The Gates of Civilizations

The “Path of Anatolia” is composed of the arches of The Hittite Empire, The Kingdom of Commagene, Lydia, The Persian Empire, The Urartu State, The Phrygia, The Ionian Civilization, The Assyria, Troy, The Roman Empire,The Byzantine Empire, The Great Seljuq Empire, The Ottoman Empire, and Turkish Republic. Two staff members dressed in costumes of that period will greet visitors at each arch to give information on the history of that civilization. Photos and Additional information are displayed on panels between the arches.


The Republic of Turkiye

The Republic of Turkey was founded in October 29, 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, after the abolishment of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey is a Eurasian country located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia and on East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; ArmeniaIran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; andIraq and Syria to the southeast.


The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was a state founded by Turkishtribes under Osman Bey in north-western Anatolia in 1299. The empire reached its peak at 1590, covering parts of Asia, Europe and Africa. The reign of the long-lived Ottoman dynasty lasted for 623 years, from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the monarchy inTurkey was abolished.


The Great Seljuk Empire

The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to easternAnatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf.


The Byzantine Empire



The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterized by anautocratic form of government and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean in EuropeAfrica, and Asia.



Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, south of the southwest end of the Dardanelles  and northwest ofMount Ida. It is best known for being the setting of theTrojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle.


The Assyria



The Ionian Civilization

Ionia was an ancient region in central coastal Anatoliain present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna.


The Phrygians

Phryga was a kingdom in the west central part ofAnatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey, centered around the Sakarya River.


The Urartu State

Urartu was a prehistoric Iron Age Armenian kingdom centered around Lake Van in the Armenian Highlands.


The Persian Empire

The Achaemenid Persian empire was the largest that the ancient world had seen, extending from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia. (r. 559–530 B.C.)



Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minorlocated generally east of ancient Ionia in the modernTurkish provinces of UşakManisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known asLydian.


The Kingdom of Commagene

The Kingdom of Commagene was an ancient Armeniankingdom of the Hellenistic Age. Commagene was a small kingdom, located in modern south-centralTurkey, with its capital at Samosata (modern Samsat, near the Euphrates).


The Hittite Empire

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people, who established an empire inHattusa in north-central Anatolia around the 18th century BC.