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ANCYRA (mod. Angora, q.v.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 953 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANCYRA (mod. See also:Angora, q.v.)  , an See also:ancient See also:city of See also:Galatia in See also:Asia See also:Minor, situated on a tributary of the Sangarius . Originally a large and prosperous Phrygian city on the See also:Persian Royal Road, See also:Ancyra became the centre of the Tectosages, one of the three Gaulish tribes that settled permanently in Galatia about 232 B.C . The See also:barbarian occupation dislocated See also:civilization, and the See also:town sank to a See also:mere See also:village inhabited chiefly by the old native See also:population who carried on the arts and crafts of peaceful See also:life, while the Gauls devoted themselves to See also:war and See also:pastoral life (see GALATIA) . In 189 B.C . Ancyra was occupied by Cn . See also:Manlius Vulso, who made it his headquarters in his operations against the tribe . In 63 B.C . See also:Pompey placed it (together with the Tectosagan territory) under one See also:chief, and it continued under native See also:rule till it became the See also:capital of the See also:Roman See also:province of Galatia in 25 B.C . By this See also:time the population included Greeks, See also:Jews, See also:Romans and Romanized Gauls, but the town was not yet Hellenized, though See also:Greek was spoken . See also:Strabo (c . A.D . 19) calls it not a city, but a fortress, implying that it had none of the institutions of the Graeco-Roman city .

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Inscriptions and coins show that its civilization consisted of a layer of Roman ideas and customs super-imposed on See also:Celtic tribal characteristics, and that it is not until c . A.D . 150 that the true Hellenic spirit begins to appear . See also:Christianity was introduced (from the N. or N.W.) perhaps as See also:early as the 1st See also:century, but there is no shred of See also:evidence that the Ancyran See also:Church (first mentioned A.D . 192) was founded by St See also:Paul or that he ever visited See also:northern Galatia . The real greatness of the town See also:dates from the time when See also:Constantinople became the See also:metropolis of the Roman See also:world: then its See also:geographical situation raised it to a position of importance which it retained throughout the See also:middle ages . See further See also:ANGORA (I) . The See also:modern town contains many remains of the Roman and See also:Byzantine periods . The most important See also:monument is the Augusteum, a See also:temple of See also:white See also:marble erected to " See also:Rome and See also:Augustus " during the lifetime of that See also:emperor by the See also:common See also:council or See also:diet .of the three Galatian tribes . The temple was afterwards converted into a church, and in the 16th century a See also:fine See also:mosque was built against its S. See also:face . On the walls of the temple is engraved the famous Monumentum Ancyranum, a See also:long inscription in Latin and Greek describing the Res gestae divi See also:Augusti; the Latin portion being inscribed on the inner See also:left-See also:hand See also:wall of the pronaos, the Greek on the outside wall of the naos (See also:cella) . The inscription is a See also:grave and majestic narrative of the public life and See also:work of Augustus .

The See also:

original was written by the emperor in his 76th See also:year (A.D . 13-14) to be engraved on two See also:bronze tablets placed in front of his See also:mausoleum in Rome, and as a See also:mark of respect to his memory a copy was inscribed on the temple walls by the council of the See also:Galatians . Thus has been preserved an absolutely unique See also:historical document of See also:great importance, recounting (I) the numerous public offices and honours conferred on him, (2) his various benefactions to the See also:state, to the See also:plebs and to his soldiers, and (3) his military and administrative services to the See also:empire .

End of Article: ANCYRA (mod. Angora, q.v.)
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