The Concept of White Syrians (Leukosyrioi) in Ancient Cappadocia

Cappadocia region in ancient times with its geographical location, facilities and wide geographic area has been a place of residence for various human communities throughout the history and of different political organizations. This region adjacent to other different regions, peoples and in the north-south, east-west minor and major directions beeing in contact with Assyrian, Hittite, Persian, Macedonian, Hellenic and Roman cultures. The main inhabitants of Cappadocia, which were likely to contain a large number of people whose ethnic identity is different from each other, were defined by the ancient writers as Λευκόσυροı (Leukosyroi=White Syrians). This expression, in the form of the Leukosyrians, is etymologically composed of the combination of Λευκόσ (white) and Σύρος (Syrian) in Hellenic language. Such a description was first recorded by Hecataeus of Miletos in the 6th century B.C. and continued to be used by other ancient writers. While Hellenes used the expression of Leukoyrioi to identify Cappadocians, the Persians used Cappadocians. It is not clear whether the expression of the Leukosyrioi in ancient works was used to describe all the peoples in the Cappadocia region or only to identify a particular population in the region. It is also unclear whether the Cappadocians, also called the white Syrians, are an autochthonous people, or they are from the same race as the actual Syrians. However, in the ancient sources, it is certain that there are two different definitions regarding Syrian; one of which has a darker skin color living beyond the Taurus range in the south, and the other has a lighter skin color that lives in the Cappadocia area in the north. Altough it is difficult to draw the boundaries of the geographical spread areas of Leucosyrians, it can be said that the Leukosyrians live in the area between the south and central parts of Cappadocia and between thew rivers of Parthenios (Bartın Stream) and Thermodon (Terme Stream) in the north. The name of this people, which cannot be considered apart from the history and geography of the Assyrian political organization, was to be preserved until 9th century A.D. and proves the importance of this people for history of Cappadocia. This study focuses on Cappadocians, who were defined as Leukosyrioi by ancient writers and examine the origin of their names, their lineage blended with mythological events, their development in the historical process, their presence in the region, their geographical spread, their relations with other communities and political organizations and their place in the history of Cappadocia based on the information provided by ancient sources.