2024-02-09 16:14:47
Beneath the famous fairy chimneys in Cappadocia, about 85 meters deep, lies a huge underground city that has been inhabited for thousands of years.
This ancient city, known today as “Derinkuyu” and hidden for centuries, was built in several layers and was able to hide 20,000 people for months.
Elengubu, formerly known as Elengubu, is an underground city carved into rocks in Derinkuyu district, 30 kilometers from Nevşehir, on the Nevşehir-Niğde highway.
This structure, which is 85 meters deep and consists of 18-story tunnels and the rooms they open, is the largest underground city in the world.
From the Phrygians to the Persians and the Byzantine Christians, it was used continuously for almost thousands of years. Finally, after the War of Independence in the 1920s, the Cappadocian Greeks were suddenly sent to Greece in a population exchange.
The tunnels connecting the cave chambers in Derinkuyu are thought to have stretched for hundreds of kilometers and formed a huge underground network connecting the 200 different underground cities discovered in the region. was rediscovered when it came to light. It was the first of more than 600 entrances to the underground city that have been found in some houses to date.
Excavations began immediately, revealing a complex network of underground dwellings, dry food warehouses, schools, wineries and chapels.
Hititfrom the to the Phrygians
It was an entire civilization safely hidden underground. The cave city was soon discovered by thousands of tourists, and in 1985 the site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The exact construction date of Derinkuyu underground city is disputed. However, the Anabasis of Xenophon of Athens, written around 370 BC, is known as the oldest written source that mentions Derinkuyu. The book talks about the Anatolian people who lived in the Cappadocia region or nearby, instead of the cave houses on the edge of the cliff, which are popular here, in houses dug underground.
According to Andrea DeGiorgi, a classical studies specialist at Florida State University, Cappadocia’s lack of water in the soil and easy-to-shape rock made it ideal for such underground structures.
The local pumice stone, also known as tuff, could be easily carved with simple tools such as a pick or spade. Fairy chimneys also got their current shape thanks to this geological structure. But who first built Derinkuyu underground city remains a mystery.
According to Mediterranean cave expert A. Bucci’s article on regional caves, the extensive network of underground caves is usually attributed to the Hittites, who “may have excavated the first few layers of rock when they were attacked by the surrounding Phrygians in the 13th century BC. “. The discovery of Hittite artefacts at Derinkuyu strengthens this hypothesis.
The influence of successive empires
However, most of the city may have been built by the Phrygians who lived in Central Anatolia and were skilled architects of the Iron Age. DeGiorgi explains: “The Phrygians were one of the most advanced early empires in Anatolia”:
“They developed in Western Anatolia in the late 1st millennium BC and tended to monumentalize rock formations and create unusual rock-hewn facades. “Although it was difficult to capture their kingdom, it was able to cover a large part of Western and Central Anatolia, including the Derinkuyu region.”
Derinkuyu was probably originally designed and used for storing goods. However, due to the ever-changing imperial tide in this area over the centuries, its main purpose was to be a temporary shelter against foreign invaders.
“Successive empires and their influence in Anatolia explain the refuge in underground bunkers like Derinkuyu,” says DeGiorgi.
“However, the period (in the 7th century) of Islam, when these shelters were used the most [əsasən xristian olan Bizans İmperiyasına] attacks”.
Structure of the underground city
Although the Phrygians, Persians and Seljuks also lived in this area and expanded the underground city in the following centuries, the population of Derinkuyu reached its peak during the Byzantine period and about 20 thousand people lived underground. Today, you can experience the reality of this underground life by paying 100 TL. Moldy, narrow tunnels were illuminated by torches and darkened with soot for centuries. However, the creativity of the various empires that spread to Derinkuyu soon emerged. Deliberately narrow and short corridors forced visitors to bend and move in single file through the maze of corridors and living spaces; therefore, it was clearly an unsuitable position for intruders. Half-ton round stones blocked the passages between each of the 18 layers and could only be moved from the inside. The small holes in the middle of these heavy doors were for spearing invaders.
Wine makingfor q divisions
Each layer of the city was carefully designed for specific purposes. During the cold winter months, animals were kept in stables closest to the surface to reduce odors and toxic gases and create insulation. The inner layers contained living quarters, basements, schools, and meeting places. The traditional Byzantine missionary school was located on the second floor.
According to DeGiorgi, “the presence of cellars, press barrels, and amphorae indicated winemaking.” These special purpose compartments show that the residents of Derinkuyu are prepared to stay underground for months. The most impressive is the complex ventilation system and the protected well that supplies the whole city with clean air and clean water. In fact, Derinkuyu’s initial construction is thought to have centered on these two main elements.
There are more than 50 ventilation shafts that provide natural air flow between the many rooms and corridors of the city. A dug well with a depth of more than 55 meters could easily be closed from the bottom by the townspeople. The construction of Derinkuyu is truly ingenious. But it is not the only underground city in Cappadocia. With an area of 445 square kilometers, Derinkuyu is the largest of more than 200 underground cities in Central Anatolia.
More than 40 of these small cities are located three or more stories above the surface. Many of these cities are connected to Derinkuyu by carefully dug tunnels, some of which are 9 kilometers long.
All of them are equipped with emergency escape routes in the event of an emergency return to the ground. However, not all underground tunnels of Cappadocia have been discovered yet. A new underground city was discovered in Nevşehir in 2014. Derinkuyu’s life story ended when the Cappadocian Greeks evacuated it in the first half of the 1920s.
Derinkuyu was last abandoned, probably more than 2,000 years after the city was founded, and its existence was forgotten by the modern world until the underground city was accidentally resurfaced.
Bbc