bactrian camel diverged from the dromedary about 1 million years ago, according to the fossil record.[74]
The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus, which vanished along with horses, short-faced bears, mammoths and mastodons, ground sloths, sabertooth cats, and many other megafauna as part of the Quaternary extinction event, coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia at the end of the Pleistocene, around 13–11,000 years ago.[75][76]
An extinct giant camel species, Camelus knoblochi roamed Asia during the Late Pleistocene, before becoming extinct around 20,000 years ago.[77]
Stenomylus illustration
Stenomylus skeleton
Poebrotherium skeleton
Procamelus skull
Camelops hesternus, the last true camel native to North America
Domestication
[edit]
A camel carrying supplies, Tang dynastyA man on a camel, Tang dynastyWoman on a camel breastfeeding, Tang dynasty
Like horses, camels originated in North America and eventually spread across Beringia to Asia. They survived in the Old World, and eventually humans domesticated them and spread them globally. Along with many other megafauna in North America, the original wild camels were wiped out during the spread of the first indigenous peoples of the Americas from Asia into North America, 10 to 12,000 years ago; although fossils have never been associated with definitive evidence of hunting.[75][76]
Most camels surviving today are domesticated.[45][78] Although feral populations exist in Australia, India and Kazakhstan, wild camels survive only in the wild Bactrian camel population of the Gobi Desert.[12]
History
[edit]
When humans first domesticated camels is disputed. Dromedaries may have first been domesticated by humans in Somalia or South Arabia sometime during the 3rd millennium BC, the Bactrian in central Asia around 2,500 BC,[18][79][80][81] as at Shar-i Sokhta (also known as the Burnt City), Iran.[82] A study from 2016, which genotyped and used world-wide sequencing of modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), suggested that they were initially domesticated in the southeast Arabian Peninsula,[83] with the Bactrian type later being domesticated around Central Asia.[84]
Martin Heide's 2010 work on the domestication of the camel tentatively concludes that humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium somewhere east of the Zagros Mountains, with the practice then moving into Mesopotamia. Heide suggests that mentions of camels "in the patriarchal narratives may refer, at least in some places, to the Bactrian camel", while noting that the camel is not mentioned in relationship to Canaan.[85] Heide and Joris Peters reasserted that conclusion in their 2021 study on the subject.[86]
In 2009–2013, excavations in the Timna Valley by Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones yet found in Israel or even outside the Arabian Peninsula, dating to around 930 BC. This garnered considerable media coverage, as it is strong evidence that the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time.[87][88]
The existence of camels in Mesopotamia and Arabia but not in Syria is not a new idea. The historian Richard Bulliet thought that although camels were occasionally mentioned in the Bible, this didn't mean that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time.[89] The archaeologist William F. Albright, writing even earlier, saw camels in the Bible as an anachronism.[90]
The official report by Sapir-Hen and Ben-Joseph says:
The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the southern Levant ... substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112–116; Jasmin 2005). This ... has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558–584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler-Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age (not before the 12th century [BC])
and concludes:
Current data from copper smelting sites of the Arabah Valley enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates. The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century [BC] and most probably during this time. The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region—attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I—raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade.[88]
A camel serving as a draft animal in Pakistan (2009)
A camel in a ceremonial procession, its rider playing kettledrums, Mughal Empire (c. 1840)
Petroglyph of a camel, Negev, southern Israel (prior to c. 5300 BC)
Joseph Sells Grain by Bartholomeus Breenbergh (1655), showing camel with rider at left
Textiles
[edit]
Main article: Camel hair
Desert tribes and Mongolian nomads use camel hair for tents, yurts, clothing, bedding and accessories. Camels have outer guard hairs and soft inner down, and the fibers may also be sorted by color and age of the animal. The guard hairs can be felted for use as waterproof coats for the herdsmen, while the softer hair is used for premium goods.[91] The fiber can be spun for use in weaving or made into yarns for hand knitting or crochet. Pure camel hair is recorded as being used for western garments from the 17th century onwards, and from the 19th century a mixture of wool and camel hair was used.[92]
Military uses
[edit]
Main article: Camel cavalry
A special BSF camel contingent, Republic Day Parade, New Delhi (2004)Camel Corps at Magdhaba, Egypt, 23 December 1916, by Harold Septimus Power (1925)
By at least 1200 BC the first camel saddles had appeared, and Bactrian camels could be ridden. The first saddle was positioned to the back of the camel, and control of the Bactrian camel was exercised by means of a stick. However, between 500 and 100 BC, Bactrian camels came into military use. New saddles, which were inflexible and bent, were put over the humps and divided the rider's weight over the animal. In the seventh century BC the military Arabian saddle evolved, which again improved the saddle design slightly.[93][94]
Military forces have used camel cavalries in wars throughout Africa, the Middle East, and their use continues into the modern-day within the Border Security Force (BSF) of India. The first documented use of camel cavalries occurred in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.[95][96][97] Armies have also used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules.[98][99]
The East Roman Empire used auxiliary forces known as dromedarii, whom the Romans recruited in desert provinces.[100][101] The camels were used mostly in combat because of their ability to scare off horses at close range (horses are afraid of the camels' scent),[19] a quality famously employed by the Achaemenid Persians when fighting Lydia in the Battle of Thymbra (547 BC).[55][102][103]
19th and 20th centuries
[edit]
A camel caravan of the Bulgarian military during the First Balkan War, 1912
The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps, stationed in California, in the 19th century.[19] One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal in Benicia, California, where they nowadays serve as the Benicia Historical Museum.[104] Though the experimental use of camels was seen as a success (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in 1858, recommended that funds be allocated towards obtaining a thousand more camels), the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 saw the end of the Camel Corps: Texas became part of the Confederacy, and most of the camels were left to wander away into the desert.[99]
France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara[105] in order to exercise greater control over the camel-riding Tuareg and Arab insurgents, as previous efforts to defeat them on foot had failed.[106] The Free French Camel Corps fought during World War II, and camel-mounted units remained in service until the end of French rule over Algeria in 1962.[107]
In 1916, the British created the Imperial Camel Corps. It was originally used to fight the Senussi, but was later used in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Imperial Camel Corps comprised infantrymen mounted on camels for movement across desert, though they dismounted at battle sites and fought on foot. After July 1918, the Corps began to become run down, receiving no new reinforcements, and was formally disbanded in 1919.[108]
In World War I, the British Army also created the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which consisted of a group of Egyptian camel drivers and their camels. The Corps supported British war operations in Sinai, Palestine, and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops.[109][110][111]
The Somaliland Camel Corps was created by colonial authorities in British Somaliland in 1912; it was disbanded in 1944.[112]
Bactrian camels were used by Romanian forces during World War II in the Caucasian region.[113] At the same period the Soviet units operating around Astrakhan in 1942 adopted local camels as draft animals due to shortage of trucks and horses, and kept them even after moving out of the area. Despite severe losses, some of these camels ended up as far west as to Berlin itself.[114]
The Bikaner Camel Corps of British India fought alongside the British Indian Army in World Wars I and II.[115]
The Tropas Nómadas (Nomad Troops) were an auxiliary regiment of Sahrawi tribesmen serving in the colonial army in Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara). Operational from the 1930s until the end of the Spanish presence in the territory in 1975, the Tropas Nómadas were equipped with small arms and led by Spanish officers. The unit guarded outposts and sometimes conducted patrols on camelback.[116][117]
21st century
[edit]
The annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is held in Saudi Arabia. In addition to camel racing and camel milk tasting, the festival holds a camel "beauty pageant" with prize money of $57m (£40m). In 2018, 12 camels were disqualified from the beauty contest after their owners were found to have injected them with botox.[118] In a similar incident in 2021, over 40 camels were disqualified.[119]
Food uses
[edit]
Camel meat and milk are foods that are found in many cuisines, typically in Middle Eastern, North African and some Australian cuisines.[120][121][122][123] Camels provide food in the form of meat and milk.[124]
Dairy
[edit]
Main article: Camel milk
Camels at the Khan and old bridge, Lajjun, Ottoman Syria (now in Israel) - 1870s drawingA camel calf nursing on camel milk
Camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is sometimes considered a meal itself; a nomad can live on only camel milk for almost a month.[19][42][125][126]
Camel milk can readily be made into yogurt, but can only be made into butter if it is soured first, churned, and a clarifying agent is then added.[19] Until recently, camel milk could not be made into camel cheese because rennet was unable to coagulate the milk proteins to allow the collection of curds.[127] Developing less wasteful uses of the milk, the FAO commissioned Professor J.P. Ramet of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires, who was able to produce curdling by the addition of calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet in the 1990s.[128] The cheese produced from this process has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest, even for the lactose intolerant.[129][130]
Camel milk can also be made into ice cream.[131][132]
Meat
[edit]
A Somali camel meat and rice dishCamel meat pulao, from Pakistan
Approximately 3.3 million camels and camelids are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.[133] A camel carcass can provide a substantial amount of meat. The male dromedary carcass can weigh 300–400 kg (661–882 lb), while the carcass of a male Bactrian can weigh up to 650 kg (1,433 lb). The carcass of a female dromedary weighs less than the male, ranging between 250 and 350 kg (550 and 770 lb).[18] The brisket, ribs and loin are among the preferred parts, and the hump is considered a delicacy.[134] The hump contains "white and sickly fat", which can be used to make the khli (preserved meat) of mutton, beef, or camel.[135] On the other hand, camel milk and meat are rich in protein, vitamins, glycogen, and other nutrients making them essential in the diet of many people. From chemical composition to meat quality, the dromedary camel is the preferred breed for meat production. It does well even in arid areas due to its unusual physiological behaviors and characteristics, which include tolerance to extreme temperatures, radiation from the sun, water paucity, rugged landscape and low vegetation.[136] Camel meat is reported to taste like coarse beef, but older camels can prove to be very tough,[13][18] although camel meat becomes tenderer the more it is cooked.[137]
Camel is one of the animals that can be ritually slaughtered and divided into three portions (one for the home, one for extended family/social networks, and one for those who cannot afford to slaughter an animal themselves) for the qurban of Eid al-Adha.[138][139]
The Abu Dhabi Officers' Club serves a camel burger mixed with beef or lamb fat in order to improve the texture and taste.[140] In Karachi, Pakistan, some restaurants prepare nihari from camel meat.[141] Specialist camel butchers provide expert cuts, with the hump considered the most popular.[142]
Camel meat has been eaten for centuries. It has been recorded by ancient Greek writers as an available dish at banquets in ancient Persia, usually roasted whole.[143] The Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel.[42] Camel meat is mainly eaten in certain regions, including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and other arid regions where alternative forms of protein may be limited or where camel meat has had a long cultural history.[18][42][134] Camel blood is also consumable, as is the case among pastoralists in northern Kenya, where camel blood is drunk with milk and acts as a key source of iron, vitamin D, salts and minerals.[18][134][144]
A 2005 report issued jointly by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details four cases of human bubonic plague resulting from the ingestion of raw camel liver.[145]
Camel meat is also occasionally found in Australian cuisine: for example, a camel lasagna is available in Alice Springs.[143][144] Australia has exported camel meat, primarily to the Middle East but also to Europe and the US, for many years.[146] The meat is very popular among East African Australians, such as Somalis, and other Australians have also been buying it. The feral nature of the animals means they produce a different type of meat to farmed camels in other parts of the world,[121] and it is sought after because it is disease-free, and a unique genetic group. Demand is outstripping supply, and governments are being urged not to cull the camels, but redirect the cost of the cull into developing the market. Australia has seven camel dairies, which produce milk, cheese and skincare products in addition to meat.[147]
Religion
[edit]
Islam
[edit]
Main article: Animals in Islam
Muslims consider camel meat halal (Arabic: حلال, 'allowed'). However, according to some Islamic schools of thought, a state of impurity is brought on by the consumption of it. Consequently, these schools hold that Muslims must perform wudhu (ablution) before the next time they pray after eating camel meat.[148] Also, some Islamic schools of thought consider it haram (Arabic: حرام, 'forbidden') for a Muslim to perform Salat in places where camels lie, as it is said to be a dwelling place of the Shaytan (Arabic: شيطان, 'Devil').[148] According to Abu Yusuf (d.798), the urine of camels may be used for medical treatment if necessary, but according to Abū Ḥanīfah, the drinking of camel urine is discouraged.[149]
Islamic texts contain several stories featuring camels. In the story of the people of Thamud, the prophet Salih miraculously brings forth a naqat (Arabic: ناقة, 'milch-camel') out of a rock. After Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina (the Hijrah), he allowed his she-camel to roam there; the location where the camel stopped to rest determined the location where he would build his house in Medina.[150]
Judaism
[edit]
See also: Food and drink prohibitions
According to Jewish tradition, camel meat and milk are not kosher.[151] Camels possess only one of the two kosher criteria; although they chew their cud, they do not have cloven hooves: "But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you."[152]
The Palestinian Muslim Makhamara clan in Yatta, who claim descent from Jews, reportedly avoid eating camel meat, a practice cited as evidence of their Jewish origins.[153][154]
Cultural depictions
[edit]
What may be the oldest carvings of camels were discovered in 2018 in Saudi Arabia. They were analysed by researchers from several scientific disciplines and, in 2021, were estimated to be 7,000 to 8,000 years old.[155] The dating of rock art is made difficult by the lack of organic material in the carvings that may be tested, so the researchers attempting to date them tested animal bones found associated with the carvings, assessed erosion patterns, and analysed tool marks in order to determine a correct date for the creation of the sculptures. This Neolithic dating would make the carvings significantly older than Stonehenge (5,000 years old) and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza (4,500 years old) and it predates estimates for the domestication of camels.
Shadda (cover, detail), Karabagh region, southwest Caucasus, early 19th century
Vessel in the form of a recumbent camel with jugs, 250 BC – 224 AD, Brooklyn Museum
Maru Ragini (Dhola and Maru Riding on a Camel), c. 1750, Brooklyn Museum
The Magi Journeying (Les rois mages en voyage)—James Tissot, c. 1886, Brooklyn Museum
How the Camel Got His Hump (From Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories)
Distribution and numbers
[edit]
Camels in the Guelta d'Archei, in northeastern Chad
There are approximately 14 million camels alive as of 2010[update], with 90% being dromedaries.[156] Dromedaries alive today are domesticated animals (mostly living in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East and South Asia). The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world,[23] where the dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life. They provide nomadic people in Somalia[18] and Ethiopia with milk, food, and transportation.[126][157][158][159]
Commercial camel market headcount in 2003
Over one million dromedary camels are estimated to be feral in Australia, descended from those introduced as a method of transport in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[160] This population is growing about 8% per year;[161] it was estimated at 700,000 in 2008.[144][156][162] Representatives of the Australian government have culled more than 100,000 of the animals in part because the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers.[163]
A small population of introduced camels, dromedaries and Bactrians, wandered through Southwestern United States after having been imported in the 19th century as part of the U.S. Camel Corps experiment. When the project ended, they were used as draft animals in mines and escaped or were released. Twenty-five U.S. camels were bought and exported to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush.[99]
The Bactrian camel is, as of 2010[update], reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, most of which are domesticated.[45][156][164] The Wild Bactrian camel is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) camel in the world. It is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel. The wild camels are critically endangered and number approximately 950, inhabiting the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.[165]
See also
[edit]
Animals portal
Afghan cameleers in Australia
Australian feral camel
Camel howdah
Camel milk
Camel racing
Camel train (caravan)
Camel urine
Camel wrestling
Camelops
Syrian camel
Dromedary
List of animals with humps
Xerocole
References
[edit]
Notes
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^Heide, Martin (2011). "The Domestication of the Camel: Biological, Archaeological and Inscriptional Evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel and Arabia, and Literary Evidence from the Hebrew Bible". Ugarit-Forschungen. 42: 368.
^Petrie, OJ (1995). Harvesting of textile animal fibres. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 978-92-5-103759-1. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
^Cumming, Valerie; Cunnington, CW; Cunnington, PE (2010). The Dictionary of Fashion History. Oxford: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781847887382.
^Fagan, Brian M, ed. (2004). "Transportation". The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 150–152. ISBN 978-0-500-05130-6.[page needed]
^Baum, Doug (1 November 2018). "The Art of Saddling a Camel". Saudi Aramco World. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
^Gabriel, Richard A. (2007). Soldiers' Lives Through History: The Ancient World. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. xvi. ISBN 9780313333484.
^Bhatia, Vimal (23 July 2012). "BSF to ditch camels to ride sand scooters". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
^Gann, Lewis Henry; Duignan, Peter (1972). Africa and the World: An Introduction to the History of Sub-Saharan Africa from Antiquity to 1840. University Press of America. p. 156. ISBN 9780761815204. The camel was acclimatized in Egypt long before the time of Christ and was subsequently adopted by the Berbers of the desert, who used camel cavalry to fight the Romans. The Berbers spread the use of the camel across the Sahara.
^Fleming, Walter L. (February 1909). "Jefferson Davis's Camel Experiment". The Popular Science Monthly. Vol. 74, no. 8. Bonnier Corporation. p. 150. ISSN 0161-7370. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Other trials of the camel were made in 1859 by Major D. H. Vinton, who used twenty-four of them in carrying burdens for a surveying party...All in all, he concluded, the camel was much superior to the mule.
^ abcMantz, John (20 April 2006). "Camels in the Cariboo". In Basque, Garnet (ed.). Frontier Days in British Columbia. Heritage House Publishing Co. pp. 51–54. ISBN 9781894384018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016.
^Southern, Pat (1 October 2007). The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History. Oxford University Press. p. 123. ISBN 9780195328783.
^Nicolle, David (26 March 1991). The Desert Frontier. Rome's Enemies. Vol. 5 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Osprey Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 9781855321663. Nevertheless the military prowess of desert peoples impressed the Romans, who recruited large numbers as auxiliary cavalry and archers. In addition to providing the Roman Army with its best archers, the Easterners (largely Arabs but generally known as 'Syrians') served as Rome's most effective dromedarii or camel-mounted troops.
^Herodotus (440). The History of Herodotus. Translated by Rawlinson, George. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012 – via The Internet Classics Archive. He collected together all the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse; behind them were to follow the foot soldiers, and last of all the cavalry. When his arrangements were complete, he gave his troops orders to slay all the other Lydians who came in their way without mercy, but to spare Croesus and not kill him, even if he should be seized and offer resistance. The reason why Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy's horse was because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and cannot abide either the sight or the smell of that animal. By this stratagem he hoped to make Croesus's horse useless to him, the horse being what he chiefly depended on for victory. The two armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian war-horses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off; and so it came to pass that all Croesus's hopes withered away.
^"Cameliers and camels at war". New Zealand History online. History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 30 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
^"The Posts at Benicia". The California State Military Museum. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
^"Vitrine N° 108 (partie droite): LES PELOTONS MEHARISTES" (in French). Musée de l'infanterie. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
^Hall, Bruce S. (6 June 2011). A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960. Cambridge University Press. p. 143. ISBN 9781107002876.
^Guillaume, Philippe (16 June 2012). "L'incroyable épopée des méharistes français" [The incredible epic of the French méharistes]. BDSphère (in French). Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
^"Cameliers and camels at war". New Zealand History online. History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 30 August 2009. pp. 1, 2, 4, 5. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
^Woodward, David R. (2006). Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 36, 39, 43, 56, 133. ISBN 9780813123837.
^Murray, Archibald James (1920). Sir Archibald Murray's despatches (June 1916 – June 1917). J.M. Dent. p. 123. A great deal of the work of supplying the troops on both fronts has been done by the Camel Transport Corps
^McGregor, Andrew James (30 May 2006). A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 215. ISBN 9780275986018.
^Federal Research Division (30 June 2004). Somalia a Country Study. Area handbook series (3rd ed.). Kessinger Publishing. pp. 230–231. ISBN 9781419147999.
^"Romanian troops using camels". WWII in Color. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21.
^"Наш советский верблюд покарает!". WARHEAD.SU. March 2, 2020. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
^Jupiter Infomedia Ltd (28 November 2012). "Bikaner Camel Corps, Presidency Armies in British India". IndiaNetzone.[permanent dead link]
^Shelley, Toby (December 2007). "Sons of the Clouds". Red Pepper. Location. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
^Hermandad de Veteranos Tropas Nómadas del Sáhara. "Los Medios" [The Means]. Historia: Agrupación de Tropas Nómadas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
^"Camels banned from Saudi beauty contest over Botox". BBC News. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^Adams, Abigail (9 December 2021). "Over 40 Camels Disqualified From Beauty Contest in Saudi Arabia For Receiving Botox Injections". PEOPLE.com.
^"Wild Camel – Windy Hills". Archived from the original on August 22, 2016.
^ abBurin, Margaret (7 August 2015). "Australians urged to develop taste for camel meat". ABC News. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
^"Australia's Growing Camel Meat Trade Reveals a Hidden History of Early Muslim Migrants". 16 May 2019.
^"SAMEX : Australian Meat Exporters".
^Tariq, M., Rabia, R., Jamil, A., Sakhwat, A., Aadil, A., & Muhammad S., 2010. Minerals and Nutritional Composition of Camel (Camelus Dromedarius) Meat in Pakistan. Journal- Chemical Society of Pakistan, Vol 33(6).
^Bulliet, Richard W. (1975). The Camel and the Wheel. Columbia University Press. pp. 23, 25, 28, 35–36, 38–40. ISBN 9780231072359.
^ ab"Camel Milk". Milk & Dairy Products. FAO's Animal Production and Health Division. 25 September 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
^Ramet. Camel milk and cheese making. Archived from the original on 2012-06-24.
^"Fresh from your local drome'dairy'?". Food and Agriculture Organization. 6 July 2001. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012.
^Ramet. Methods of processing camel milk into cheese. Archived from the original on 2012-06-24.
^Young, Philippa. "In Mongolian the Word 'Gobi' Means 'Desert'". Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012. As evening approaches we are offered camel meat boats, dumplings stuffed with a finely chopped mixture of meat and vegetables, followed by camel milk tea and finally, warm fresh camel's milk to aid digestion and help us sleep.
^"Netherlands' 'crazy' camel farmer". BBC. 5 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
^"Al Ain Dairy launches camel-milk ice cream". The National. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
^"FAOSTAT". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2019-10-25.
^ abcYagil. Camels Products Other Than Milk. Archived from the original on 2011-02-20.
^Madame Guinaudeau (2003). Traditional Moroccan Cooking: Recipes from Fez. London: Serif. ISBN 978-1-897959-43-5.
^Aleme, A., D., 2013. A Review of Camel Meat as a Precious Source of Nutrition in some part of Ethiopia. Agricultural Science, Engineering and Technology Research. Vol. 1, No. 4, December 2013, PP: 40–43. Available online at "Agricultural Science, Engineering and Technology Research". Archived from the original on 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2016-12-03..
^Rubenstein, Dustin (23 July 2010). "How to Cook Camel". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012. He cut the pieces very small and cooked them for a long time. I decided to try something a bit different the following night and cut the pieces a bit bigger and cooked them for less time, as I like my meat rarer than he does. This was a bad idea. It seems that the more you cook camel, the more tender it becomes. So we had what amounted to two pounds or more of rubber for dinner that night.
^"Eid al-Adha: More than just slaughtering animals". Daily Sabah. 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
^"Qurbani Meat Distribution Rules". Muslim Aid. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
^Arthur, Rick (4 January 2012). "The Instant Expert: camels, the ships of the desert". The National. UAE: Abu Dhabi Media. As the meat can be dry, however, the Abu Dhabi Officer's Club, for one, serves camel burger with beef or lamb fat mixed in, improving texture and taste.
^Jasra, Abdel Wahid; Isani, G. B.; Camel Applied Research and Development Network (2000). Socio-economics of camel herders in Pakistan. The Camel Applied Research and Development Network. p. 164. Archived from the original on 2016-06-10.
^Anyone for camel meat? One hump or two? Archived 2017-01-26 at the Wayback MachineThe Guardian, Word of Mouth
^ abSherwood, Andy (17 September 2012). "Camel burgers in Abu Dhabi". Time Out Abu Dhabi. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
^ abcWebster, George (9 February 2010). "Dubai diners flock to eat new 'camel burger'". CNN World. CNN. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
^Bin Saeed, Abdulaziz A.; Al-Hamdan, Nasser A.; Fontaine, Robert E. (2005). "Plague from eating raw camel liver". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 11 (9): 1456–7. doi:10.3201/eid1109.050081. PMC 3310619. PMID 16229781.
^McBride, Louise (14 June 2010). "SA hits world camel meat supply hump". Stock Journal. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
^Bazckowski, Halina (22 March 2020). "The beasts that beat the drought: Camels sought after for meat, milk and cheese". ABC News. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
^ ab"Book 1, Number 0184". Purification (Kitab al-Taharah). Partial Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 1. Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib: The Messenger of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) was asked about performing ablution after eating the flesh of the camel. He replied: Perform ablution, after eating it. He was asked about performing ablution after eating meat. He replied: Do not perform ablution after eating it. He was asked about saying prayer in places where the camels lie down. He replied: Do not offer prayer in places where the camels lie down. These are the places of Satan. He was asked about saying prayer in the sheepfolds. He replied: You may offer prayer in such places; these are the places of blessing.
^Williams, John Alden (1994). The Word of Islam. University of Texas Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-292-79076-6. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
^Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. p. 128.
^Heinemann, Moshe (2013-08-20). "Cholov Yisroel: Does a Neshama Good". Kashrus Kurrents. Star-K. Archived from the original on 30 April 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
^ http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9912#v=41 Archived 2015-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
^Ben-Zvi, Itzhak (1967). שאר ישוב: מאמרים ופרקים בדברי ימי הישוב העברי בא"י ובחקר המולדת [She'ar Yeshuv] (in Hebrew). תל אביב תרפ"ז. pp. 407–413.
^Sar-Avi, Doron (2019). "מניין באו הערבים 'היהודים'?". Segula Magazine. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
^Saudi Arabia camel carvings dated to prehistoric era Archived 2022-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, BBC, September 15, 2021
^ abcDolby, Karen (10 August 2010). You Must Remember This: Easy Tricks & Proven Tips to Never Forget Anything, Ever Again. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 170. ISBN 9780307716255.
^Abokor, Axmed Cali (1987). The Camel in Somali Oral Tradition. Nordic Africa Institute. pp. 7, 10–11. ISBN 9789171062697.
^"Drought threatening Somali nomads, UN humanitarian office says". UN News Centre. 14 November 2003. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2012. A four-year drought is threatening the lives of Somali nomads, and those of the camel herds on which they depend for transportation and milk
^Farah, K. O.; Nyariki, D. M.; Ngugi, R. K.; Noor, I. M.; Guliye, A. Y. (2004). "The Somali and the Camel: Ecology, Management and Economics". Anthropologist. 6 (1): 45–55. doi:10.1080/09720073.2004.11890828. S2CID 4980638. Somali pastoralists are a camel community...There is no other community in the world where the camel plays such a pivotal role in the local economy and culture as in the Somali community. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1979) estimates, there are approximately 15 million dromedary camels in the world Plain text version. Archived 2013-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
^"Feral camel". Northern Territory government. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
^Pople, A. R.; McLeod, S. R. (2010). "Demography of feral camels in central Australia and its relevance to population control". The Rangeland Journal. 32 (1): 11. Bibcode:2010RangJ..32...11P. doi:10.1071/RJ09053. S2CID 83822347. Archived from the original on Mar 29, 2024 – via DAF eResearch Archive.
^Saalfeld, W.K.; Edwards, GP (2008). "Ecology of feral camels in Australia" (PDF). Managing the impacts of feral camels in Australia: a new way of doing business. Alice Springs: Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. ISBN 978-1-74158-094-5. ISSN 1832-6684. Report 47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
^Tsai, Vivian (14 September 2012). "Australia Culls 100,000 Feral Camels To Limit Environmental Damage, Many More Will Be Killed". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
^"Bactrian Camel" (PDF). Denver Zoo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
^Jemmett, Anna M.; Groombridge, Jim J.; Hare, John; Yadamsuren, Adiya; Burger, Pamela A.; Ewen, John G. (March 2023). "What's in a name? Common name misuse potentially confounds the conservation of the wild camel Camelus ferus". Oryx. 57 (2): 175–179. doi:10.1017/S0030605322000114. ISSN 0030-6053.
Bibliography
Camels and Camel Milk. Report Issued by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (1982)
Ramet, J. P. (2011). The technology of making cheese from camel milk (Camelus dromedarius). FAO Animal Production and Health Paper. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 978-92-5-103154-4. ISSN 0254-6019. OCLC 476039542. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
Vannithone, S.; Davidson, A. (1999). "Camel". The Oxford companion to food. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-211579-9.
Wilson, R.T. (1984). The camel. New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-77512-1.
Yagil, R. (1982). Camels and Camel Milk. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper. Vol. 26. Rome: Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations. ISBN 978-92-5-101169-0. ISSN 0254-6019.
Further reading
Gilchrist, W. (1851). A Practical Treatise on the Treatment of the Diseases of the Elephant, Camel & Horned Cattle: with instructions for improving their efficiency; also, a description of the medicines used in the treatment of their diseases; and a general outline of their anatomy. Calcutta, India: Military Orphan Press.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camelus.
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International Society of Camelid Research and Development
Six Green Reasons to Drink Camel's Milk
Use of camels by South African police
The Camel as a pet
"Could Emirati camels hold the key to treating venomous snake bites?"
v
t
e
Extant Artiodactyla species
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Eutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
Suborder Ruminantia
Antilocapridae
Antilocapra
Pronghorn (A. americana)
Giraffidae
Okapia
Okapi (O. johnstoni)
Giraffa
Northern giraffe (G. camelopardalis)
Southern giraffe (G. giraffa)
Reticulated giraffe (G. reticulata)
Masai giraffe (G. tippelskirchi)
Moschidae
Moschus
Anhui musk deer (M. anhuiensis)
Dwarf musk deer (M. berezovskii)
Alpine musk deer (M. chrysogaster)
Kashmir musk deer (M. cupreus)
Black musk deer (M. fuscus)
Himalayan musk deer (M. leucogaster)
Siberian musk deer (M. moschiferus)
Tragulidae
Hyemoschus
Water chevrotain (H. aquaticus)
Moschiola
Indian spotted chevrotain (M. indica)
Yellow-striped chevrotain (M. kathygre)
Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain (M. meminna)
Tragulus
Java mouse-deer (T. javanicus)
Lesser mouse-deer (T. kanchil)
Greater mouse-deer (T. napu)
Philippine mouse-deer (T. nigricans)
Vietnam mouse-deer (T. versicolor)
Williamson's mouse-deer (T. williamsoni)
Cervidae
Large family listed below
Bovidae
Large family listed below
Family Cervidae
Cervinae
Muntiacus
Bornean yellow muntjac (M. atherodes)
Hairy-fronted muntjac (M. crinifrons)
Fea's muntjac (M. feae)
Gongshan muntjac (M. gongshanensis)
Sumatran muntjac (M. montanus)
Southern red muntjac (M. muntjak)
Pu Hoat muntjac (M. puhoatensis)
Leaf muntjac (M. putaoensis)
Reeves's muntjac (M. reevesi)
Roosevelt's muntjac (M. rooseveltorum)
Truong Son muntjac (M. truongsonensis)
Northern red muntjac (M. vaginalis)
Giant muntjac (M. vuquangensis)
Elaphodus
Tufted deer (E. cephalophus)
Dama
European fallow deer (D. dama)
Persian fallow deer (D. mesopotamica)
Axis
Chital (A. axis)
Calamian deer (A. calamianensis)
Bawean deer (A. kuhlii)
Hog deer (A. porcinus)
Rucervus
Barasingha (R. duvaucelii)
Eld's deer (R. eldii)
Elaphurus
Père David's deer (E. davidianus)
Rusa
Visayan spotted deer (R. alfredi)
Philippine sambar (R. mariannus)
Rusa deer (R. timorensis)
Sambar (R. unicolor)
Cervus
Thorold's deer (C. albirostris)
Red deer (C. elaphus)
Elk (C. canadensis)
Central Asian red deer (C. hanglu)
Sika deer (C. nippon)
Capreolinae
Alces
Moose (A. alces)
Hydropotes
Water deer (H. inermis)
Capreolus
European roe deer (C. capreolus)
Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus)
Rangifer
Reindeer (R. tarandus)
Hippocamelus
Taruca (H. antisensis)
South Andean deer (H. bisulcus)
Mazama
Red brocket (M. americana)
Small red brocket (M. bororo)
Merida brocket (M. bricenii)
Dwarf brocket (M. chunyi)
Pygmy brocket (M. nana)
Amazonian brown brocket (M. nemorivaga)
Little red brocket (M. rufina)
Central American red brocket (M. temama)
Ozotoceros
Pampas deer (O. bezoarticus)
Blastocerus
Marsh deer (B. dichotomus)
Pudu
Northern pudu (P. mephistophiles)?
Southern pudu (P. pudu)
Pudella
Peruvian Yungas pudu (P. carlae)
Northern pudu (P. mephistophiles)
Odocoileus
Mule deer (O. hemionus)
Yucatan brown brocket (O. pandora)
White-tailed deer (O. virginianus)
Subulo
Gray brocket (S. gouazoubira)
Family Bovidae
Hippotraginae
Hippotragus
Roan antelope (H. equinus)
Sable antelope (H. niger)
Oryx
East African oryx (O. beisa)
Scimitar oryx (O. dammah)
Gemsbok (O. gazella)
Arabian oryx (O. leucoryx)
Addax
Addax (A. nasomaculatus)
Reduncinae
Kobus
Waterbuck (K. ellipsiprymnus)
Kob (K. kob)
Lechwe (K. leche)
Nile lechwe (K. megaceros)
Puku (K. vardonii)
Redunca
Southern reedbuck (R. arundinum)
Mountain reedbuck (R. fulvorufula)
Bohor reedbuck (R. redunca)
Aepycerotinae
Aepyceros
Impala (A. melampus)
Peleinae
Pelea
Grey rhebok (P. capreolus)
Alcelaphinae
Beatragus
Hirola (B. hunteri)
Damaliscus
Common tsessebe (D. lunatus)
Bontebok (D. pygargus)
Alcelaphus
Hartebeest (A. buselaphus)
Connochaetes
Black wildebeest (C. gnou)
Blue wildebeest (C. taurinus)
Pantholopinae
Pantholops
Tibetan antelope (P. hodgsonii)
Caprinae
Large subfamily listed below
Bovinae
Large subfamily listed below
Antilopinae
Large subfamily listed below
Family Bovidae (subfamily Caprinae)
Ammotragus
Barbary sheep (A. lervia)
Arabitragus
Arabian tahr (A. jayakari)
Budorcas
Takin (B. taxicolor)
Capra
Wild goat (C. aegagrus)
West Caucasian tur (C. caucasia)
East Caucasian tur (C. cylindricornis)
Markhor (C. falconeri)
Domestic goat (C. hircus)
Alpine ibex (C. ibex)
Nubian ibex (C. nubiana)
Iberian ibex (C. pyrenaica)
Siberian ibex (C. sibirica)
Walia ibex (C. walie)
Capricornis
Japanese serow (C. crispus)
Red serow (C. rubidus)
Mainland serow (C. sumatraensis)
Taiwan serow (C. swinhoei)
Hemitragus
Himalayan tahr (H. jemlahicus)
Naemorhedus
Red goral (N. baileyi)
Long-tailed goral (N. caudatus)
Himalayan goral (N. goral)
Chinese goral (N. griseus)
Oreamnos
Mountain goat (O. americanus)
Ovibos
Muskox (O. moschatus)
Nilgiritragus
Nilgiri tahr (N. hylocrius)
Ovis
Argali (O. ammon)
Domestic sheep (O. aries)
Bighorn sheep (O. canadensis)
Dall sheep (O. dalli)
Mouflon (O. gmelini)
Snow sheep (O. nivicola)
Urial (O. vignei)
Pseudois
Bharal (P. nayaur)
Rupicapra
Pyrenean chamois (R. pyrenaica)
Chamois (R. rupicapra)
Family Bovidae (subfamily Bovinae)
Boselaphini
Tetracerus
Four-horned antelope (T. quadricornis)
Boselaphus
Nilgai (B. tragocamelus)
Bovini
Bubalus
Wild water buffalo (B. arnee)
Domestic water buffalo (B. bubalis)
Lowland anoa (B. depressicornis)
Tamaraw (B. mindorensis)
Mountain anoa (B. quarlesi)
Bos
American bison (B. bison)
European bison (B. bonasus)
Bali cattle (B. domesticus)
Gayal (B. frontalis)
Gaur (B. gaurus)
Domestic yak (B. grunniens)
Zebu (B. indicus)
Banteng (B. javanicus)
Wild yak (B. mutus)
Cattle (B. taurus)
Pseudoryx
Saola (P. nghetinhensis)
Syncerus
African buffalo (S. caffer)
Tragelaphini
Tragelaphus (including kudus)
Nyala (T. angasii)
Mountain nyala (T. buxtoni)
Bongo (T. eurycerus)
Lesser kudu (T. imberbis)
Harnessed bushbuck (T. scriptus)
Sitatunga (T. spekeii)
Greater kudu (T. strepsiceros)
Cape bushbuck (T. sylvaticus)
Taurotragus
Giant eland (T. derbianus)
Common eland (T. oryx)
Family Bovidae (subfamily Antilopinae)
Antilopini
Ammodorcas
Dibatag (A. clarkei)
Antidorcas
Springbok (A. marsupialis)
Antilope
Blackbuck (A. cervicapra)
Eudorcas
Mongalla gazelle (E. albonotata)
Red-fronted gazelle (E. rufifrons)
Thomson's gazelle (E. thomsonii)
Heuglin's gazelle (E. tilonura)
Gazella
Arabian gazelle (G. arabica)
Chinkara (G. bennettii)
Cuvier's gazelle (G. cuvieri)
Dorcas gazelle (G. dorcas)
Mountain gazelle (G. gazella)
Rhim gazelle (G. leptoceros)
Speke's gazelle (G. spekei)
Goitered gazelle (G. subgutturosa)
Litocranius
Gerenuk (L. walleri)
Nanger
Dama gazelle (N. dama)
Grant's gazelle (N. granti)
Bright's gazelle (N. notatus)
Peter's gazelle (N. petersii)
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Procapra
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Ruwenzori duiker (C. rubidis)
Red-flanked duiker (C. rufilatus)
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Philantomba
Blue duiker (P. monticola)
Maxwell's duiker (P. maxwellii)
Walter's duiker (P. walteri)
Sylvicapra
Common duiker (S. grimmia)
Suborder Suina
Suidae
Babyrousa
Buru babirusa (B. babyrussa)
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Hylochoerus
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Javan warty pig (S. verrucosus)
Tayassuidae
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Catagonus
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Dicotyles
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Suborder Tylopoda
Camelidae
Lama
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Camelus
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Wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus)
Suborder Whippomorpha
Hippopotamidae
Hippopotamus
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Choeropsis
Pygmy hippopotamus (C. liberiensis)
Cetacea
see Cetacea
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Category: Meat
Taxon identifiers
Camelus
Wikidata: Q7375
Wikispecies: Camelus
ADW: Camelus
AFD: Camelus
BOLD: 103526
CoL: 3GC7
EoL: 38902
EPPO: 1CMELG
GBIF: 2441236
iNaturalist: 42232
IRMNG: 1275636
ITIS: 624942
MSW: 14200111
NBN: NHMSYS0020976786
NCBI: 9836
Open Tree of Life: 510767
Paleobiology Database: 42521
Plazi: 7F79901F-E278-2CAF-D939-F4D156805FE1
ZooBank: 1704453B-6D80-47B8-BEC6-8EFCCEA7E6A7
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İslâm Ansiklopedisi
Yale LUX
About Cappadocia
Historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey
For other uses, see Cappadocia (disambiguation) and Cappadocian (disambiguation).
Place in Katpatuka
Cappadocia
Ancient region of Central Anatolia Region, Turkey
Clockwise from top: Ortahisar Castle, View of Uçhisar Castle, Mount Erciyes, Rose Valley, Ihlara Valley, Göreme Open Air Museum, Aerial view over Cappadocia
Cappadocia among the classical regions of Anatolia (Asia Minor)
Persian satrapy
Katpatuka
Roman province
Cappadocia
Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Interactive map of Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia
Includes
Göreme National Park, Kaymakli Underground City, Derinkuyu underground city
Criteria
Cultural: i, iii, v; Natural: vii
Reference
357
Inscription
1985 (9th Session)
Area
9,883.81 ha
Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃəˌ-ˈdoʊkiə/; Turkish: Kapadokya, from Greek: Καππαδοκία) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir province.
According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from the Taurus Mountains to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea).[1] Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of mountains that separate it from Cilicia, to the east by the upper Euphrates, to the north by the Pontus, and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia.[2]
The name, traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history, continues in use as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys,[3] in addition to its religious heritage of being a centre of early Christian learning, evidenced by hundreds of churches and monasteries (such as those of Göreme and Ihlara), as well as underground cities that were dug to offer protection during periods of persecution.[4][5]
Etymology
[edit]
The facade of an ancient church called Açık Saray, literally meaning "Open Palace", carved into the valley walls in Gülşehir, Cappadocia.
The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃəˌ-ˈdoʊkiə/; Turkish: Kapadokya; Ancient Greek: Καππαδοκία, romanized: Kappadokía, Classical Syriac: ܩܦܘܕܩܝܐ, romanized: Kəp̄uḏoqyā, from Old Persian: 𐎣𐎫𐎱𐎬𐎢𐎣Katpatuka; Hittite: 𒅗𒋫𒁉𒁕, romanized: Katapeda; Armenian: Կապադովկիա,, romanized: Kapadovkia) dates from the late sixth century BC, when it appears in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid emperors, Darius the Great and Xerxes I, as one of the countries (Old Persian dahyu-). In these lists of countries, the Old Persian name is Katpatuka. It was proposed that Kat-patuka came from the Luwian language, meaning "Low Country".[6]
Subsequent research suggests that the adverb katta meaning 'down, below' is exclusively Hittite, while its Luwian equivalent is zanta.[7] Therefore, the recent modification of this proposal operates with the Hittite katta peda-, literally "place below" as a starting point for the development of the toponym Cappadocia.[8]
The earlier derivation from Iranian Hu-apa-dahyu 'Land of good horses' can hardly be reconciled with the phonetic shape of Kat-patuka. Several other etymologies have also been offered in the past.[9]
Herodotus wrote that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by the Persians, while they were termed by the Greeks "White Syrians" (Leucosyri),[10] who were most probably descendants of the Hittites.[11] One of the Cappadocian tribes he mentions is the Moschoi, associated by Flavius Josephus with the biblical figure Meshech, son of Japheth: "and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians". AotJ I:6.[citation needed]
A fresco of Christ Pantocrator on the ceiling of Karanlık Kilise Churches of Göreme.
Cappadocia appears in the biblical account given in the book of Acts 2:9. The Cappadocians were named as one group (among "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia")[12] hearing the Gospel account from Galileans in their own language on the day of Pentecost shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:5 states "Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven," seeming to suggest that some of the Cappadocians were Jews, or part of the diaspora of Jews present in Jerusalem at the time.[12]
The region is mentioned in the Jewish Mishnah, in Ketubot 13:11, and in several places in the Talmud, including Yevamot 121a, Hullin 47b.[13]
Under the later kings of the Persian Empire, the Cappadocians were divided into two satrapies, or governments, with one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by Greek geographers, while the other was called Pontus. This division had already come about before the time of Xenophon. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be separate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be the focus of this article.[14]
The kingdom of Cappadocia still existed in the time of Strabo (c. 64 BC – c. AD 24) as a nominally independent state. Cilicia was the name given to the district in which Caesarea, the capital of the whole country, was situated. The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Caesarea (originally known as Mazaca) and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus.[15]
Geography and climate
[edit]
Fairy chimneys in Uçhisar, Cappadocia.
Cappadocia lies in central Anatolia, in the heartland of what is now Turkey. The relief consists of a high plateau over 1,000 m in altitude that is pierced by volcanic peaks, with Mount Erciyes (ancient Argaeus) near Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) being the tallest at 3,916 m. The boundaries of historical Cappadocia are vague, particularly towards the west.[16]
To the south, the Taurus Mountains form the boundary with Cilicia and separate Cappadocia from the Mediterranean Sea. To the west, Cappadocia is bounded by the historical regions of Lycaonia to the southwest, and Galatia to the northwest. Due to its inland location and high altitude, Cappadocia has a markedly continental climate, with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters.[17] Rainfall is sparse and the region is largely semi-arid.[citation needed]
Cappadocia contained the source of the Sarus and Pyramus rivers, and the middle course of the Halys river, and the tributary of the Euphrates, later called Tokhma Su. As no one of these rivers was navigable or served to fertilize the lands along its course, none has much importance in the history of the province.[15]
Geology
[edit]
Ignimbrites of Miocene age are present within the area. The distinctive landscape of Cappadocia was formed through the erosion of thick volcanic deposits created by ancient eruptions of Mount Erciyes, Mount Hasan, and Göllüdağ. Over millions of years, wind and water erosion shaped these soft volcanic rocks into the region’s characteristic fairy chimneys and rock formations.
Prominent rock formations such as Ortahisar and Uçhisar are composed of harder volcanic rock layers, which were more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer deposits. As a result, these formations remained elevated over time and were later adapted for the construction of rock-cut castles and settlements.
IUGS geological heritage site
[edit]
In respect of the 'voluminous eruption deposits in a fluvio-lacustrine sequence with 'fairy-chimney' development produced by uplift and erosion', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The Miocene Cappadocian ignimbrites sequence' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'[18]
History
[edit]
Ancient history
[edit]
See also: Cappadocia (satrapy) and List of rulers of Cappadocia
Achaemenid Cappadocia
A Cappadocian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief.
The location of Achaemenid Cappadocia.[19]
Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age, and was the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa. After the fall of the Hittite Empire, with the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians (Mushki) after their defeat by the Lydian king Croesus in the 6th century BC, Cappadocia was ruled by a sort of feudal aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile condition, which later made them apt to foreign slavery. It was included in the third Persian satrapy in the division established by Darius but continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributaries of the Great King.[15][20]
Kingdom of Cappadocia
[edit]
Main article: Kingdom of Cappadocia
After ending the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great tried to rule the area through one of his military commanders. But Ariarathes, previously satrap of the region, declared himself king of the Cappadocians. As Ariarathes I (332–322 BC), he was a successful ruler, and he extended the borders of the Cappadocian Kingdom as far as to the Black Sea. The kingdom of Cappadocia lived in peace until the death of Alexander.[15]
The previous empire was then divided into many parts, and Cappadocia fell to Eumenes. His claims were made good in 322 BC by the regent Perdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions which brought about Eumenes's death, Ariarathes II, the adopted son of Ariarathes I, recovered his inheritance and left it to a line of successors, who mostly bore the name of the founder of the dynasty.[15]
Persian colonists in the Cappadocian kingdom, cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper, continued to practice Zoroastrianism. Strabo, observing them in the first century BC, records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well as fire temples.[21]
Strabo relates, were "noteworthy enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning."[21] According to Strabo, who wrote during the time of Augustus (r. 27 BC – AD 14), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, there remained only traces of Persians in western Asia Minor; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia".[22]
Under Ariarathes IV, Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon. The kings henceforward threw in their lot with the Republic as against the Seleucids, to whom they had been from time to time tributary. Ariarathes V marched with the Roman proconsul Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus against Aristonicus, a claimant to the throne of Pergamon, and their forces were annihilated (130 BC). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by the rising power of Pontus and the intrigues and wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty.[15][23]
Roman and early Christian period
[edit]
Main article: Cappadocia (Roman province)
The ancient city of Tyana, CappadociaKing Orophernes of Cappadocia.
The Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithridates VI of Pontus, elected a native lord, Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 BC). In the same year, Armenian troops under Tigranes the Great entered Cappadocia, dethroned king Ariobarzanes and crowned Gordios as the new client-king of Cappadocia, creating a buffer zone against the encroaching Romans. When Rome deposed the Pontic and Armenian kings, the rule of Ariobarzanes was established (63 BC).[24]
In Caesar's civil war, Cappadocia was first for Pompey, then for Caesar, then for Antony, and finally, Octavian. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end, a Cappadocian nobleman Archelaus was given the throne, by favour first of Antony and then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence until AD 17, when the emperor Tiberius, whom he had angered, summoned him to Rome and reduced Cappadocia to a Roman province.[24]
In 70 AD, Vespasian joined Armenia Minor to Cappadocia, and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of the Eastern Empire for centuries.[25] In 314, Cappadocia was the largest province of the Roman Empire, and was part of the Diocese of Pontus.[26] In 371, the western part of the Cappadocia province was divided into Cappadocia Prima, with its capital at Caesarea (modern-day Kayseri); and Cappadocia Secunda, with its capital at Tyana.[26]
By 386, the region to the east of Caesarea had become part of Armenia Secunda, while the northeast had become part of Armenia Prima.[26] Cappadocia largely consisted of major estates, owned by the Roman emperors or wealthy local families.[26] The Cappadocian provinces became more important in the latter part of the 4th century, as the Romans were involved with the Sasanian Empire over control of Mesopotamia and "Armenia beyond the Euphrates".[26]
Cappadocia, now well into the Roman era, still retained a significant Iranian character; Stephen Mitchell notes that "many inhabitants of Cappadocia were of Persian descent and Iranian fire worship is attested as late as 465"[26] and the area also contained a sizeable Armenian population since antiquity.[27] For most of the Byzantine era it remained relatively undisturbed by the conflicts in the area with the Sasanian Empire, but the Persian Wars of the 610s and 620s placed Cappadocia on the frontline for the first time since the first century.[28]
The exact date of arrival of Christianity in uncertain, but latest from the third century it was firmly established in society and the Church was fully developed.[29] The Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century were integral to much of early Christian philosophy. It produced, among other people, John of Cappadocia, Patriarch of Constantinople from 517 to 520, and Macrina, an early champion of women's monasticism.[30] The region suffered famine in 368 described as "the most severe ever remembered" by Gregory of Nazianzus:
An early Christian hermitage in Cappadocia
The city was in distress and there was no source of assistance [...] The hardest part of all such distress is the insensibility and insatiability of those who possess supplies [...] Such are the buyers and sellers of corn [...] by his word and advice [Basil's] open the stores of those who possessed them, and so, according to the Scripture, dealt food to the hungry and satisfied the poor with bread [...] He gathered together the victims of the famine [...] and obtaining contributions of all sorts of food which can relieve famine, set before them basins of soup and such meat as was found preserved among us, on which the poor live [...] Such was our young furnisher of corn, and second Joseph [...] [But unlike Joseph, Basil's] services were gratuitous and his succour of the famine gained no profit, having only one object, to win kindly feelings by kindly treatment, and to gain by his rations of corn the heavenly blessings.[31]
This is similar to another account by Gregory of Nyssa that Basil "ungrudgingly spent upon the poor his patrimony even before he was a priest, and most of all in the time of the famine, during which [Basil] was a ruler of the Church, though still a priest in the rank of presbyters; and afterwards did not hoard even what remained to him".[31] Basil also famously constructed near Caeserea the Basileias, a vast complex with hospices for sick, churches, quarters for travellers and facilities for doctors and nurses.[32]
Byzantine periods
[edit]
A ceiling fresco in Daniel Pantonassa Church, Ihlara Valley.
The Arrival of Muslim Arab armies in the mid-seventh century resulted in the breakdown of civil and military order of the Eastern provinces and a colossal displacement of population.[28] Cappdocia became a border region of the Byzantine Empire, frequently raided by the Caliphate. From the 7th century, Cappadocia was divided between the Anatolic and Armeniac themes.[28] The frontier zone between Caeserea (Kayseri) and Melitene became a no-man's land, in which the akritai and ghazis fought each other and which is remembered in the epic Digenes Akritas.[33] The warfare, consisting of the yearly razzias as well as major campaigns took a heavy toll on the cities and villages, especially on the favourite Arab lines of march.[34]
Between the 7th and 10th century, Cappadocia was a border region of the Byzantine Empire
Cappadocia contains several underground cities (see Kaymaklı Underground City), many of which were dug by Christians to provide protection during the Arab raids and periods of persecution.[5] The underground cities have vast defence networks of traps throughout their many levels. These traps are very creative, including such devices as large round stones to block doors and holes in the ceiling through which the defenders may drop spears.
Throughout the Dark Ages to the Middle Byzantine period, Armenians immigrated in significant numbers into Cappadocia, partly due to imperial policies.[27] The Arab historian Abu Al Faraj asserts the following about Armenian settlers in Sebasteia, during the 10th century:
They [the Armenians] were assigned the Sebaste (now Siwas) district of Cappadocia. Their number grew to such an extent that they became valuable auxiliaries to the imperial armies. They were employed to garrison the fortresses reconquered from the Arabs (probably Membedj, Dolouk, etc.). They formed excellent infantry for the armies of Basileus in all wars, constantly fighting with courage and success alongside the Romans.[35]
As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns and the Seljuk invasion of Armenia, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward from Cilicia into the mountainous areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia, and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually formed. This immigration was increased further after the decline of the local imperial power and the establishment of the Crusader States following the Fourth Crusade. To the crusaders, Cappadocia was terra Hermeniorum, the land of the Armenians, due to the large number of Armenians settled there.[36]
In the 9th–11th centuries, the region comprised the themes of Charsianon with its capital at the eponymous city and Cappadocia, which had first its capital in Nyssa and then at Koron, after Nyssa had been sacked by the Arabs in 838.[37] By the mid-tenth century, the region was again reorganised as much of the no-men's land was resettled, especially around the area of Larissa, Tzamandos, and Lykandos.[37] After the Byzantine reconquests in the East finished, Cappadocia was again removed from the frontier and an increasingly demilitarised region in the eleventh century.[38]
Frescos inside Tokali Kilise, "Church of the Buckle".
Turkish Cappadocia
[edit]
Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Turkish clans under the leadership of the Seljuks began settling in Anatolia. With the rise of Turkish power in Anatolia, Cappadocia slowly became a tributary to the Turkish states that were established to the east and to the west; some of the native population converted to Islam[39] with the rest forming the remaining Cappadocian Greek population.
By the end of the early 12th century, Anatolian Seljuks had established their sole dominance over the region. With the decline and the fall of the Konya-based Seljuks in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually replaced by successive Turkic ruled states: the Karaman-based Beylik of Karaman and then the Ottoman Empire. Cappadocia remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1922, when it became part of the modern state of Turkey.[citation needed]
In the early 18th century, a fundamental change occurred in between when a new urban center, Nevşehir, was founded by a grand vizier who was a native of the locality (Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha), to serve as regional capital, a role the city continues to assume to this day. In the meantime many former Cappadocians had shifted to a Turkish dialect (written in Greek alphabet, Karamanlıca).
Where the Greek language was maintained (Sille, villages near Kayseri, Pharasa town and other nearby villages), it became heavily influenced by the surrounding Turkish. This dialect of Eastern Roman Greek is known as Cappadocian Greek. Following the foundation of Turkey in 1922, those who still identified with this pre-Islamic culture of Cappadocia were required to leave, so this language is now only spoken by a handful of their descendants, most now located in modern Greece.[citation needed]
Church
[edit]
Cappadocia Church (Turkish: Kapadokya Kilisesi) is a Christian church and local congregation in Avanos, a town in Nevşehir Province in Cappadocia.[40][41][42][43][44] The church holds Turkish-language worship services within a Protestant theological framework, according to its own statements.[45] Several online travel and business directories list it as one of the places of worship and visitation in Avanos.[42][43][44]
Modern tourism
[edit]
See also: Rock-cut architecture of Cappadocia
Cappadocia is famous for traditional cave hotels.
The area is a popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic, cultural, and religious features. Touristic Cappadocia includes four cities: Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray and Niğde.[citation needed]
The region is located southwest of the major city Kayseri, which has airline and railway service to Ankara and Istanbul and other cities.[citation needed]
The most important towns and destinations in Cappadocia are Ortahisar, Ürgüp, Göreme, Love Valley, Ihlara Valley, Selime, Güzelyurt, Uçhisar, Avanos and Zelve.[citation needed] Cappadocia is served by Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport (NAV), which functions as the region’s primary airport. According to the Republic of Türkiye Directorate General of State Airports Authority (DHMİ), recent infrastructure and capacity expansion projects have increased the airport’s annual passenger capacity to nearly 2 million, a level considered sufficient for the region’s current tourism demand.[46]
Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately nine to three million years ago, during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs, underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits.[47]
Göreme became a Christian monastic centre in 300–1200 AD. The Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, and houses and churches carved into rocks in the Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valleys, all evidence Cappadocia as a centre of early Christian learning and are thus a place of pilgrimage. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the Christian monastic communities in Cappadocia (see Churches of Göreme and Churches of the Ihlara Valley) and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. The complex contains more than 30 carved-from-rock churches and chapels, some having superb frescoes inside, dating from the ninth century to the eleventh century.[48]
The three main castles in Cappadocia are Uçhisar Castle, Ortahisar Castle, and Ürgüp Kadıkalesi (Temenni Tepe). Among the most visited underground cities are Derinkuyu, Kaymakli, Gaziemir and Ozkonak. The best historic mansions and cave houses for tourist stays are in Ürgüp, Göreme, Güzelyurt and Uçhisar.[citation needed]
Hot-air ballooning is especially popular in Cappadocia, particularly around Göreme, offering sunrise flights over the region's fairy chimneys and valleys.[49]
Trekking is practised in Ihlara Valley, Monastery Valley (Güzelyurt), Ürgüp and Göreme.[citation needed]
Hot air balloons
Mesothelioma
[edit]
In 1975, a study of three small villages in central Cappadocia—Tuzköy, Karain and Sarıhıdır—found that mesothelioma was causing 50% of all deaths. Initially, this was attributed to erionite, a zeolite mineral with similar properties to asbestos, but detailed epidemiological investigation demonstrated that the substance causes the disease mostly in families with a genetic predisposition to mineral fiber carcinogenesis. The studies are being extended to other parts of the region.[50][51]
Media
[edit]
A video showing all the different landscapes and terrain of Göreme and Cappadocia
The area was featured in several films due to its topography. The 1983 Italian/French/Turkish film Yor, the Hunter from the Future and 1985's Land of Doom were filmed in Cappadocia. The region was used for the 1989 science fiction film Slipstream to depict a cult of wind worshippers. In 2010 and early 2011, the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was filmed in the Cappadocia region.[52]
Autechre's second album, Amber, features a photo of this region's fairy mountains as the cover art,[53] being their only album whose cover isn't computer-generated.[citation needed]
Cappadocia's winter landscapes and broad panoramas are prominent in the 2014 film Winter Sleep (Turkish: Kış Uykusu), directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[54]
The 2011 video game Assassin's Creed Revelations features the city as a major location, where the protagonist Ezio Auditore travels to in a bid to stop the Byzantine Templars and their operations, kill Manuel Palaiologos and recover the final Masyaf key.
Sports
[edit]
Since 2012, a multiday track running ultramarathon of desert concept, called Runfire Cappadocia Ultramarathon, is held annually in July. The race tours 244 km (152 mi) in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out to Lake Tuz.[55] In September 2016, for the first time, the Turkish Presidential Bike Tour took place in Cappadocia, with more than 300 cyclists from around the globe participating.[56]
Gallery
[edit]
Aerial view of the town Göreme.
Aerial view of Uçhisar
General view of Ürgüp
Avanos
Göreme Historical National Park
The 'Three beauties' fairy chimneys, thought to be named after to Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, located in Ürgüp
Pigeon Valley, formerly known as Vasil Potamus
Aktepe "White Hill" near Göreme and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Balloons taking off at sunrise
Mt. Erciyes (3916 m), the highest mountain in Cappadocia
View towards Güzelyurt Monastery Valley and Church Mosque
Cappadocia traditional houses
Decorated tree with Uçhisar Castle in the background.
Horses roaming in Cappadocia
rock-cut architecture in Monks Valley, Paşabağ
A rock-cut church in Cappadocia
Derinkuyu underground city
Kaymakli underground city
Cappadocian Greeks in traditional clothing
Gümüşler Monastery Courtyard in Niğde
Çanlı Kilise, meaning "Bell Church" in Aksaray Province.
Kizil Kilise, meaning "Red Church" in Güzelyurt
Doors of Mustafapaşa
Architectural style of Avanos
Ortahisar castle
See also
[edit]
Amaseia
Ancient regions of Anatolia
Cappadocian Fathers
Cappadocia under the Achaemenids
Kandovan, Iran
Gondrani, Pakistan
Khndzoresk, Armenia
Syunik (historical province)
List of colossal sculpture in situ
List of traditional Greek place names
Mokissos
Tourism in Turkey
References
[edit]
^[Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, Chapter 49]
^ Van Dam, R. Kingdom of Snow: Roman rule and Greek culture in Cappadocia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, p.13. [1]
^
Demir, Ömer (1997). Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 15. History, nature and mankind have created many important wonders in Cappadocia: 1- The unique natural landscape, include fairy chimneys, rock formations and valleys. 2- The rock-hewn churches decorated with frescoes from the 6th-12th C of scenes from the Bible, especially the lives of Jesus, Mother Mary and saints. 3- The underground settlements many consider to by the 8th wonder of the ancient world.cite book: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Demir, Ömer (1997). Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. pp. 11–15, 70.cite book: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ abDemir, Ömer (1997). Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 70. However, the longest working and living period was the century when underground cities in Cappadocia were dug by Christians who could not bear Arabic and Sassanid threat after Capadocia was conquered … It is clearly visible in some underground cities in Cappadocia that the rooms located near the entrance are profoundly different from those that are inside. Saratli and Özlüce underground cities are given as an example regarding these differences.cite book: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Coindoz M. Archeologia / Préhistoire et archéologie, n°241, 1988, pp. 48–59
^Petra Goedegebuure, "The Luwian Adverbs zanta 'down' and *ānni 'with, for, against'", Acts of the VIIIth International Congress of Hittitology, A. Süel (ed.), Ankara 2008, pp. 299–319.
^Yakubovich, Ilya (2014). Kozuh, M. (ed.). "From Lower Land to Cappadocia". Extraction and Control: Studies in Honor of Matthew W. Stolper. Chicago: Oriental Institute: 347–52.
^See R. Schmitt, "Kappadoker", in Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, vol. 5 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980), p. 399, and L. Summerer, "Amisos – eine Griechische Polis im Land der Leukosyrer", in: M. Faudot et al. (eds.), Pont-Euxin et polis. Actes du Xe Symposium de Vani (2005), 129–66 [135] According to an older theory (W. Ruge, "Kappadokia", in A.F. Pauly – G. Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 10 (Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1919), col. 1911), the name derives from Old Persian and means either "land of the Ducha/Tucha" or "land of the beautiful horses". It has also been proposed that Katpatuka is a Persianized form of the Hittite name for Cilicia, Kizzuwatna, or that it is otherwise of Hittite or Luwian origin (by Tischler and Del Monte, mentioned in Schmitt (1980)). According to A. Room, Placenames of the World (London: MacFarland and Company, 1997), the name is a combination of Assyrian katpa "side" (cf. Heb katef) and a chief or ancestor's name, Tuka.
^Bunbury & Hogarth 1911, p. 286.
^Janse, Mark (2009). "The resurrection of Cappadocian (Asia Minor Greek)". ΑΩ International.
^Van Dam, R. Kingdom of Snow: Roman rule and Greek culture in Cappadocia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, p.14. [2]
^Van Dam, R. Kingdom of Snow: Roman rule and Greek culture in Cappadocia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002, p.14. [3]
^"The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites" (PDF). IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage. IUGS. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
^Map of the Achaemenid Empire
^Evelpidou, Niki; Figueiredo, Tomás; Mauro, Francesco; Tecim, Vahap; Vassilopoulos, Andreas (2010-01-19). Natural Heritage from East to West: Case studies from 6 EU countries. Springer. ISBN 9783642015779.
^ abMary Boyce. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices Psychology Press, 2001 ISBN 978-0415239028 p. 85
^Raditsa 1983, p. 107.
^The coinage of Cappadocian kings was quite extensive and produced by highest standards of the time. See Asia Minor Coins – regal Cappadocian coins
^ abBunbury & Hogarth 1911, pp. 287–288.
^Bunbury & Hogarth 1911, p. 288.
^ abcdefMitchell 2018, p. 290.
^ abCooper & Decker 2012, p. 43.
^ abcCooper & Decker 2012, p. 21.
^Cooper & Decker 2012, p. 139.
^Cooper & Decker 2012, p. 184.
^ abThe Hungry are Dying: Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia by Susan R. Holman
^Cooper & Decker 2012, pp. 30, 161.
^Cooper & Decker 2012, pp. 24–25, 43.
^Cooper & Decker 2012, p. 23.
^Schlumberger, Gustave Léon (1890). Un empereur byzantin au dixième siècle, Nicéphore Phocas. Paris: Firmin-Didot. pp. 250–251.
^MacEvitt, Christopher (2008). The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780812240504.
^ abCooper & Decker 2012, p. 22.
^Cooper & Decker 2012, p. 31.
^Vryonis, Speros (1971). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52-001597-5.
^"Kapadokya Kilisesi resmî sitesi". Kapadokya Kilisesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^"İletişim". Kapadokya Kilisesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^ ab"Kapadokya Kilisesi". Trip.com. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^ ab"Kapadokya Kilisesi". Yeni Firma (in Turkish). Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^ ab"Kapadokya Kilisesi". Mindtrip. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^"Hakkımızda". Kapadokya Kilisesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 7 November 2025.
^Republic of Türkiye Directorate General of State Airports Authority (DHMİ), Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport annual passenger statistics and capacity expansion reports.
^Demir, Ömer (1997). Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 19. The Christians taking shelter in the valleys of Göreme because of Arab raids, named this place 'gor emi' meaning 'you cannot see this place'. The name was changed to Korama and then to Göreme. With its very interesting fairy chimneys and the rock-cut churches, the valley of Avcılar, 17 km from Nevşehir and 6 cm from Ürgüp, attracts travellers' attention. St Paul considered Göreme to be more suitable for the training of missionaries. There are about 400 churches in the vicinity of Göreme which was one of the most important centres of Christianity between the 6th and the 9th C, including churches found in and around Zelve, Mustafapaşa, Avcılar, Uçhisar, Ortahisar and Çavuşin.cite book: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Demir, Ömer (1997). Cappadocia: Cradle of History. 16: Azim Matbaacılık. p. 19. The Christians taking shelter in the valleys of Göreme because of Arab raids, named this place 'gor emi' meaning 'you cannot see this place'. The name was changed to Korama and then to Göreme. With its very interesting fairy chimneys and the rock-cut churches, the valley of Avcılar, 17 km from Nevşehir and 6 cm from Ürgüp, attracts travellers' attention. St Paul considered Göreme to be more suitable for the training of missionaries. There are about 400 churches in the vicinity of Göreme which was one of the most important centres of Christianity between the 6th and the 9th C, including churches found in and around Zelve, Mustafapaşa, Avcılar, Uçhisar, Ortahisar and Çavuşin.cite book: CS1 maint: location (link)
^"Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2025-09-27.
^Dogan, Umran (2003). "Mesothelioma in Cappadocian villages". Indoor and Built Environment. 12 (6). Ankara: Sage: 367–75. Bibcode:2003InBEn..12..367D. doi:10.1177/1420326X03039065. ISSN 1420-326X. S2CID 110334356.
^Carbone, Michelle; et al. (2007). "A mesothelioma epidemic in Cappadocia: scientific developments and unexpected social outcomes". Nature Reviews Cancer. 7 (2): 147–54. doi:10.1038/nrc2068. ISSN 1474-175X. PMID 17251920. S2CID 9440201.
^"Cappadocia « the Spirits of Vengeance". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
^Palladev, George (9 February 2018). "Autechre — Amber. Short story behind the artwork". 12edit. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
^Corliss, Richard. "Winter Sleep: Can a Three-Hour-Plus Prize-Winner Be Just Pretty Good?". Time. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
^"Elite Athletes to run at The Runfire Cappadocia". Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau. July 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-08-05. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
^"VİDEO | Bisiklet festivali başladı - TRT Spor - Türkiye'nin güncel spor haber kaynağı". Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bunbury, Edward Herbert; Hogarth, David George (1911). "Cappadocia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–288.
Sources
[edit]
Cooper, Eric; Decker, Michael J. (24 July 2012). Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-02964-5. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
Mitchell, Stephen (2018). "Cappadocia". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192562463.
Raditsa, Leo (1983). "Iranians in Asia Minor". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1139054942.
Weiskopf, Michael (1990). "Cappadocia". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 7–8. pp. 780–86.
Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, book "Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia', Scientific Research Publishing |2024|978-1649979582|and Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, "Shrines and Schools in Byzantine Cappadocia", Journal of Early Christian History, volume 9, Issue 1, 2019, pp. 1–29
Late Roman and early Byzantine provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)
History
As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
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3 Later the Diocese of Illyricum
4 Placed under the Quaestura exercitus in 536
5 Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536
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