Cappadocia

Cappadocia, the name of a district of Asia Minor, the signification of which differed widely at different periods in its history. Under the Persian rule it included the whole north-eastern part of Asia Minor from Mount Taurus to the Euxine; but after its division into two satrapies, the central and inland came to be called Cappadocia proper; the other Cappadocia ad Pontum, gradually shortened to Pontus. In the former and stricter sense Cappadocia was bounded by Galatia and Lycaonia on the west, by Cilicia and Syria on the south, by Armenia on the east, and by Pontus on the north. It is a high upland region broken by detached mountains and groups of mountains; its eastern portion is traversed by the Anti-Taurus. The river Halys (Kizil Irmaq) crosses the northern part of Cappadocia. Ruled under the Persians by hereditary satraps or tributary kings, Cappadocia was the ally successively of the kings of Macedonia, of Mithridates, and of the Romans, but ultimately (17 A.D.) became a Roman province.