CAPPADOCIA, in ancient geography, an extensive inland district of Asia Minor. In the time of Herodotus the Cappado cians occupied the whole region from Mount Taurus to the Euxine. That author tells us that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by the Persians, while they were termed by the Greeks "Syrians," or "White Syrians" (Leucosyri). Under the later kings of the Persian empire they were divided into two sa trapies or governments, the one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by Greek geographers, while the other was called Cappadocia Kara Ilovrov, or simply Pontus (q.v.). This division had already come about before the time of Xenophon. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be sep arate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be considered in the present article.
Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded on the south by the chain of Mount Taurus, east by the Euphrates, north by Pontus, and west vaguely by the great central salt "Desert" (Axylon). But it is impossible to define its limits with accuracy; it was about 25o m. in length by less than 150 in breadth. The region is a high upland tract, attaining to more than 3,00o ft., and constitut ing the most elevated portion of the great tableland of Asia Minor (q.v.). The western parts of the province, where it adjoins Ly caonia, extending thence to the foot of Mount Taurus, are open treeless plains, affording pasture in modern as in ancient times to numerous flocks of sheep, but almost wholly desolate. But out of the midst of this great upland level rise detached groups or masses of mountains, mostly of volcanic origin, of which the loftiest are Mount Argaeus (still called by the Turks Erjish Dagh) (13,100 ft.), and Hassan Dagh to the south-west (8,000 ft.).
The eastern portion of the province is of a more varied and broken character, being traversed by the mountain system called by the Greeks Anti-Taurus. Between these mountains and the southern chain of Taurus, properly so-called, lies the region known in ancient times as Cataonia, occupying an upland plain surrounded by mountains.
The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Mazaca, the capital of the kingdom under its native monarchs (see CAESAREA-MAZACA) ; and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus, the site of which is marked by a great mound at a place called Kiz (or Ekuz) Hissar, about 10 m. south-west of Nigdeh. Archelais, founded by Archelaus, the last king of the country, subsequently became a Roman colony, and a place of some importance. It is now Akserai.
Several localities in the Cappadocian country were the sites of famous temples. Among these the most celebrated were those of Comana (q.v.) and Venasa in Morimene, where a male god was served by over 3,00o hieroduli. The local sanctity of Venasa has been perpetuated by the Moslem veneration for Haji Bektash, the founder of the order of dervishes to which the Janissaries used in great part to belong. Cappadocia was remarkable for the num ber of its slaves, who constituted the principal wealth of its monarchs. Large numbers were sent to Rome but did not enjoy a good reputation. The Cappadocian peasants are still in the habit of taking service in the west of the peninsula and only returning to their homes after long absences; their labour is now much valued by employers, as they are a strong sober folk. The province was celebrated for its horses, as well as for its vast flocks of sheep; but from its elevation above the sea, and the coldness of climate, it could never have been rich and fertile.
Nothing is known of the history of Cappadocia before it became subject to the Persian empire, except that the country was the home of a great "Hittite" power centred at Boghaz-Keui (see PTERIA). With the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians after their defeat by Croesus, Cappadocia was left in the power of a sort of feudal aristocracy. It was included in the third Persian satrapy by Darius but was governed by rulers of its own, more or less tributary to the Great King. Subdued by the satrap Datames, Cappadocia recovered independence under Ariarathes I., a contemporary of Alexander the Great.
The province was not visited by Alexander, who contented himself with the tributary acknowledgment of his sovereignty made by Ariarathes, and the continuity of the native dynasty was only interrupted for a short time after Alexander's death, when the kingdom fell to Eumenes. His claims were made good in 322 B.C. by the Regent Perdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions following Eumenes's death, the son of Ariarathes recovered his inheritance and left it to a line of successors. Under the fourth of the name Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as an enemy of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon. The kings hence forward threw in their lot with the republic against the Seleucids. Ariarathes V. marched with the Roman proconsul, Crassus against Aristonicus, and their forces were annihilated (13o B.e.) . His death led to interference by the rising power of Pontus ; the Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithridates, elected a native, Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 B.e.) ; but it was not till Rome had disposed of the Pontic and Armenian kings that his rule was established (63 B.e.). In the civil wars Cappadocia was now for Pompey, now for Caesar, now for Antony, now against him. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end and Archelaus reigned by favour first of Antony, then of Octavian, and main tained tributary independence until A.D. 17, when the emperor Tiberius reduced Cappadocia to a province. Vespasian in A.D. 7o joined Armenia Minor to it and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. We still possess the report made to Hadrian by his legate Arrian (q.v.), which is a valuable picture of life in a Roman frontier province in the 2nd century (A.D. 131-137). Cappadocia remained part of the Eastern empire until the IIth century, though of ten ravaged both by Persians and Arabs. Before it passed into Seljuk hands (1074), and from them to the Osmanlis, it had already become largely Armenian ; we find the southern part referred to as "Hermeniorum terra" by crusading chroniclers.