Kayseri

Sister cities

• Yongin
• Eindhoven
• Nalchik
• Krefeld
• Sialkot
• Pavlodar
• Homs
• Miskolc
• Mostar

History

Kayseri experienced three golden ages. The first, dating to 2000 BC, was when the city formed a trade post between the Assyrians and the Hittites. The second came under Roman rule from the 1st to the 11th centuries. The third golden age was during the reign of the Seljuks (1178–1243), when the city was the second capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. As Mazaca (), the city served as the residence of the kings of Cappadocia. In ancient times, it was on the crossroads of the trade routes from Sinope to the Euphrates and from the Persian Royal Road that extended from Sardis to Susa during the 200+ years of Achaemenid Persian rule. In Roman times, a similar route from Ephesus to the East also crossed the city. In Late Antiquity, the city may have contained a population of around 50,000 inhabitants and it was the highest ranked diocese up to the council of Chalcedon. Nothing remains of it today. Basil of Caesarea, one of the Cappadocian Fathers, established a large complex containing charitable institutions, a monastery and churches, the Basiliad, in Caesarea Mazaca in the fourth century. Nothing remains of it today. The city was also situated on the main pilgrimage route from Constantinople to the Holy Land and had several shrines dedicated to local saints, such as St Mamas, St Merkourious and Basil of Caesarea, which continued to be venerated by the local population into the 17th century. The Arab general, and later the first Umayyad Caliph, Muawiyah invaded Cappadocia and took Caesarea from the Byzantines temporarily in 647. By the mid-eight century, the area between Caesarea and Melitene was a no-mans land. Alp Arslan's forces demolished the city and massacred its population in 1067. The shrine of Saint Basil was also sacked after the fall of the city. As a…

Geography

Kayseri has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dsa, Trewartha: Dc). It experiences cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers with cool nights. Precipitation occurs throughout the year, albeit with a marked decrease in late summer and early fall.