Beyşehir () is a municipality and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Konya Province Konya Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality in southwest Central Anatolia, Turkey. Its area is 40,838 km2, making it the largest province by area, and its population is 2,296,347 (2022). The provincial capital is the city ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its area is 2,054 km², and its population is 77,690 (2022). The town is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Beyşehir and is marked to the west and the southwest by the steep lines and forests of the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

, while a fertile plain, an extension of the lake area, extends in the southeastern direction.

History

The Hittite monument situated in Beyşehir's depending locality of Eflatunpınar, at a short distance to the northeast from the town, proves that the Hittite Empire had reached as far as the region, marking in fact, in the light of present knowledge, the limits of their extension to the southwest. Evidence points out that an earlier settlement, perhaps dating back to the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

, was also located in Eflatunpınar. Another important early settlement was located in Erbaba Höyük, situated to the southwest of Beyşehir, and which was explored by the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

archaeologists Jacques and Louise Alpes Bordaz in the 1970s, leading to finds from three neolithic building layers. The Beyşehir region corresponds to classical antiquity's

Pisidia Pisidia (; , ; ) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey. Among Pisidia's set ...

. At the location of the town itself there was in all likelihood a Greek city, which in one view was probably named Karallia, which was one of the two urban centers that surrounded the lake at the time, and in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times was known as Claudiocaesarea (, ''Klaudiokaisareia''), and Mistheia () in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times. Another theory is that Beyşehir's site corresponds to that of Casae (Κἀσαι), the seat of a Christian

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...

, which under Roman rule included large parts of Pisidia. The names of some of its bishops are given in documents concerning church councils held from 381 to 879. No longer a residential bishopric, Casae in Pamphylia is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. The state of desolation into which the ancient city, whatever it was called, had fallen by the first decades of the 13th century is suggested by the name "Viranşehir" that the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

had given to the town, meaning ''"the desolate city"''. The Seljuk Sultans of Rum based in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

nevertheless built their summer residence nearby, in an agglomeration situated on the southwestern lake shore at a distance of from Beyşehir city, and which came to be known as Kubadabad Palace. While the most precious finds of Kubadabad site date from the reign of Alaeddin Keykubad (1220–1237), it was a seasonal settlement area chosen by and for the sultans already in the late 12th century. After the fall of the Seljuks, Viranşehir was renamed for a time as Süleymanşehir in honor of one of the

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

s of the region's ruling dynasty, the Eshrefids, who made the town into his capital. Since the beys of Eshrefids resided here, the present name of Beyşehir was gradually adopted for the town. The Great Mosque of Beyşehir built by the dynasty between 1296 and 1299, also called Eşrefoğlu Mosque, is considered one of the masterpieces of the intermediate period of

Anatolian beylik Anatolian or anatolica may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia * Ancient Anatolians, Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages * Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational in ...

s between the Seljuk and

Ottoman architecture Ottoman architecture is an architectural style or tradition that developed under the Ottoman Empire over a long period, undergoing some significant changes during its history. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century an ...

styles.

Composition

There are 67

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Beyşehir District: * Adaköy * Ağılönü * Akburun * Avdancık * Avşar * Bademli * Bahçelievler * Başgöze * Bayat * Bayavşar * Bayındır * Bektemir * Beytepe * Çetmi * Çiçekler * Çiftlikköy * Çivril * Çukurağıl * Dalyan * Damlapınar * Doğanbey * Doğancık * Dumanlı * Eğirler * Eğlikler * Emen * Esence * Esentepe * Evsat * Fasıllar * Göçü * Gökçekuyu * Gökçimen * Gölkaşı * Gölyaka * Gönen * Gündoğdu * Hacıakif * Hacıarmağan * Hamidiye * Huğlu * Hüseyinler * İçerişehir * İsaköy * Karaali * Karabayat * Karadiken * Karahisar * Kayabaşı * Küçükafşar * Kurucaova * Kuşluca * Mesutlar * Müftü * Sadıkhacı * Şamlar * Sarıköy * Sevindik * Üçpınar * Üstünler * Üzümlü * Yazyurdu * Yeni * Yenidoğan * Yeşildağ * Yukarıesence * Yunuslar

Climate

Beyşehir has a dry-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dsa''), bordering on a

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csa''), with very warm, dry summers and cold, snowy winters.

Notable people

* Suleiman Sirr Koydemir (Beshtoev) — is a well-known political and public figure in Turkey. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Konya. He served as Mayor of Beysehir. He was awarded the highest award of Turkey "Istiklal Medallion" (Medal of Freedom). Ingush by nationality. * Makki Sharif Bashtav — The largest Turkish medieval historian and Turkologist, Byzantine scholar and specialist in Hungarian studies, professor. Ingush by nationality.

References

External links