THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ASIA MINOR 



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CHILDREN OF SMYRNA 



Underwood & Underwood 



A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN SHORTLY BEFORE THE RECENT 

 HOLOCAUST 



elevation of the plateau the winters are 

 long and severe ; the summer is hot, but 

 not long. The soil is in large part fer- 

 tile, but agriculture is dependent entirely 

 on the chances of an uncertain rainfall. 

 The god who gives the "rains and fruit- 

 ful seasons'' to men becomes, in their 

 estimation, a power whose enormous 

 strength emphasizes the insignificance of 

 man and his dependence on nature. 



There is a certain melancholy in the 

 tone of the landscape which after a time 

 takes an even stronger hold on the mind 

 of man than the bright and varied scenery 

 of the ^Egean coast lands. The religion 

 and the religious legends are character- 

 ized by the same tone. 



To the Anatolian mind the life of na- 

 ture seems always to end in early death. 

 In the prime of life and the pride of art 

 the hero-god, who symbolizes and em- 

 bodies the life of nature, is cut off ; he is 

 Lityerses, killed by the sickles of the 

 reapers in the field ; or Marsyas, hung up 

 and flayed alive by a hostile power ; or 

 Hylas, drawn down by the nymphs into 



the fountain ; or he dies in battle, as 

 Achilles. 



ONCE ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST PARTS OF 

 MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 



In ancient times this great peninsula of 

 Asia Minor was one of the wealthiest 

 parts of the Mediterranean world ; and in 

 particular, the western portion of the 

 peninsula, containing the valleys of the 

 Mseander and other streams which flow 

 toward the ^Egean Sea, was renowned as 

 the richest part of the Roman Empire. 



It was richer even than Egypt in the 

 Roman period, because the wealth of 

 Egypt belonged to the Emperor himself 

 and did not benefit the inhabitants ma- 

 terially, although they were in a position 

 of comfort and ease and peace ; but in the 

 western parts of Asia Minor, which the 

 Romans had classified as the two prov- 

 inces Asia and Bithynia, the wealth of 

 the country remained more in the hands 

 of the inhabitants, who were free citizens, 

 trading for themselves and making their 

 own profit. 



