Sivas

Hittite Artifacts in Sivas Archeology Museum

Little is known of Sivas' history prior to its emergence in the Roman period. In 64 BC, as part of his reorganization of Asia Minor after the Third Mithridatic War, Pompey the Great founded a city on the site called "Megalopolis".[5] Numismatic evidence suggests that Megalopolis changed its name in the last years of the 1st century BC to "Sebaste", the feminine form Sebastos, the Greek equivalent of Augustus. The name "Sivas" is the Turkish version deriving from the name Sebasteia, as the city was known during the late Roman (Byzantine) empire. Sebasteia became the capital of the province of Armenia Minor under the emperor Diocletian, was a town of some importance in the early history of the Christian Church; in the 4th century it was the home of Saint Blaise and Saint Peter of Sebaste, bishops of the town, and of Eustathius, one of the early founders of monasticism in Asia Minor. It was also the place of martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, also 4th century. Justinian I had a fortified wall around it rebuilt in the 6th century. In the early 1020s, Basil II delivered the region around Sebasteia in exchange for Vaspurakan to King Seneqerim Ardzruni, who settled in Sebasteia with thousands of his Armenian followers.[6]

Tomb of Izz al-Din Kayka'us I in the Şifaiye Medrese (1217–1218) Şifaiye Medrese[7]

Sebasteia was the first important city to be plundered by Turkish tribes in 1059.[8] In August of that year the troops of various emirs gathered before the unwalled city. Initially they hesitated to sack it, mistaking that the domes of the several Christian churches were tents of military camps. As soon as they realized that the city was defenceless they burned it for eight days, slaughtered a large part of its population and took many prisoners.[9] The city came under the domain of Turkmen Danishmend dynasty (1071–1174) after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After the death of Danişmend Gazi, Sivas passed to Nizamettin Yağıbasan who won it after a struggle with Danişmend Gazi's successors. In 1174, the city was captured by Seljuk ruler Kilij Arslan II and periodically served as capital of the Seljuk empire along with Konya. Under Seljuk rule, Sivas was an important center of trade along the silk road and site of a citadel, along with mosques and madrasas (Islamic educational institutions), four of which survive today and one of which houses the Sivas Museum. Then it passed to the Ilkhanids, Eretna and Kadı Burhanettin.

Kale Camii, an Ottoman mosque built in 1580

The city was acquired by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I (1389–1402). In 1398, Tamerlane swept into the area and his forces destroyed the city in 1400, after which it was recaptured by the Ottomans in 1408.[10] Under the Ottomans, Sivas served as the administrative center of the Eyalet of Rum[6] until about the late 19th century. The Armenian Apostolic Church maintained six Armenian churches in Sivas, being the Meryemana, Surp Sarkis, Surp Minas, Surp Prgitsh, Surp Hagop, and Surp Kevork; four monasteries, Surp Nschan, Surp Hreshdagabed, Surp Anabad, and Surp Hntragadar; an Armenian Apostolic orphanage, and several schools. The Armenian Catholic Church and the Latins also had one church and a metropolitan of Sebastea, as did the Greek Orthodox Church.[11] Two Protestant churches and eight, mostly German- and American-staffed, schools. During the genocide against Armenians as well as against Greek Christians from July 5, 1915 onwards, the Christian community of Sivas was exterminated by deportations and mass executions.[12]

The Sivas Congress (Heyet-i Temsiliye) was held in this city 4–11 September 1919.[13] With the arrival of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic, from Amasya, the Congress of Sivas is considered a turning point in the formation of the Turkish Republic. It was at this congress that Atatürk's position as chair of the executive committee of the national resistance was confirmed (see Turkish War of Independence). Sivas was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknote of 1927–1939.[14]

On 2 July 1993, 37 participants in an Alevi cultural and literary festival were killed when a mob of demonstrators set fire to the Madımak hotel in Sivas during a violent protest by some 15,000 members of various radical Islamist groups against the presence of Aziz Nesin. The deaths resulted in the Turkish government taking a harder stance against religious fanaticism, militant Islam, and antisecularism. In late 2006, there was a campaign by the Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural Institute to convert the former hotel into a museum to commemorate the tragedy, now known as the Sivas massacre.

Sivas is twinned with:[19]