Ancient Turkey: A Traveller’s History

Seton Lloyd’s lively account of Turkey’s early history is for the ever-increasing number of people visiting the ancient sites of this fabled land. Written by an archaeologist who has spent much of his life in the Near East, the book is not a conventional “guide” to the antiquities of Anatolia, nor is it a textbook. It is instead Lloyd’s attempt to share his profound interest in an antique land, its inhabitants, and the surviving monuments that link the present to the past.

Lloyd traces the many different cultures that have been a part of Turkey from prehistoric times to the Christian era. He recounts the exploits of the Hittite kings, the confrontation of Croesus and the Persian king Cyrus, the conquests of Alexander the Great, and Mithridates’ epic resistance against Rome. Archaeological landmarks discussed include the discovery of the Alaca Hüyük tombs, the attempts to establish the location of Troy, and the opening of the Tomb of Midas. Lloyd shows how each successive culture has left its mark on an astonishing variety of sites, from the shrines of Çatal Hüyük to the temples of Ephesus and the churches founded by St. Paul.