Monthly Archives: August 2012

One of the stairwells that are thought to be so narrow such that an invading soldier would not have been able to fight and defending the caves, theoretically, would have been easier. The Romans were patient armies. They would have just stayed on the surface with a small force and would have starved them out—at which point the narrow passageways would have worked against the inhabitants. Note also the marks in the walls from the constructors hacking the passageways out of the rock. The stairs are also hacked out of rock.

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Looking down into the Ihlara Valley where there are hundreds of cave dwellings and several “churches”. We hiked down to see them and had a picnic along the stream at the bottom. It is thought that the original inhabitants moved down into this valley for protection from the numerous invading armies. The stream at the bottom also provided a steady water supply to grow crops and feed livestock. As you can see, the land outside the canyon is arid with little water and little opportunity for either farming or hiding from enemies.

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