The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1915-06-11
LAND OF The TURK
A Region Literally Teemlng With
Historic Interest.
THE HOME OF BIBLE EVENTS.

SURFING scenes ana dramas wore Hu-
acted Within the Confines of the Later
Ottoman Empire - Mighty Babylon
That All but Ruled the World.
No other people possess lands Of
such wonderful historic interests as
the Turks, says the National Geograph-
ic Magazine. Occupying a region only
a third as great In area as the United
States, they have yet territory with
in whose boundaries the greatest, the
most influential events in human his
tory have occurred
The Bible with little exception Ia an
account Of the doings Of people who
never got beyond what have hitherto
been the confines Of Turkey. From a
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 Abraham into
Egypt, which until recently was en-
braced In the empire of the Ottomans.
Thence, as they marched back from AZ
RIGA to Asia through the wilderness Of
sin to the promised land, they never
once set foot Off of what came to be
Turkish soil And when the star of
Bethlehem arose it stood over a man.
ger 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 Per
gamus, whose library in its period was
the finest In the world, making such
demands for papyrus that Ptolemy
was led to prohibit the expectation of
that commodity from Egypt. Under
the reign of the Caesars Asia Minor
alone contained 800 populous cities,
enriched with all the gifts Of nature
and adorned with all the ref1nements
of art.
The civilization of the Hittites, whose
lands finally were occupied by the hosts
of Israel; the civilization Of Tyre and
Sidon, the greatest colonizers Of an
cient times; the civilization Of Egypt,
rival OF Persia and Chaldea in the
value of the heritage 1t bequeathed to
the future; the civilization of Constan-
tinople and the Byzantine empire, in
its day more gorgeous than any that
had gone before-all found their home
within the boundaries Of what later
came to be the land of the Turk. Mo.
manned and the religion which bears
his name and now claims several hun.
bred million adherents were also born
IN the Ottoman empire.
The greatest Of these ancient EN-
pires was the Babylonian. The Baby
lonians built their civilization upon ar
irrigation ditch and made Babylonia
land teeming with people, the seat Of
magnificent cities and the home OF Q
world conquering empire. Babylonis
rivaled the valley of the Nile in pro
duction. Every Greek traveller who
wandered that way marveled at tht
luxuriUusness Of the crops of Mesopo
tamia. Even Herodotus hes1tated tx
tell the story in its fullness lest tbs
people for whom he wrote history
might regard him as a nature faker
The hanging gardens Of Babylon stir
red the admiration of the traveller
out of the west, so that they wrot'
them down as one of the seven won
ders of the world Nebuchadnezza
built them for his wife, Amytis, thu
beautiful Mede, to rescue her from he
Inconsistencies for her native Medeal
hills.
King Sargon. though he lived at tn
dawn of history, reviewed his reigl
much as president of the Unite'
States or a great European sovereign
might review his official career. III
tells us that he restored ancient ruinet
cities and colonized them; that he mad
barren tracts of land fertile; that b
gave his nation a splendid system o
reservoirs, dams and canals; that b
protected the needy from want, tn
weak from oppression. 6lAed the ns
tons granaries with corn, brouGh
down the high cost of living and foun
new markets for the nations products
Babylon's Notifications are said
have had a circumference OF ffty-fiv
miles, the outer wall of which was 80
feet high and SO feet thick. The palac
of Sargon IL. covered about twenty
five acres. and its front was twice q
long as that of the United States car
itoI. Forty-eight great winged bull
guarded its entrance. and upon II
walls were more than two miles G
sculptured slabs telling the story c
the kings reign.
Turkey holds by an uncertain tel
ure a narrow strip OF land on th
Red sea coast OF Arabia that is {
great historic interest Within its lin
its are the two holy cities of the Nj
hammedans. Mecca was the brit
place of Mohammed and is visite
yearly by thousands of pilgrims frol
Asia, Africa and Turkey in Europ'
At Medina, which lies about 270 mile
north of Mecca, is the tomb of NOLAN
med, who died there.
Damascus. the capital Of Syria,
one of the most ancient cities In ii
world and is vast conglomeration {
mosques and bazars. and northwest {
Damascus are the mighty ruins {
Baalbek