, built in the honor of the
Roman emperor Hadrian, who visited Attaleia in 130 CE in the
Antalya Museum in the Antalya Museum in the Antalya Museum King
Attalus II of
Pergamon is looked on as founder of the city in about 150 BC, during the
Hellenistic period. It was named
Attaleia or
Attalia () in his honour. The city served as a naval base for Attalus's powerful fleet. Excavations in 2008, in the
Doğu Garajı plot, uncovered remains dating to the 3rd century BC, suggesting that Attaleia was a rebuilding and expansion of an earlier town. in the city Attaleia became part of the
Roman Empire in 133 BC when
Attalus III, a nephew of
Attalus II, bequeathed
his kingdom to Rome at his death in 133 BC. The city grew and prospered during the
Ancient Roman period and was part of the
Roman province of
Pamphylia Secunda, whose capital was
Perga. Christianity started to spread to the region even in the 1st century: Attaleia was visited by
Paul of Tarsus and
Barnabas, as recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles: "Then they passed through
Pisidia and came to
Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attaleia, and from there they sailed to
Antioch". Some of the bishops attributed to the
episcopal see of Attaleia in Pamphylia may instead have been bishops of
Attalea in Lydia (Yanantepe), since
Le Quien lists them under both sees. No longer a residential bishopric, Attalea in Pamphylia is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. The 13th-century
Seljuk mosque at Attaleia, now in ruins, had been a Christian
Byzantine basilica from the 7th century. The Great Mosque had also been a Christian basilica and the Kesik Minare Mosque had been the 5th-century Christian Church of the Panaghia or Virgin and was decorated with finely carved marble. The archaeological museum at Attaleia houses some sarcophagi and mosaics from nearby Perga and a casket of bones reputed to be those of
St. Nicholas, the bishop of
Myra, further down the Turquoise coast. The area of Antalya was subject to naval attacks by the
Arabs of the
Abbasid Caliphate. Attaleia was a major city in the Byzantine Empire. It was the capital of the
Byzantine Theme of the
Cibyrrhaeots, which occupied the southern coasts of
Anatolia. According to the research of
Speros Vryonis, it was the major naval station on the southern Anatolian coast, a major commercial center, and the most convenient harbor between the
Aegean Sea and Cyprus and points further east. Besides the local merchants, "one could expect to see Armenians, Saracens, Jews, and Italians." At the time of the accession of
John II Komnenos in 1118, Attaleia was an isolated outpost surrounded by Turkish beyliks, accessible only by sea, but his
capture of Sozopolis in 1120 re-opened land-communication with the city once more. Upon learning of the death of emperor
Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, the Seljuk sultan
Kilij Arslan II subjected the city to a long siege, but failed to take it. Following the
Sack of Constantinople by the
Crusaders in 1204,
Niketas Choniates records that Attaleia was the personal fiefdom of a certain Aldebrandus, "an Italian by birth who was strictly raised according to Roman tradition". When
Kaykhusraw, sultan of the
Seljuk Turks attempted to capture the city in 1206, Aldebrandus called
Cyprus for help and received 200 infantry from the Latins. The attackers were defeated after a siege of less than 16 days. Local Christians rebelled and captured Attaleia with aid of
Walter of Montbéliard in 1212. Briefly restored Byzantine rule in Attaleia was ended by
Kaykaus I in 1216. The city and the surrounding region were conquered by the
Seljuk Turks in the early 13th century. Attaleia was the capital of the Turkish
beylik of Teke (1321–1423) until its conquest by the
Ottoman Turks, except for a period of Cypriot rule between 1361 and 1373. The Arab traveller
Ibn Battuta, who visited the city in 1335–1340, noted: In the second half of the 17th century,
Ottoman explorer
Evliya Çelebi wrote of a city of narrow streets containing 3,000 houses in 20
Turkish and four
Greek neighborhoods. The town had grown beyond the city walls and the port was reported to hold up to 200 boats. In the 19th century, in common with most of Anatolia, its sovereign was a "dere
bey" (landlord or landowner). The family of Tekke Oğlu, domiciled near
Perge had been reduced to submission in 1812 by
Mahmut II, but continued to be a rival power to the Ottoman governor until the early 20th century, surviving by many years the fall of the other great beys of Anatolia. The records of the Levent (Turkey) Company, which maintained an agency in Antalya until 1825, documented the local dere beys. In the early 20th century, Antalya had two factories spinning and weaving
cotton. As of 1920, the factories had 15,000
spindles and over 200
looms. A
German-owned
mill baled cotton. There were
gin mills. In the 20th century, the population of Antalya increased as Muslim refugees from the
Caucasus and the
Balkans moved into Anatolia. The economy was centered on its port that served the inland areas, particularly Konya. Antalya (then Adalia) was picturesque rather than modern. The chief attraction for visitors was the city wall, and outside a promenade, a portion of which survives. The government offices and the houses of the higher classes were outside the walls. The city had a Greek minority that made up 1/3 of the population until the population exchange. Antalya also had a tiny Armenian population which had a church on the street of "Hamam çikmazi" named Hovhannes Surp Garabed, which was later on demolished. Antalya also had a Jewish community which had a tiny Synagogue in the neighborhood of Balbey and a Talmud Torah. The Synagogue was closed in 1948 and its exact location is not known, and the Synagogue might not exist anymore. The Jewish community had two graveyards and one was located across "Donerciler carsisi"and was demolished when the area was opened to construction, but one marble tombstone belonging to a Jew named Raphael Moshe was transferred to the
Antalya Museum where it can be seen in the museum garden. The city was
occupied by Italy for three years (1919-22) in the aftermath of
World War I, but was recaptured by a newly independent Turkey in the
Turkish War of Independence. Large-scale development beginning in the 1970s transformed Antalya from a pastoral town into one of Turkey's largest metropolitan areas. Much of this has been due to tourism, which expanded in the 21st century. In the 1987 singing diva
Dalida held her last concert in Antalya. Antalya was the host city for the
2015 G-20 summit and the
Expo 2016. Five countries have their consular missions in Antalya including Belgium, Germany, Russia, Serbia and the United Kingdom. ==Geography==