The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-04-09
LAND OF THE TURK
l Region Literally Teeming With
Historic Interest.
THE HOME OF BIBLE EVENTS.
6tirring Scenes and Dramas Wore En-
acted Within the Confines of the Lster
Ottoman Empire - Mighty Babylon
That All but Ruled the World.

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
third as great In area as the United
States, they have yet a territory with
In whose boundaries the greatest, the
most influential events I'm human his
tory have occurred.
The Bible with little exception Is 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 It's 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
rica 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 II 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 It's 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 500 populous cities,
enriched with all the gifts Of nature
and adorned with all the refnements
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
hammed and the religion which bears
his name and now claims several hun
dred million adherents were also born
In the Ottoman empire.
The greatest of these ancient en-
pires was the Babylonlan. The Baby
lonians built their civilization upon an
a land teeming with people, the seat Of
magnificent cities and the home Of a
world conquering empire. Babylonia
rivaled the valley of the Nile In pro-
duction. Every Greek traveller who
wandered that way marveled at the
righteousness of the crops OF Mesopo-
tamia. Even Herodotus hesitated to
tell the story In Its fullness lest the
people for whom he wrote history
might regard him as a nature faker.
The hanging gardens Of Babylon stir
red the admiration of the travellers
out Of the west, so that they wrote
them down as one Of the seven won
ders of the world. Nebuchadnezzar
built them for his wife, Amytis, the
beautiful Mede, to rescue her from her
homesickness for her native Medean
hills.
King Sargon, though he lived at the
dawn of history, reviewed his reign
much as a president of the United
States or a great European sovereign
might review his official career. He
tells us that he restored ancient ruined
cities and colonized them; that he made
barren tracts of land fertile; that he
gave his nation a splendid system of
reservoirs, dams and canals; that he
protected the needy from want, the
weak from oppression, filed the ma
tion's granaries with corn, brought
down the high cost OF living and found
new markets for the nations products.
Babylon's Notifications are said to
have had a circumference Of fifty-tive
miles, the outer wall Of which was $50
feet high and So feet thick. The palace
Of Sargon III. covered about twenty
Eve acres, and Its front was twice as
long as that OF the United States cap
itol. Forty-eight great winged bulls
guarded its entrance, and upon Its
walls were more than two miles OF
sculptured slabs telling the story OF
the kings reign.
Turkey holds by an uncertain ten
ure a narrow strip OF land on the
Red sen coast OF Arabia that Is Of
great historic interest. Within its linn
its are the two holy cities Of the Mo
hammedans. Mecca was the birth
place of Mohammed and Is visited
yearly by thousands of pilgrims from
Asia. Africa and Turkey i'm Europe.
At Medina, which lies about go miles
north Of Mecca, IL the tomb of Moham-
med, who died there.
Damascus, the capital of Syria. Is
one OF the most ancient cities I'm the
world and Is vast conglomeration of
mosques and bazars, aud northwest OF
Damascus are the mighty ruins OF
Baalbek.