About Ankara

The history of Ankara begins in the pre-historic times. There are evidences found on the digs at the southwest of the city at Ahlatlibel and Koçumbeli showing that Ankara was inhabited during the Bronze Age by the Hatti civilisation. About 2000 BC the Hittities has occupied the city and called Ankara with the name Ankuwash. After the Hittities, were the Phrygians who occupied the region of Ankara in 1000 B.C. According to the legend the King Midas heard a voice in his dream and ordered him to build a big city where he found a big anchor on his land. Days after the king found it at a hill where Ankara Kalesi stands today, and begun to build a new city there called Ancyra. Under the Phrygians reign Ankara grew in size and importance, experiencing a large expansion following the mass migration from Gordion, the capital of Phrygia, after an earthquake which severely damaged that city in antiquity.