The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-03-27
Turkey In The
World S History

| WOnueTlul HlStOTy Ol inc idnuS ONt
which Turkey has ruled for man,
generations prepared for the Nation
al Geographic Society, William Jo
seph Showalter gives some interest
ing facts which ordinarily escape at
tention. Except when Paul and hi
associates crossed the Hellespont t
Athens and Rome, the entire Bible
story, from Genesis to Revelation
was lived in what has been Turkey
writes Mr.. Showalter and he calls
attention to the fact that the great
empires of the east, the civilization
of the Egyptians and the Phoenicians
the glories Of Byzantium-all were
planted on what has been Turkish
soil. He also shows how King Sar
gon, ruling at the very dawn Of his
tory congratulated his empire upon
his success in bringing down "the
high cost Of living" He says. in
part:
mo other people possess lands Of
such wonderful historic interest as
the Turks. Occupying q region only
third as great in area as the Unit
ed States. they have yet territory
within whose boundaries the great
est, the most influential events in
human history have occurred.
"The Bible. with little exception,
Is an account OF the doings OF peo.
pie who never got beyond what have
hitherto been the confines of Turkey.
From single corner of the Ottoman
Empire arose the Babylon that in
its day all but ruled the world From
that same region envy and famine
conspired to send the children OF Alb
raham into Egypt, which until recent
ly was embraced in the Empire of
the Ottomans. Thence, as they
back from Africa to Asia,
through the wilderness of sin to the
Promised Land, they never once set
foot off what came to be Turkish
soil. And when the Star Of Bethle
hem arose 1t stood over a manger,
on land that is now Turkish soil
IN Asia Minor once dwelt Croesus
whose name to this day expresses the
last degree Of wealth. Here was
whose library in its per.
cd was the finest in the world max
ing such demands for papyrus that
Ptolemy was led to prohibit the ex-
portation Of that commodity from
Egypt. Under the reign of Caesars,
Asia Minor alone contained 500 pop
Ulous cities, enriched with all the
gifts Of nature and adorned with all
he refinements of art.
"The civilization of the Hittites,
whose lands finally were occupied by
The hosts If Israel; the civilization
Of Tyre and Sidon the greatest col
onizers of ancient times; the civiliz.
alton of Egypt, rival of Persia and
In the value of the heritage
/ bequeathed to the future; the civ.
of Constantinople and the
Byzantine Empire in its day more
gorgeous than any that had gone be-
'ore-all found their home within the
boundaries of what afterward came
10 be the land OF the Turk. Moham
ned, and the religion which bears his
name, and now claims several hun
ired million adherents were also
born in the Ottoman Empire.
1.-THE greatest Of these ancient en-
pires was the Babylonian. The
built their civilization
upon an irrigation ditch and made
Babylonia land teeming with peo-
pie, the seat Of magnificent Giles,
and the home Of world conquering
empire. Babylonia rivaled the val.
ley of the Nile In production Every
Greek traveller who wandered that
way marveled at the righteousness of
the crops Of Mesopotamia. Even He.
hesitated to tell the story
in its fulness lest the people for
whom he wrote history might regard
him as a nature faker. The hanging
gardens OF Babylon stirred the ad-
miration of the travellers out of the
west, so that they wrote them down
as one of the seven wonders OF the
world. Nebuchadnezzar built them
for his wife, Amytis, the beautiful
Mede, to rescue her from her home
sickness for her native Median hills.
King Sargon, though he lived at
the dawn OF history, reviewed his
reign much as a president Of the Uni.
ted States or a great European SOW
ereign might review his Off .ial ca.
reer. He tells Us that he restored |
ancient ruined cities and colonized |
hem; that he made barren tracts Of
and fertile; that he gave his nation
| splendid system of reser,
'oirs, dams, and canals; that he pro,
ected the needy from want, the